USA > Vermont > Orange County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time > Part 29
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Mr. Livermore says that at Haverhill Corner in 1820, and for the next decade, there was more or less drinking among the members of the bar, and decanters of rum and brandy were always in evidence in the parlor of the boarding-house, and on the dinner table. There was an old lawyer named Moody, from Strafford county, whose invariable formula, after summoning the waiter, with a rap of his cane, to the foot of the stairs, was to order: "Waiter, bring a bottle of rum, a bottle of brandy, a pitcher of water, a bowl of sugar, four teaspoons, and a pack of cards!"
The earliest records that are preserved of the First Congrega- tional church in this town, show very plainly how prevelant the vice was in those days, by frequent mention of prominent members being censured for drunkenness. The temperance reform was not altogether the work of churches or associations, or brought about by the arguments of reformers. People began to think for themselves upon the miseries which were wrought by the traffic, and their convictions made themselves felt in the form of laws, which should restrict and eventually forbid its sale.
The cause was half won when drinking became unpopular, when it was to a man's discredit that he drank, and loss of standing that he sold liquor. There is still liquor drank, and men who get drunk, and there are a few old men who were brought up when drinking habits were universal, and who take an occasional glass. But, generally speaking, the present representatives of the class of men who drank seventy years ago, are total abstainers now. Various temperance organizations have flourished for a time, in this town, of which no particular account has been obtained.
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
METEOROLOGICAL.
DAVID JOHNSON'S JOURNAL .- COL. THOMAS JOHNSON'S JOURNAL OF THE SEASONS .-- THE WINTER OF 1780 .- SNOW STORMS .- FRESHETS .- THE CLOUD-BURST Of 1795 .- COLD YEARS .- THE SNOW STORM OF 1834 .- THE DARK DAY OF 1780 .- THE YELLOW DAY OF 1881 .- THE METEORIC SHOWER OF 1833 .- THE COMET OF 1857.
M ENTION of a weather chapter for this history to one of the oldest men in town elicited the remark, that "There has been a good deal of weather here in Newbury." No one will attempt to gainsay this, and the object of this chapter is to collect and preserve data regarding remarkable storms and other phenomena. There was an old farmer in this town, dead now these thirty years, who used to say that there had been no really good weather since Andrew Jackson's day. These have been gathered from a great variety of sources, old newspapers, diaries, town histories, memoranda in old account books, and the like. One unique record, consisting of notes made by Colonel Thomas Johnson is given entire. It is, probably, the earliest weather record ever made in this part of the country.
A still more remarkable register was kept by his son, David Johnson, from May 1, 1835, to January 1, 1859. In this he noted, daily, the height of the thermometer, at 6 A. M., noon, and 6 P. M .; the direction of the wind; the appearance of the clouds; the fall of rain or the depth of snow; the coming of the earliest birds. and the southward flight of the wild geese; the dates of opening and closing of the river; and any observations or comparisons which occurred to him. He also mentions the earliest date in the season when there was snow on Moosilauke; the time and appearance of the Aurora Borealis; the sight of comets, meteors and the like. When he was from home or ill, some one of the family made these observations for him. At the end of each ycar, he
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posted up the weather account, with as much care and method as he did those of his own business. One would suppose that Mr. Johnson had nothing else to do but look after the weather. Toward the end of his life, some of his observations were published, and attracted the attention and correspondence of scientific men.
Some facts communicated by him in January, 1857, to the New York Times, at the request of Lieutenant M. F. Maury of the Smithsonian Institute, seemed to him to call for a word of apology. "In conclusion it may be as well to observe that for the absence of scientific accuracy in these crude sketches, the writer may be allowed to plead, in excuse, that they were made by an unlettered old man, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, but who is blessed with eyesight to see to read and write without the aid of spectacles."
Had Mr. Johnson given his observations a wider range, with the flavor of reminiscence and anecdote, which he could have imparted, he might have produced something not unlike the "Natural History of Selborne." The following "Journal of the Seasons," is given without change or omission, but the spelling and use of capitals are modernized. A note in the hand-writing of David Johnson would imply that it was publshed in the Regent's Report of the state of New York for 1852.
In the year 1773 the wheat was headed out in June, 10th day.
June 10th. This night there was an uncommon great frost, killed a considerable part of the Indian corn so that it never grew again.
June the 11th. This night there fell a snow two inches deep.
November 13, 1782. This day began to fodder cattle. This night the river froze over in some places.
November 29. Very cold.
December 1st. Very warm weather.
December 6th. Cold sharp weather two days. Warm weather one week.
December 12th. Cold time.
December 30th. Snow fell this day.
February 2nd, 1783. This a very cold day.
February 17th. This day the great rain began and rained three days. This month more than common warm.
March 10th. This one of the coldest days that ever I knew.
March 29th. Three very warm days. This day heavy thunder.
March 30th. This day the river broke up. This night the frogs peeped.
April 16 and 17. Uncommon hot for the time of year.
April 25th. This day the apple tree blows out to be seen.
May 18th. This evening there fell the heaviest shower we ever knew. The river raised fifteen or sixteen feet, flowed the ploughed land.
August 9th. This day was the coldest that had been at that season for seventy-five years. The frost hath done great damage in many places killing almost all the corn and sauce-had it not been for the fog I think that we should have lost a great part of our corn.
September 10. The rain began at this time and continued till the 19th of October without giving us more than two days at a time of fair weather. Then there fell a snow at the height of land about knee deep with a most violent storm here-about three inches. The snow went off with a great rain which made a great freshet the 23rd of this month-October. Then we had one week of fair weather.
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November 28. This day there fell a small snow and winter set in.
November 30. This day and night there fell a deep snow.
December 1. This one of the most blustering days that ever I knew.
Uncommon pleasant weather till the last of December.
January, 1784. Severe and still cold weather till the last of February. Then warm and pleasant. The middle of March the snow was all gone.
April 1. Pleasant weather. The 8th day the weather turned cold. Three days severe cold.
April 14 and 15. Rained steady, 16th, snowed all day. Snow fell one-half foot deep.
June 28. About this time the weather was exceeding hot.
July 15. A severe drouth about this time.
July 25. A great plenty of rain about this time.
October and November. The pleasantest weather that ever was known.
December 3. This day fell the greatest quantity of rain that ever I knew in the time. The river rose fifteen feet in one night. The winter set in late.
April 10, 1785. This day the snow was two feet deep in the Ox-bow.
The winter past hath been the most moderate, altho the snow hath been four feet.
April 20, 1785. The old snow not being gone, there fell a snow about six inches deep.
April 24. This day the river broke up and the ice went clear.
April 28. This day I went into the Ox-bow and the snow was so deep in the road that I could not ride in the road. Some places the drifts were three feet deep.
1785. This is a very cold summer.
October 17. This night was the first frost to kill anything.
October 23. This day the great freshet was at the height which covered all the meadows-swept all the fences off.
November 20. About this time the ground froze up.
December 4. This day the snow fell to make sledding.
March 22, 1786. This day the river broke up and the road began to settle.
March 26. This day the frogs began to sing.
April 2. This day there fell a snow one foot deep with the severcst storm we had this winter.
June 8. Very hot weather.
June 17. This day finished molding.
August 23. The frost killed things on the high land. This month exceeding cold.
September 12. Gathered my apples. The last of September and the first of October as hot weather as any we have had this summer.
November 15 and 16. At this time the river shut over and winter set in without rain and the streams the lowest or as low as ever was known.
December 9. This day fell a deep snow and not one day that it thawed since the 15th day of November. The best sledding this winter. Went to Portsmouth with mv slay (sleigh) and returned the last day of December. Went to Portsmouth for the second time and returned the 26th of January.
May 20. The river broke up at this time but did not clear out till the last day of March.
April 9. This day began to plow and sow.
April 18, 19, 20, 21. These days have been the coldest weather that ever we would know at that scason of the year. One of the coldest summers that we would know. A warm fall as we know. The first cold weather that came this winter was the first week in January, 1788.
1788. This spring rather cold and back ward.
July 2nd. About this time I began to mow. Have been about two weeks
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trying to get hay with five or six hands. Have got three loads in and about eight or nine more in the field rotting. If the forepart of the day is ever so clear and fair it don't fail of raining by three o'clock in the afternoon.
July 26. This day fell such a quantity of rain that on the next day the river flowed the low meadows so that the hay was floated.
May 21, 1789. This day turned out cattle to pasture but poor feed and but just planting. No apple-tree blows to be seen yet.
November 3, 1789. This day fell snow over shoes and good sledding.
November 11. The pleasantest weather you ever saw.
December 22, 1794. Good plowing at this time, good boating on the river till the first of January, 1795.
The winter of 1761-62, when the men employed by Bayley and Hazen wintered at Coös, was long and cold, and the snow had not all disappeared in the woods, on the first of May. In August, 1764, there was a heavy frost, which froze the leaves on the trees, but the corn on the meadows was shielded by a fog.
The winter of 1780 was long and cold, and for forty successive days, including the entire month of March, the snow did not thaw on the south sides of buildings, as far south as Haverhill, Mass. It lay four feet deep in the fields, and was so hard that teams could travel about upon it over the fences in every direction.
There seems to have been no freshet of any magnitude from the first settlement till 1771, and the inhabitants felt secure upon the meadows. But after that experience most of the settlers removed to higher ground. A few, however, clung to the idea that the flood of that year would never be repeated. Colonel Johnson's record closes in 1794, and there is little to guide us for several years. On the 19th of February, 1802, says President Dwight, in writing in 1813 of this part of the country, a snow-storm began which lasted a week, and it was estimated that more than four feet fell. This storm was general throughout New England, and as far south as Rhode Island the snow was as deep as here.
In 1807 there was a freshet, and another in 1812. This last carried away every bridge on the river above Orford. The former flood exceeded, in the estimation of old people, everything which had been experienced before, and a mark made upon a rock near Colonel Tenney's was not again reached by the water until 1876. These freshets appear to have been produced by rains and the melting of deep snows in the north, and did not cause the local injury which was made by one in 1828, which was not exceeded till 1869. Great damage was caused along all the streams, and at Wells River several buildings were carried away, or were destroyed to give a passage to the flood. At the March meeting in 1829, the taxes of many who had suffered by the freshet were abated.
In January 1839, after a period of fine winter weather, a heavy rain set in, the night of the 25th and continued about thirty hours. "The river flowed one-third of the Ox-bow, and one-half of Cow meadow. The ice broke up, but did not clear out round the Ox-bow. Vast quantities of ice came down from above, mixed
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with wood and timber; thirty or forty acres in Cow meadow were covered with a mass of ice, wood and timber."
Nearly every year the rise of the river causes a flood upon the meadows and railroad travel has, more than once, been suspended for several days. On the 28th of April, 1850, a rain set in, and the river rose higher than before since 1807. The railroad was under water from where Alfred Chamberlin now lives to Ingalls hill, and the water rose to the thresholds of the windows of Edward Hale's house on Upper meadow. The winter of 1861-62 was memorable for depth of snow, and in the spring the water was again very high, and Bedell's bridge was carried away. But all previous damage by flood in this town was exceeded by the "great freshet" of 1869. The summer had been very wet, and on the 2d of October, heavy rain set in, which lasted two days. All the brooks in town were swollen to rivers, bridges were swept away, and many pieces of highway washed out. A second freshet on the 12th destroyed most of the repairs which had been made upon the roads. A tax of fifty-five cents on the dollar, to repair damages, was voted at a special town-meeting, November 8th. On the meadows the loss was great. The corn was nearly all cut and shocked, and it stood under water for a long time. It was a great task to get it dry after the river had subsided, as the ears and stalks were soaked, and covered with sand.
In 1876, after this part of the Connecticut valley had become dry and people had begun planting, heavy rains and melting snows in the mountains, caused a flood in which the river rose about eight inches above the highest water-mark before reached. The water was six inches deep on the kitchen floor of the house in which Charles C. Scales now lives, on the Upper meadow. In 1895, the spring freshet was very high, railroad travel was suspended for a few days, and the water stood nearly three feet deep in the bridge between Newbury and Haverhill.
In June, 1795, there was a heavy shower-perhaps what we should now call a cloudburst-on the hills around Harriman's brook, and that stream, swelled to a torrent, broke around the mill-dam, west of Newbury street, poured down the hill, and across what is now the common, and washed out a deep channel which began about where the fountain is, or used to be, and caused the "gulley" north of Mr. Cobleigh's house. The gulley was as deep as it now is east of the street, for some way on the common. Before that time, the plain was unbroken at that place. James Wilson, who came to Bradford in that month, stated in a paper of reminiscence, which he drew up in his old age, that the water in the river was discolored by the mud from that wash-out for many miles.
A special town-mecting was warned to be held on the 1st of September: "To see if the town will bridge over the Gulley, or
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turn the road back of Capt. Lovewell's barn." It was voted- "That the road nigh Capt. Lovewell's shall continue where it was always trod" and a bridge was built across the chasm. When the seminary building was erected the part of the gulley upon the common was filled in by the town, at a cost of $700.
In our northern latitude unseasonable storms are long remembered. During several years, from 1812 to 1818, the seasons were cold and the times were hard. The year 1816 was known as the "cold year," and the "famine year." The season was early, and planting was well advanced by the 15th of May. But the summer was very cold and there was frost in every month. Moosilauke was white twice in July and three times in August. On the 5th of June, some masons who were building a brick house at Bath Upper Village, were compelled to abandon their work until the 10th as the mortar froze in the open air. Thermometers had not then come into general use, but it was afterwards believed that the temperature was not much above zero. The corn was entirely destroyed in that year-only a few saved enough for seed by maintaining fires around their corn fields. James Works of Waterford went down to Connecticut and brought up a large quantity of corn in a flatboat, to Newbury, which he sold for $2.50 per bushel, the common price at that period being about fifty cents. Money was very scarce and provisions were so dear that some people suffered from hunger. A daughter of Thomas Brock was married in that year, and the family, although well-to-do, were hard pressed to provide the young lady with a suitable outfit.
"May 15th, 1817," says an entry in an old account-book kept by Robert Barnett, "snow fell three inches deep at the Upper meadow, and in Orange it fell six inches deep, and so cold as to freeze potatoes which were planted."
"June 16th there was a very hard frost which froze potatoes to the ground."
On the 15th of May, 1834, occurred the great snow-storm which is a landmark in the memory of old people. An entry in an account-book kept by Jonas Tucker of West Newbury is as follows :
"Snow fell from daylight to ten o'clock two feet deep, on higher land it fell two and a half-had it not settled it would probably have been from two and a half to three and a half deep. For about two hours it gained an inch in each ten minutes. 16th May. The earth was completely covered with snow all day.
17th, Bare spots appeared."
The season was an early one. Plum and apple trees were in blossom before the middle of May, but on the 13th it grew suddenly cold, and people along the river road planted corn with their mittens on. The snow was damp and broke down trees badly. It grew cold after the storm, and water froze hard in the houses, and as far south as Concord, icicles two feet long, were formed. On the heights, east of Haverhill Corner, over three feet of snow fell. At
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Burlington the storm lasted about twenty-four hours. The stage from Burlington to Haverhill went all the way on runners. The stage from Montpelier to Danville stuck in the snow, and had to be abandoned. The third day was warm, and the snow was all gone before dark. The small streams were swollen to a great height, but the river was not much affected. In spite of the storm, 1834 was "a great fruit year."
There has not since, been such an untimely storm. Many anecdotes are remembered by aged people, of cattle and sheep lost and perishing in the snow, and, in not a few instances, men who went to search for them became bewildered, and relief parties had to be organized to find them.
The winters of 1843 and 1850 were extremely cold, as was that of 1854. There were twenty mornings in February of the latter year, when the mercury was below zero. July and August were very dry. There was a heavy fog nearly every morning, but no rain, and very little fell during the fall. Fire, started in the swamp on Leighton hill, east of the farms of J. F. George and Mrs. Wheeler, destroyed a large amount of timber, and all the men in the vicinity were called out to fight the fire, on the 22d, 23d and 24th of August.
The 5th, 6th, and 7th of February, 1855, were believed by the oldest people to be the coldest days known since the town was settled. The mercury fell to-36° at the Ox-bow, and, on the 7th, the highest point reached was -17°. The day was windy, and there were many sufferers by the cold. At Boston the thermometer indicated -20°, at New York -7º, at Philadelphia -6°, and at Washington -3º. The winter of 1874 was remarkable for its length. On the 1st of May, the snow was still deep, and people did not gather in their sugar tools till after the 10th, and there was sugar made in this town after the 15th. But if we have had long winters and untimely snow-storms, we have also had winters of unusual mildness, and, more than once, the ground has entirely thawed out, and people have done plowing in midwinter.
On the 18th of January, 1817, when the snow was very deep, there was a thunder-storm in the night which lasted two hours, and many buildings were burned by lightning, in different parts of New England. In the evening of March 14, 1850, there was a heavy thunder-shower. The snow was deep, and the previous day was the first mild day of the spring. Several buildings have been struck by lightning and burned in this town, but so far as known, no life has been lost from that cause.
It seems singular that Colonel Johnson makes no mention of the famous "Dark Day" which occurred May 19, 1780. For several days previous, the air was full of smoke, and on the morning of the 19th there was, here in Newbury, a light shower, with some thunder. About ten o'clock it began to grow dark, and
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before noon it became so dark that one could not see to read in the open air, and all visible objects assumed strange colors. Fowls went to roost, small birds flew into the houses, as if seeking the protection of men, and cattle came home from the pastures, uttering strange cries of distress. Candles were lighted in the houses, and in places where there were churches, multitudes flocked to them, thinking that the end of the world had come. In the afternoon it rained, and the water which fell was discolored, as if mixed with soot. By four o'clock, it was as dark as it usually is at midnight, when there is no moon, and candles and torches burned with great brilliancy. It was the night of the full moon, but it was so dark that a sheet of white paper, held before the eyes, was invisible. Very few people slept that night, but sat up, and "watched for the morning," which was remarkably clear, the sun rising in cloudless splendor. A great deal has been written about this occurrence, which is generally believed to have been caused by combined thick clouds and dense smoke. It did not extend much beyond the Hudson, and was darkest in southern New England. It was not as dark here in Newbury, but it was dense enough to be remembered as one of the remarkable events in the memories of old people fifty years ago.
November 2, 1819, another dark day occurred, which recalled that of 1780. Candles were lighted in many of the houses at noon, but the obscurity passed away before evening.
September 6, 1881, is celebrated in meteorological annals, as the "Yellow Day." This day was also very dark, and in houses and mills artificial light was used. The most remarkable feature was the strange colors which all objects assumed, yellow taking the mastery of all the rest, producing strange effects upon familiar objects. Kerosene and gas burned with intense brilliancy, like electric lights, and all outlines in the open air seemed to waver and grow indistinct. The air was very moist; the temperature about 75°; the wind was north, and blew moderately. Toward evening these appearances gradually passed away.
The meteoric shower of November 13, 1833, was one of the most wonderful sights ever witnessed. The night was perfectly clear, and about ten o'clock the display began. Thousands of meteors fell, some of them with dazzling brilliancy. The flashing was incessant, many at the same instant falling in all directions. People were awakened from sleep by the glare, and the superstitious thought that the end of the world had come. The comet of 1857 was hardly less wonderful. When most brilliant, the head of the comet was at the zenith, while the tail had not all risen over the northern hills, and was in breadth about equal to one degree of the horizon. It was so bright that one could easily read by its light, and the shadows of objects were cast southward. It also passed away, but to the ignorant it was an object of dread, portentous of some great calamity in the universe.
CHAPTER XXXV.
A CHAPTER OF LOCAL HISTORY.
BOLTONVILLE .- WHITELAW'S JOURNAL .- MILLS .- DEA. ANDREW BROCK .- THE BOLTONS .- PRESENT MILLS .- RESIDENTS THERE IN 1832 .- THE LIME KILN NEIGHBORHOOD .- FIRST SETTLERS .- SCHOOLS .- LIME BURNING .- RELIGIOUS HISTORY .- THE SWAMP ROAD FIGHT .- THE GROW AND DOE NEIGHBORHOODS .- DISAPPEARANCE OF FAMILIES.
T HIS paper is compiled from an article upon Boltonville prepared several years ago by Mrs. Lydia S. Bolton; from a later paper by Mrs. N. Robinson; from information by Mr. Edward Miller, and from an account written by Mr. E. G. Parker upon the business men and farmers in Boltonville, in 1832.
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