History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 45

Author: Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood, 1847-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Burlington, Vt., Free press printing company
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Royalton > History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911 > Part 45

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The settlers in the western part of the town soon had mills nearer home than those on the First Branch. Good water power was furnished by the Second Branch, and lot 34 Town Plot was the place selected for a site for mills. Nicholas Trask owned this

PERCIVAL FURNITURE FACTORY. Formerly the Adams Lumber Mill.

THE OLD TRESCOTT MILL. On the John F Shepard Farm.

MI.

SITE OF THE CURTIS-MORGAN MILL, Burned Oct. 16, 1780.

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HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT

lot in 1781, but was a non-resident. He sold it in 1789 to Aaron Brown of New Hampshire. It is not known when the mills were erected, but probably soon after Mr. Brown came to town. He was listed from 1790 to 1804. Elisha Perkins bought five acres of him in 1800, including the mills, for $1,000, and was to pay in part in lumber, clapboards, and slit work. He in turn after three years sold to Jireh Durkee.

Four different persons owned the property between 1800 and 1811, when Daniel Woodbury bought it. In 1815 he sold land and water privilege to Nathan Kimball, Benjamin Bloss, and Elisha G. Cotton, who established a clover mill on the other side of the Branch about opposite the mills.

In 1822 John Marshall purchased the mills. He tried tak- ing in three partners, Daniel Cushing, Oliver Ordway, and David Ford, but none except Mr. Cushing remained in the firm any length of time. Mr. Cushing seems to have put in a fulling mill. Samuel Hibbard of Bethel secured an interest in the firm, and he and Mr. Marshall leased the saw and grist mill to Mr. Cush- ing for two years from 1828. Before the end of the lease Mr. Marshall sold the one-third interest which he held to Hosea Harris of Hartford, who allowed Mr. Cushing to remain. The mills were known as Marshall's mills even after Harvey Wight bought a one-third interest in 1833. Five years later Mr. Wight had control of a larger part of the property, and sold John and Josiah Brooks a two-thirds interest. A shingle mill had then been put in. Erastus P. Williams seems also to have had a share in the mills.

The mills continued to change hands rather frequently, and in 1841 Milo Dearing bought them, and took in Don Crain of Bethel as a partner. Dearing and Crain bought also a one-sixth interest in the clover mill. In 1843 Mr. Crain bought out his partner, and the mills were called Crain's mills until he sold to Lucius B. Wright and Horace A. Lyman in 1853. Mr. Wright got control of the mills the next year, including the clover mill, which was then in a decaying condition. He retained the prop- erty five years and then sold to James Walcott, who, in 1860, sold a one-half interest to his son-in-law, Jason S. Lovejoy. John McIntosh, the next owner in 1865, kept the mills two years, and then turned them over to Oscar N. Stoughton. While Mr. Stough- ton owned them they were burned. It was then that he pur- chased the "Pierce Mills." Seven years after the mills were burned, Mr. Stoughton had rebuilt a new electric plant on the old site, and alone started in to furnish electric lights to the two villages. The first electric lights began to twinkle in Royalton Nov. 2, 1900. Against many drawbacks and discouragements Mr. Stoughton continued to supply the villages with lights until 26

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June, 1909, when he sold out to the South Royalton Power Com- pany.

This company was incorporated March 26, 1909, with a capi- tal stock of $10,000, divided into 1,000 shares of $10 each. The subscribers were N. Curtis Fletcher of Boston, Ruth L. Howe of Boston, Robert B. Keltie, 2nd, of Boston, James G. Henry of White River Junction, and G. S. Edson of W. Lebanon, N. H. Its principal place of business was to be Royalton and South Royalton. On May 22, 1909, there had been paid in $2,000. A new organization was deemed advisable, and on Dec. 17, 1909, the Royalton Power Company was incorporated through the office of the Secretary of State. The articles of incorporation say, that it is organized "for the purpose of making, generating, selling, distributing, and supplying electricity for lighting, heating, manufacturing or mechanical purposes; and to manufacture, buy, sell, rent and deal in fixtures and appliances of all kinds for the use of electricity and hydraulic machinery and supplies; also to acquire, build, own, develop, manage, operate, lease and dispose of water rights, water powers and steam and water power plants and systems, mills and mill sites, and to construct and build dams, sluiceways and other structures, and to do a general construction and engineering work of all kinds necessary or in- cidental to the business of said corporation in Royalton and Bethel and other towns in Windsor and Orange Counties in said state of Vermont. With principal place of business at Royalton in the County of Windsor, in the State of Vermont, with capital Stock of Sixteen Thousand ($16,000.00) Dollars divided into Sixteen Hundred Shares of par value Ten Dollars each."

Frederick L. Walker of Boston, N. Curtis Fletcher of Bos- ton, Robert B. Keltie, Jr., of Boston, Marvin H. Hazen of South Royalton, and Arthur N. Stoughton of Royalton were the sub- scribers. The South Royalton Power Company held a meeting Jan. 4, 1910, at the office of Tarbell & Whitham in So. Royalton, when 1,300 shares were represented. N. Curtis Fletcher was authorized as agent to sell to the Royalton Power Company all the property of the South Royalton Power Co., and the transfer was made Feb. 5, 1910. Frederick L. Walker is president of the company and M. H. Hazen, clerk.

About 1800 Amos Robinson bought of Ebenezer Parkhurst fifty acres in the southwestern part of lot 2 Large Allotment. A few years afterwards Mr. Robinson refers to a saw mill on his land, and the inference is that he built his mill. In 1820 Nehe- miah Leavitt who lived in the Horace Royce house, Broad Brook, deeded Mr. Robinson four and three-fourths acres of land where Mr. Robinson's grist and saw mills stood. These mills were lo- cated on a brook running into Broad Brook near the bridge across

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Broad Brook just below Horace Royce's. The grist mill was on the right hand side of the brook as one stands on the bridge fac- ing the brook, and the saw mill was on the opposite side. The site of these mills can be seen in one of the cuts, a winter scene.

In 1830 Mr. Robinson deeded these mills to his son, Amos. He was in Sharon the next year. His son sold the grist mill to John Thompson in 1833, and the next year he sold the saw mill to Benjamin Thompson of Pomfret. In 1846 Cyrus Hartshorn came into possession of the saw mill, and passed it on to Hiram Hinkley, who sold it in 1852 to Joseph Johnson. Mr. Johnson became involved in the South Royalton Bank failure, and the property went into the hands of Phineas Goff. Mr. Goff ran the mill several years, and also his son Calvin continued the business until October, 1869, when the great freshet which took out the dam and bridge also took the mill along with them. It was par- tially rebuilt, but practically ceased to exist in 1869.

While John Thompson had the grist mill, he seems to have put in a rake factory. In 1841 Chester Baxter of Sharon sold this property to Richard Thomas, having obtained it on a mort- gage. Mr. Thomas and his son, Philip, ran both the grist mill and the rake factory. There was, however, a lapse of fifteen years between the date of sale by Richard Thomas and the date of purchase by his son Philip. During this time the property was in the hands of several persons, who do not seem to have done much in the way of developing it. The mill and rake fac- tory were in a state of decay, when Thomas Davis took them from Mr. Thomas in 1880, and were never productive after that time. The buildings were removed many years ago. The grist mill was never used for grinding wheat, so far as can be learned. One who remembers them, says the mill and the factory were under the same roof.

Mr. Amos Robinson was a very energetic business man. He had varied interests and held considerable property on Broad Brook. His saw mill and grist mill were not enough to satisfy his active nature, and in 1824 he had his eye on a desirable site for another industry. He secured one and one-half acres of Arunah Clark in 1824. He sold this the next year to Peter Wheelock, Jr., and states that on it are two carding machines, a picking machine, clothing works, and a clover mill. The infer- ence is that in the year in which he held it, he had erected all these plants. Mr. Wheelock very soon took in as partner David A. Adams.

This firm continued until 1828, when Mr. Wheelock sold his share to Ichabod and Joseph Davis, and they two years later sold to David A. Adams, so that he controlled the whole at this time. He took Marshall Rix as a partner in 1830, and in 1835 sold his

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own interest to Heman Parkhurst of Sharon, who very soon deeded to Lyman L. Rix, who, in 1847 deeded to Marshall Rix. After running the mills four years Mr. Rix sold to Nathan P. Brownell, who sold the property to Richard Thomas in 1854. Three years later Mr. Thomas sold to Ira Curtiss, who utilized the plant to manufacture butter tubs, which business he con- tinued until 1866, when he sold to Richard Yeaton and Nathan D. Howland. This firm broke the record for periodic changes in ownership. They continued to do business until 1886, when Mr. Yeaton sold out to his partner. They had manufactured various things, knives, shoe shaves and lasts, croquet sets, etc. A saw mill was built in connection with the other works in 1879. Mr. Howland and his son Fred still continue the business, and get out a considerable quantity of lumber yearly, but ceased to manu- facture articles in 1885. If they hold the property six more years, they will have rounded out a half century of ownership. They do now a general repair business in connection with their saw mill. The property is known as the Nathan D. Howland mill.

There seems to be no means of ascertaining when the saw mill on the Jeremiah Trescott farm was erected. It is thought to be over 100 years old. It was built either by Jeremiah Tres- cott or his son Thomas. It is first mentioned in a deed given by Thomas to his nephew, Jeriel, in 1832, when Thomas sells Jeriel one-half of the mill. Jeremiah Trescott was the original grantee of 15 Dutch, the lot on which the mill is located. A small, rapid stream runs through this lot, to which the name "Mill brook" has been given in recent years. Isaac S. Shepard bought this farm in 1854, and he or his son, John F. Shepard, have resided on it ever since. No mill in town has changed hands so few times, and none, probably, is so nearly the original structure as this one. It still runs the upright saw, and holds its own with later inventions. It is an interesting old relic, a cut of which will be found in another place in this book.

Two brothers, William and Isaac Hatch, bought the farm where Mr. Francis Russell now lives, in 1823. They made an agreement with Ebenezer Rix, a millwright, on May 2, 1828, to build a saw mill "across the brook." In 1834 it went through the hands of Solomon Downer of Sharon to Philip Hadley of Randolph, and five years later Mr. Hadley sold to Jesse Adams. In 1846 Mr. Adams sold "the Rix and Hatch mill" to Henry C. Davis. Mr. Davis mortgaged to Mr. Adams, and the mill seems to have come into the possession of Mr. Adams again, for in 1850 he sold it to Daniel L. Lyman. Dr. Lyman deeded it the next year to Thomas Atwood. It went from Mr. Atwood to Charles Clapp and from him to Ebenezer and Oliver Atwood.

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They sold it in 1865 to James G. Henry. Six years later Mr. Charles Lyman bought it of him, and held it until 1902, when he sold to Norman Sewall. In 1907 the heirs of Mr. Sewall deeded it to Fred Fowler, who still owns and runs the mill.

The old turnpike bridge across White river at North Roy- alton appears to have been some little distance below the present site of the bridge. In 1817 Stafford Smith bought of Isaac Skin- ner about fifteen acres of land located in the northwestern part of 26 Large Allotment, beginning below the westerly abutment of the old turnpike bridge. On this land he erected a woolen factory, which he rented in 1819 to Daniel and Jabez Pinney for three years. They took it on shares. From the description of the premises it is learned that butternut bark was one of the dye stuffs used. Mr. Smith again appears in the records in 1825, when he rented to Abel and Joseph Matson, Thomas Wood, and Samuel Hunter of Barre for the term of five years. The factory was already occupied by the Matsons. Mr. Smith agreed to put things in repair for receiving machinery for roping, spinning, and weaving woolens. They were to pay $250 the first year, and after that, $300 a year. Fifteen barrels of cider were to be taken as part of the rent. Mr. Smith had bought of Jireh Dur- kee a few acres on which was a distillery, and it may be that this was included now in the lease. Whether Mr. Smith failed to put "things in repair," or for some other reason, the contract was mutually discharged Nov. 17, 1826. The firm name had been Stafford Smith, Hunter, Matson & Co.

On January 15th of the next year Mr. Smith through The Advocate advertised his property for sale. He describes his woolen factory as consisting of two fulling mills, dye house, two carding machines, one picker, one roping and spinning machine. He states that he got badly into debt through building. In May following he tells the public through the columns of The Advo- cate published in Royalton that his woolen mill is ready to take the wool and furnish cloth by the yard or on shares. In 1830 he sold to Pliny Davis and Ziba A. Pinney the land which he had bought of Isaac Skinner and Jireh Durkee, including the factory. The next day Mr. Pinney deeded to Mr. Davis, and eight months later Mr. Davis re-deeded to Mr. Smith. In Febru- ary, 1831, Benjamin Rice of Warren bought the property and removed to town in July. He carried on a successful manufac- turing business for many years, turning out cloth of various kinds. In February, 1850, the mills burned, and were never re- built.

Mr. Rice's factory was the most extensive of its kind ever in town. Fulling mills were supplementary to the hand work of skillful wives and daughters. Before 1800, when carding ma-

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HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT

chines were first introduced into this country, the carding of wool into rolls was all done in the home. The rolls were then spun, the yarn woven into cloth, and taken to the fulling mill for finishing. If it was to be used for men's clothing, it was fulled, colored, and sheared. Cloth for the use of women was dyed and pressed. So far as known no linen cloth was manufac- tured in town, except by hand in the home. Mr. Rice wove cloth by machinery, and the firm just preceding him may have done so for a brief time.

The making of potash and pearlash was an early industry. It required no expensive machinery, unless conducted on a large scale. The material for the manufacture of these articles was at hand. It only needed to cut down the trees which must be removed, before the ground could be cultivated, and to pile them up in heaps and burn them. They would then be gotten rid of, and also furnish material for manufacturing a salable article. The ashes were put into a wooden receptacle of some kind in the same way that farmers today "set up a leach" for making soft soap. A small quantity of quicklime was mixed with the ashes, the whole slowly wet down and the lye drained off. For potash the process was simple. The liquor was evaporated in iron ves- sels, and fused into rather solid masses by red heat. If pearlash was desired, the potash was calcined in a reverberatory furnace, by which process the foreign matter was thrown off. Then the residue was dissolved, filtered, again evaporated, and stirred as it became nearly dry into a white granulated mass.

Bradford Kenney in a deed of Oct. 22, 1789, refers to his potash house on N. 32 Town Plot. He had bought twenty-two acres in this lot two years before. He again mentions the potash works in a deed of 1791, locating them in the northwest corner of this lot. No further record of them is found. He may have been the first resident to begin the manufacture of potash in Roy- alton. In 1792 Isaac Pinney sold Samuel Bill 23 Dutch. One of the notes which Mr. Bill gave was to be paid in "salts of lye." Mr. Bill had deceased in 1798, and his estate was sold. The potash works drop out of sight at this time.

In a survey of White River Turnpike in 1802 mention is made of John Flint's potash works 122 rods from the house of Isaac Morgan, later known as James Buck's house. The firm of Flint & Jennings, located at the Yuran place, dissolved part- nership in 1802, but Mr. Flint was listed in town until 1808. No other record of this potash manufactory is found. In 1806 Elkanah Stevens speaks of potash works near the pound, which was located in the village nearly southeast of the meeting-house. These works came into the hands of Curtis & Cutter. It is pos- sible that they erected them. In a mortgage deed of 1828 Mr.

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Cutter describes a part of the mortgaged land as a three-cor- nered lot by the pound, where the potash works "formerly" stood.

May 6, 1809, John Estabrooks bought three-fourths of an acre of Daniel Gilbert, with the understanding that he was to erect pearlash works. May 17, 1816, Mr. Estabrooks deeded this to Curtis & Cutter, and they, in 1822, sold it, calling it then "potash and pearlash" works. This was located in the upper part of the village, and was reached by a lane 115 feet in length, which ran between the brick house now occupied by Mr. George Joy and the house just north. The property must have come back into the hands of the firm or Mr. Curtis, for in 1829 the executor of Zebina Curtis deeded it to Lucia, daughter of Mr. Curtis, and wife of Bancroft Fowler. In 1842 Mr. Fowler of Greenfield, N. H., sold to Solomon Downer, E. P. Nevens, and Lewis S. Fish, this same property, which had now been enlarged by a brick coal kiln, which was built by Mr. Nevens. In 1848 it passed through the hands of Mr. Downer to Richard Stough- ton.

Joseph Fessenden, July 23, 1811, sold Jacob Cady one-half acre where the potash works were. He says this land came from Mr. Cady. A search in the deeds fails to show any other refer- ence to these works. They appear to have been on Mr. Cady's land, and perhaps on a brook which ran through the land. In 1803 Jireh Durkee sold to Isaiah Aldrich of Hartland one acre on which were pearlash works and pump logs. In 1809 Mr. Ald- rich sold this to Waldo Tucker of Randolph, and the pearlash works were then mentioned. The next year the property was sold to Jacob Fox, and the acre was described as being on the west side of White River Turnpike, where Jacob Safford's north line struck it, and running towards the river. Mr. Fox sold one acre to Joseph Bowman, but it is not certain that it was this acre, and no mention is made of the pearlash works. In 1810 Levi Bellows, Joseph Dorr of Hartford, and John Estabrook sold Curtis & Cutter a potash and pearlash outfit on Broad Brook located on William Hunting's land. Mr. Hunting lived on what was known later as the Ichabod Davis farm. In Mr. Hunting's deeds no trace of the potash works has been found, and it is probable that the firm making the sale had erected the plant.

No doubt the manufacture of potash and pearlash was car- ried on in other parts of the town, but no one living now has any clear remembrance of them, and the records have been depended upon for information. Even in this simple manufacture, a cen- tury ago there was the same spirit that actuates the trusts today. In the Vermont State Papers it is found that in 1790 John Hinckley of Guilford petitioned the legislature for the exclusive

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right to make potash and pearlash for a period of ten years in the counties of Windham, Windsor, and Orange. He claimed to have a new method. This concession, if granted, would have been equivalent to a patent, and was, perhaps, the only way of securing any benefit from his invention.

Both potatoes and apples were utilized by the early settlers in making different forms of alcohol. There has been found no reference to potato whiskey in our town records. The manufac- ture of cider brandy could not be carried on until apple orchards had become bearing and cider mills had been erected, so there is no reference to these products until the nineteenth century.

In 1811 Daniel Rix, Jr., deeded to Jireh Durkee two acres "on the turnpike," saying they were to be tenants in common. Mr. Durkee deeded his share the next year to Dudley Chase of Randolph, and in 1813 Mr. Rix sold his lot, then said to be in 30 Large Allotment, to Mr. Chase. At that time it is stated that a distillery and grist mill were on the land sold. Mr. Rix had this of Benjamin Clark, and he of Joseph Bowman. In 1816 Jireh Tucker bought the distillery and three acres of land of Mr. Chase, and sold it ten years later to Stafford Smith. It is probable that Mr. Smith combined it with his factory, ceasing to run it as a distillery after some years.

In another part of the town, in 1811, a partnership was formed between James Morrill and Ezra Young for the purpose of operating a distillery. This was on Mr. Morrill's land on the road to Hezekiah Young's. Hezekiah Young had purchased 13 Town Plot. Ezra Young bought the half interest of Mr. Mor- rill in 1814. As part payment he was to furnish 350 gallons of whiskey. He quitclaimed the distillery to James Morrill, Jr., in 1817. It came into the possession of David Brewer in 1821. No further mention of the distillery is found.

During the War of 1812 whiskey was high, and that stimu- lated its manufacture. Deacon Daniel Tullar, who lived in the west part of the town, south of the river, had his distillery. He refers to it in a deed of 1815. Ebenezer Day refers to his cider mills in 1833, and in 1835 a road was laid from the cider mill of Jireh Tucker to his house. Mr. Tucker had bought a farm above Isaac Morgan's in 1831. This farm was located in 45 and 46 Dutch. There used to be a cider mill in the southeastern part of the town, on the Amos Robinson farm, mostly in 7 Large Allot- ment. No reference to it has been found in the deeds. It gave name to a part of the road between the Lovejoy house and that of Richard Yeaton. This section of the highway is still called "Cider Mill Hollow." The mill was on the right hand side in passing up the road, and the distillery was on the opposite side. A brook runs down from the hills on the west, and passes under

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the road near the site of the old mill. The old cider press screw was used for many years as underpinning for one of the Lovejoy out- buildings. The mill and distillery must have been removed more than sixty years ago.

In 1878 Oscar Stoughton rebuilt the grist mill in 34 Town Plot, and about 1881 he built a new dam and a new cider mill. The cider mill was destroyed at the time the other mills were burned. When he bought the Pierce mills, he built an annex to the old grist mill, extending towards the road. Henry Gif- ford, who lived at North Royalton, fitted up a cider mill beneath his barn some time in the 1870's. He did a large business for many years. When his buildings were burned in 1888, the mill perished with the rest.

In 1824 Capt. Garner Rix built a saw mill on the brook run- ning through his land in 22 Large Allotment. In 1828 he deeded it conditionally to his sons Heman and Daniel. In 1834 Heman deeded his share to his brother Daniel. In 1857 Daniel sold to Ebenezer and Thomas Atwood one-half the mill, and in 1871 he quitclaimed to George Bradstreet. In 1862 the Atwoods deeded their share to Mr. Bradstreet. It passed into the hands of Frank Bradstreet in 1878, who removed the machinery, and deeded the mill to Mrs. Frances Bradstreet in 1884. Through a mortgage to Thomas S. Davis the mill came into the hands of John Wild, Jr., in 1897. It has not been refitted since the ma- chinery was removed, but it still stands, a picturesque relic nearly a century old. It is located on the beautiful hill road extending from the present home of John Wild, Jr., to the old Turnpike from Woodstock to Royalton.

In 1782 Nathaniel Perrin obtained from Benjamin Park- hurst lot 10 Town Plot, Reuben Parkhurst being original grantee. In 1793 he sold one acre in the southeast corner of the lot, lo- cated on a brook, to Timothy Durkee, Jr. There was a mill privilege and a saw mill frame on the lot sold at this time. Two years later Mr. Durkee sold this acre to Zabad Curtis, giving the same description. Mr. Curtis kept the mill site until 1813, when he sold to Jacob Fox, who had a passion for acquiring property of this kind. There was still a "saw mill frame" on it. Mr. Fox sold it in 1839 to William Smith, and eight years later Mr. Smith deeded it with other real estate to George W. Cook, but bought it back in 1850. In these later deeds no mention is made of a mill, only a mill privilege, but it seems unreasonable to suppose that this acre would not have been incorporated with the other land, if it were a mere mill privilege.

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History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 45

Author: Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood, 1847- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Burlington, Vt., Free press printing company Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood, 1847-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Burlington, Vt., Free press printing company
Number of Pages: 1280