USA > Vermont > Orange County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time > Part 30
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The first mention of the place now called Boltonville is found in General Whitelaw's Journal, and is as follows :
"About the beginning of January, 1775, James Whitelaw purchased the part of lot 120 in Newbury that lies north of Wells River, with one-half the privilege of the river, to build milns for the company and James Henderson began to block out wood for building them. About the middle of August we raised the frame of the grist-miln and first framed house, and about the beginning of October we raised the sawmiln.
"Oct. 28, 1775. We set the grist-miln running.
"July 1, 1776. Alarm came of St. Johns being retaken by the regulars, and that Indians would be sent through to lay waste the country ; all the people in Ryegate moved down to Newbury where they had more company, but after about ten days, and seeing no appearance of danger returned home. A few days later we set the sawmiln going, which answers its end very well."
This land, and water privilege, was bought by the Scots American Company which settled Ryegate, because they found they had, in that town, no stream of water sufficient for mills. The frame of the first sawmill stood where the grist-mill shed now stands.
BELOW THE FALLS, BOLTONVILLE.
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BOLTONVILLE.
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A CHAPTER OF LOCAL HISTORY.
James Ferguson was the first miller. The first dwelling-house was occupied by Dea. Andrew Brock. These were the first buildings in the place. This water privilege is the best on Wells River, the stream falling about sixty feet in the course of six or eight rods, the last fall being about thirty feet.
Later, James Smith bought ot Josiah Little the remainder of lot No. 120, lying on the south side of Wells River, and built his house on the plain, back of where Mr. Sly's house now stands, and the first road to Jefferson hill passed by it, and went over the great hill to the present corner of the Jefferson hill, and Scotch Hollow roads.
On the 23d of May, 1787, the Scots American company sold the mills, with the land that lies in Newbury, and two lots adjoining, in Ryegate, with a reserve of the pine lumber for the company's use, to Dea. Andrew Brock, and at this time the name of "Brock's Falls" was given the place. In our earlier town records, it is called "Whitelaw's Mills."
About 1809 the grist-mill and sawmill were burned, but Deacon Brock at once set about rebuilding them, and soon had a new grist-mill completed, and set running. About 1812 there was a room finished off in the mill, and a carding machine put in.
About 1817 Deacon Brock died, and from his estate in March, 1820, John Bolton of Danville bought the grist-mill and carding- mill, and the land lying west of it in Newbury. The next month, William Bolton, then a young man, moved his family into the place. In the fall of 1820, John Bolton bought of Thomas Eames of Wells River, all the right he owned in the fulling-mill, which stood where the grist-mill shed now stands with the right of drawing water from the grist-mill flume. In the spring of 1826, John Bolton commenced erecting a building for carding and cloth dressing.
In the spring of 1827, the machinery was taken out of the grist-mill, removed to the factory, and Mr. Gardner carried on the business there. In the spring of 1829, the old Brock grist-mill was torn down, and the present one, built by John and William Bolton, at a cost of $4,000, was set running on the 29th of September the same year. In 1835, John Waddell bought of John Bolton the water privilege at the head of the great falls, erected a house and shop, together, for the manufacture of furniture and general repairing, and occupied it until his decease. In 1843 John Bolton died, and the property he owned in Newbury was, by will, left to his son, William, and the wife of his son Luther. In 1853 William Bolton took down the old house which Deacon Brock built in 1775, and built the one in which Mr. Robinson now lives, very near where it stood.
In 1863 H. K. Worthley bought the grist-mill owned by William Bolton, and kept it in his hands until December, 1887, when it was sold to Freeman P. Tucker. At the latter's death it passed into the hands of his brother, Samuel A. Tucker.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.
In the year 1831 a mail route was established from Wells River to West Topsham, through Groton, and a petition was sent to Washington for a post office at what had been known as Brock's Falls. At the suggestion of Mr. Robert Whitelaw, the name of the place was called Boltonville, and William Bolton was the first postmaster. He resigned the office in 1841, and Thomas Wasson was appointed in his place, which he held until the office was discontinued. In 1863 it was re-established, and H. K. Worthley, F. P. Tucker, and S. A. Tucker have since held the office. The carding-mill and farm are now owned by Charles S. Bolton. Thus far the narrative of Mrs. Bolton.
Mr. Parker tells us of the residents of Boltonville in 1832 :-
John Waddell ran a wheelwright and carpenter's shop in the basement of the factory building, later he built the house and shop, (now owned by Mr. Sargent, and used as cider mill, etc., ) and continued the same business until his death. Jacob W. Sulham was the village shoemaker; he owned, and lived in a house where Mr. Sargent's house now stands. As was the custom, Mr. Sulham went from house to house with his "kit" of tools, fitting and repairing boots and shoes for each member of the family. He also took his fiddle for evening entertainment, where the neighbors were sure to form a merry group around the tallow candles, to hear the fiddle talk. Israel Sly, the blacksmith, lived in the basement of William Bolton's house, on nearly the same site where N. Robinson now lives. He built the shop now standing near the iron bridge. Later he built the house on the hill, where his son Edwin now lives, working in the shop, and farming until his death. Mrs. Sly, his wife, lived with her son, Edwin, until her death, November 23, 1899. Jacob F. Paige, carpenter and joiner, lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Mary Hadlock. His shop was in the back part of his house, but his business and family increased so fast he was obliged to build a house and shop on land now owned by N. Robinson, the buildings long since torn down.
Samuel Boyce lived in a log house a little south of where D. B. Reid now lives, and raised a family of five boys and three girls. Horatio Stebbins lived on nearly the same site where Alonzo Boyce resides, carried on a small farm, and did blacksmith work in a shop near his house. Enoch Nelson owned the farm, and lived in the house which Lewis Hill now owns and occupics. His brother, Stephen Nelson, owned a large farm at the end of the road, beyond where Mrs. Stephen Putman now lives. Mr. Nelson was a successful farmer, an honest and respected citizen. William Gardner owned the Vance farm, and lived in a log house south of where Mr. Vance now lives. John McLure lived-and cleared up the farm- and built a set of buildings near where his sons James and Charles. now live. Mr. McLure was a staunch Presbyterian, and dcacon of the church for many years; a hard-working, industrious farmer,
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. A CHAPTER OF LOCAL HISTORY.
accumulating quite a property. James Henderson, senior, built, about 1806, the house in which James Gardner now lives; and his son James built that in which Edwin Henderson and his mother reside, selling the old house and part of the farm to Hugh Gardner, father of the said James. A Mr. Quint owned and lived on the farm on the hill, where his son Josiah now lives; he also built a mill at the Quint place, so-called, where barley was hulled and oatmeal was made, doing a large business, as that was the only mill of the kind for miles around. James Foresythe lived on the farm now owned by Mrs. Cole and formerly, by the late Duncan Ritchie. Michael Cross lived on a small farm on the main road, at that time, leading to Jefferson Hill, and made baskets. Charles Wheeler, better known as "Uncle Charlie," owned a few acres of land a little off the main road, and gained a livelihood by hunting, fishing and trapping. William Randall, father of Moses Randall, owned a farm and lived on the hill back of where Moses Randall now lives.
The Methodist society held meetings in the summer seasons, in . a barn on William Gardner's farm, near where James Vance now lives; afterwards in the hall of the factory building; later in a schoolhouse standing on the site of the M. & W. R. R. station.
School was held in a log schoolhouse, near where James Vance's sugar house now stands. In 1834 it was burned, and for several years school was held in different places in the district: in a room over John Waddell's shop; in the hall of factory building; and in Jacob F. Paige's shop, until the district could agree upon a building lot, for the schoolhouse above mentioned.
Along the west side of the town, from Ryegate line south, lies a deep valley, shut in on the west by the massive Topsham hills, and on the east by Jefferson hill, and the heights west of the Center, and Long pond. The west line of the "hundred acre lots" passes for several miles along the bottom of this valley, and the west side of it lies mostly within the "half mile strip," or "Whiting's Gore." About midway lie two small ponds. The outlet from one of them, called Scott's brook, finds its way down the valley northward, to Wells river at South Ryegate. The water from the south of these ponds follows the valley southwest into Topsham, and Tabor branch of Wait's river, by a small stream called the Levi brook. The soil along the valley is of limestone formation, deep and productive. The farms which cling to the hills on the west, are among the best in town, and the locality is noted for its orchards, and its excellent pasturage.
This part of the town, once called the Nourse neighborhood, and often, District No. 12, is more generally designated as the "Lime Kiln." It was long somewhat isolated from the rest of
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.
the town, its only outlet, except through Topsham, being the road across the hills to Newbury village, seven miles away. Consequently it has a history and annals which are all its own, and somewhat of these have been gathered for this chapter, by Mr. Henry Whitcher, Mr. C. B. Fisk, and Mr. Thomas P. Bailey. There is material of tale and legend among the hills of this town to furnish a volume for a novelist.
The first settlers came about 1789, and made clearings in the dense woods. Among them were John McAlvin, Adam Salter, David Pulsifer, Stephen Chase, Mason Randall, and Josiah Newton. The first recorded deed was from Mason Randall to Jeremiah and David Nourse, May 9, 1803, and the second, September 5, 1803, from Stephen Chase to Josiah Newton, who conveyed, in July, 1815, to Robert Johnston, the same farm, which is now the homestead of Henry Whitcher.
Most of the families which were prominent there fifty years ago, came after residing some years in Ryegate or Groton. The Whitcher and Renfrew families came that way; the Eastmans from New Hampshire; the Nourse and Boynton people from Windham County. Some of the early families came over from Topsham.
For a few years the children of that locality attended school in Topsham, it being a union district, the schoolhouse standing on the edge of the lonely burial ground which lies high among the hills on the old Topsham road. In 1807, District No. 12 was established, and a schoolhouse was afterward built on the Nourse farm, near the small cemetery there. Later a schoolhouse was erected near Isaac Eastman's which was remodelled in 1889, at an expense of about $800, and is used also for religious meetings.
Some time near 1829, John Botten began the manufacture of lime, which was carried on later by Charles George, who did a large business until 1836 or '37, when he sold out to Isaac Eastman, who . continued the work about twenty years, until competition from lime brought by railroad ruined the business, as the new quality was whiter. Mr. Eastman made, in some years, about 3,000 bushels of lime, which was used in all the region, and walls plastered with it sixty years ago are still firm.
Isaac Olmsted, in 1830, began the making of chairs, which he carried on some three years. Josiah Dow and Samuel Eastman were shoemakers. George Cook was a blacksmith for some time about 1841. David Chase, and his son-in-law, W. B. Stevens, were coopers. In 1846-8 William H. Nourse built a sawmill in the north end of the district, which did a good business for several years. In 1838 there werc, in that part of the town set off as district No. 12, in 1807, seventeen families which embraccd 115 persons, and sent thirty-four scholars to school. In the same region there are now twelve families and forty-five persons, with seven children of school
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Photo. by Corliss.
NEWBURY TOWN HOUSE.
Photo. by Corliss
IN THE LIME KILN NEIGHBORHOOD.
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A CHAPTER OF LOCAL HISTORY.
age. The present bounds of the district contain twenty-two families, with ninety-two inhabitants, and twenty children who attended school. Several well known teachers came from this locality, and two or three college graduates.
The religious history of this part of the town is somewhat peculiar, as it is remote, and no church was ever organized there. There have always been members of several churches in the vicinity who lived at the Lime Kiln, and religious services have been held a part of the time during the past eighty years. Rev. Daniel Batchelder from Corinth, who built up a large Free Will Baptist church in that town, labored there successfully about 1815, and later. Rev's Paul Richmond and William Peck gained converts to the Methodist church by their fervent preaching. Rev. Clark Perry, and others of the Congregational order, held many services there. After the opening of Newbury Seminary, the zeal of both professors and students led them to that valley, and stated services were long held, and a Sunday school was in very successful operation. There were always good singers in that neighborhood, and the fine singing drew encomiums from Bishop Baker. In 1842, an Adventist preacher by the name of Staples came, and held large grove meetings, predicting the exact time of the end of the world. But the date which he had set for the final consummation having passed with no manifest change in the operations of the universe, the excitement which he produced soon died away, and the preacher departed. Representatives of seven shades of doctrines reside in that neighborhood at the present time.
This fragment of local history must also include mention of a controversy called the "Swamp Road fight." This road, which begins at the old Burbank mill site on Scott's brook, near South Ryegate, follows this stream across a cedar swamp to a point on the Levi brook road near David Lumsden's, and was built in 1860. It is about two miles and three-quarters long. Before that road was built the residents there could get their produce to market only by the roundabout road through Topsham, Corinth and Bradford, or by choice of climbing over Jefferson hill, or the hills toward Newbury street. It took six years of struggle to get the much-needed road surveyed and built.
A petition with about 200 names attached, dated September 30, 1854, was presented to the selectmen, who were A. B. W. Tenney, John B. Carleton and Joseph Smith, praying them to lay out and build this road. This they refused to do, as did another board a year or two later, on the ground that the road would benefit Corinth, Topsham and Ryegate more than it would Newbury, and recommended that a Courts Commission be appointed, with power to assess those towns to help build the road. Accordingly a petition was presented to the court, and Stephen Thomas, A. H. Gilmore and John B. Peckett were appointed
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.
as a commission. They viewed the proposed route, and after holding several hearings, decided that the road should be built, and that Ryegate and Topsham should be assessed forty per cent of the cost. This decision aroused much opposition among the largest taxpayers of these towns, who were not much interested in the building of a road which lay in a remote corner of Newbury, and much more bitterness was engendered there than the affair would seem to have warranted. Seventeen meetings of the commission were held, at which the petitioners were represented by Hon. C. B. Leslie, assisted by Robert Ormsby and J. W. Batchelder. The towns employed counsel to oppose the building of the road, and many were bitterly opposed to it who knew little or nothing about the matter. But the petitioners were in the end triumphant, and Mr. Whitcher, who, with Thomas P. Bailey, managed their cause, were successful in stopping the opposition of Topsham, and Col. Horatio Brock being town agent in 1859, having satisfied himself of the necessity of the road, recommended the building of it. At that time, Ephraim Bailey, T. P. Bailey, and Charles H. George, lived on the line of the proposed road, and were not near anyone already built. He directed that the road should be built, which was done, and completed in November, 1860.
The building of the railroad through South Ryegate brought this locality nearer a market, and the swamp road is now one of the most travelled in town, and not expensive to keep in repair.
Before closing the account of this controversy it is proper to say that while there were plenty of people who were perfectly willing to do all the talking which was called for, and more, the financial load was carried by a few, and the survivors wish their names preserved. They were: Henry Whitcher, Ephraim Bailey, T. P. Bailey, James Peach, C. H. George, Isaac Eastman, John Peach, John Weed, Levi James, Nelson Renfrew, James Crawford, Thomas Wormwood and William Hunter of Newbury, George Hall, James White and J. B. Darling of Ryegate, S. F. McAllister, W. T. George, Lyman Batchelder and Valentine Weed of Topsham.
There was a prospect, at one time, that the Montpelier and Wells River railroad would be built up Scott's brook, thence to East Corinth, and through the vicinity of the copper mines, but nothing came of it.
Newbury is such a large town in area, that the Grow and Doe neighborhoods, in the southwestern corner, are more than twelve miles from Wells River by the nearest roads. Settlements, however, began in that part of the town much earlier than in other sections which are now more thickly settled. Settlements began in Topsham, just beyond the Newbury line in 1781, on what was soon known as Chamberlain hill, and is now oftener called Currier hill. Eighty years ago that locality, on both sides of the line, was quite densely populated; there was a store and a tavern
A CHAPTER OF LOCAL HISTORY. 273
on Currier hill, and trainings were long held on the old Chamberlain farm. The first settlers of Topsham were a fine race of people, and more than one man of national fame has come from that town. * In both the Doe and Grow neighborhoods, were early established several families of marked individuality, who were of good standing in the town, and acquired considerable wealth. Among these were the Grow, Putnam and Chapman families, of the first settlers, and the Fultons, Emersons and others, later comers. Doe, Clark and Corliss, were the most common names in the other school district, with the Renfrews, who came later. There was a fine Scotch element here, and some of the most prominent men in town affairs have lived in this locality.
This section of Newbury is drained by branches of Waits river, and its inhabitants receive their mail at East Corinth. Many families, which in the early decades of the century were prominent around West Newbury, have entirely disappeared before the end of it. The Carters and the Haseltines are all gone, and only one family keeps up the Rogers name.
If no other value belongs to the present volume, it will preserve the names and deeds of these, and other families-the substantial people of Newbury in their time.
*NOTE. President Gates of Iowa College is a native of Topsham, and Rev. Alvi T. Twing, D. D., secretary of the Missionary Society of the Episcopal church from 1866, till his death in 1882, was also born in that town.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
MERCHANTS AND BUSINESS MEN OF NEWBURY.
FIRST STORE .- COLONEL WALLACE .- COLONEL JOHNSON .- DAVID JOHNSON .- "THE DEPOT BUILDING."-THE MORSE BUILDING .- THE CHADWICK STORE .- THE OLD BOOK-STORE .- THE KEYES FAMILY .- OTHER MERCHANTS .- MERCHANTS AT WEST NEWBURY .- AT THE CENTRE.
C OL. WILLIAM WALLACE is understood by Mr. Perry to have opened, about 1775, the first store in Newbury, in a building which stood near Mr. Lawrie's house. A few years later he removed this building, which he considerably enlarged, to the site now occupied by the library. When he erected the house which afterward became the Spring Hotel, he removed this building to the other side of the street, where it still stands, the back part of the old "Newbury House."
Col. Thomas Johnson was a merchant as well as an innkeeper, and kept store in a building now used as a corn barn by Mr. Weed. He afterward fitted up a wing to his house for that purpose. This, long after removed, is the kitchen part of Mr. James Lang's house. His son David Johnson succeeded him in the business, which they had for some time carried on together, and built the brick building, now the residence of Mr. Southworth, in which he did business until within a year or two of his death. A clerk of Colonel Johnson's a century ago, named Tural Tufts, wrote a beautiful hand, and kept writing-school winters.
Of other than these, as traders, we have very little account. One John McLain is mentioned often in the early annals as a merchant, but who he was, or where he traded, are uncertain. He
NOTE. It was intended that this paper should follow that of Mr. Leslie upon Wells River. But many desired particulars could not be obtained then, and other chapters were substituted. It is to be regretted that some one, to whom the history of the village is as familiar as that of Wells River is to Mr. Leslie, had not prepared this chapter.
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MERCHANTS AND BUSINESS MEN OF NEWBURY.
must have been here several years, a century and more ago. One Stickney, or, perhaps, two brothers of the name, carried on business here about the time of the war of 1812. There were, probably, others, whose names have not come down to us, who did a mercantile business in the earlier decades of the century.
In 1820, Dr. Luther Jewett had a drug-store in his house-the one under the great elm south of the cemetery. In the '90's Nathan Coverly, Jr., kept a book and stationery store in connection with his printing office, which was in a building nearly opposite where the late Miss Swasey lived. James Spear, who built and owned what is now Montebello House, was a hatter, and had a shop in a small building which stood near it, in which he kept the post office for some time. The present Congregational parsonage was a grocery in the early '30s, and afterwards became a tailor's shop. Hon. Joseph Berry is advertised in the Democratic Republican about the same time as keeping a book-store.
About 1830, Simeon and Austin Avery erected a large building for the Tyson Furnace Company of Plymouth, Vt. This was intended as a place for the storage and sale, for this region, of their plows and stoves, and was called the "Depot Building." Mr. Peter Wheelock was the Company's agent for some time. This building stood between T. C. Keyes's house and the town clerk's office; was very large, standing with its end to the street, and, in front was much like Keyes's store. The lower floor was divided by a hall which ran the whole length of the building, and there was another on the second floor. There were always several families living there, and a number of small stores were opened in it-and closed. Paul McKinstry carried on the stove and hardware business there, for many years. Hayes & Co. had their printing office in that building, and Mr. McIndoe began there the publication of the "Aurora." On the second floor Simeon Shepardson took photographs and ambrotypes, in the '50's and '60's. This building was burned in the fire of 1876.
Where the town clerk's office now stands, William K. Wallace had a small building in which he carried on the watch and clock business. Burnham Shepard succeeded him, who sold to S. L. Swasey, in 1875.
There was a building on the corner where James B. Hale's store now is, as early as 1810. Timothy Morse came here about 1815, and remained here till his death, nearly fifty years later. He built the store on the corner last mentioned, which was burned in 1876. He was a very active, energetic man, who always had several lines of business in his hands at a time. Mr. Morse was a brother of Robert Morse, a well known innkeeper at Rumney, and largely engaged in the stage business. Timothy Morse married a daughter of Cotton Haines of Rumney, the wives of Seth Greenleaf and W. W. Simpson, well known stage proprietors and drivers, being
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