History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 46

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 46

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1834-35 George Metcalf erected a saw mill on his farm, a school lot in 52 Town Plot. David Brewer laid claim to the

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land. Mr. Metcalf sold the mill to Chauncey Tenney in 1838, who very soon deeded it to Chauncey Brewer. The mill was allowed to decay.

In 1853 Cyrus Safford had a saw mill in his pasture near South Royalton, which may have been built some time before, and was probably used several years. No doubt there were other small saw mills of which no record is found. Along the little stream running beside the old fort fordway in the village of South Royalton can be seen the remains of a saw mill which was once on the Kent farm, but may have been built by Cyrus Safford.

In 1852 Daniel Tarbell, Jr., erected a steam mill two stories in height on land purchased of Lyman Benson. The mill stood not far from the Joseph W. Reynolds dwelling in South Royal- ton. In 1854 he leased the mill to C. W. Weston and Cyrus D. Robinson for five years. He reserved the blacksmith shop, car- riage shop, grist mill and bark mill. They were to use the tools, lathes, and machinery in the second story. This same year he mortgaged the mill to the South Royalton bank for $10,000. The mill was built on a rather pretentious scale for so small a place, and did not prove to be remunerative. It was in operation for about fifteen years, when portions of it were sold to different per- sons, and finally it was all torn down and used in erecting other buildings.

Frank Lyman in 1890 erected a steam mill and dry house on land purchased of James N. Cloud, seven and one-half rods east of the railroad. This property came into the hands of Wil- liam Martin, who converted the mill into a dwelling house, which he built on South street, the house which is now occupied by Arthur Abbott.

George H. Hackett erected a mill for finishing lumber, on the Chelsea road a short distance above the "Pierce Stand," in 1904. In 1908 the town voted to exempt his business from taxa- tion for a term of five years. In 1910 Mr. Hackett sold his in- terests in the mill to his son, Frank A. Hackett, and retired on account of ill health.

The last mill of any size to be erected in town was the mill of John H. Hewitt, in South Royalton. It was built in 1909, and is located on the road to Broad Brook, just west of the rail- road crossing. It is an elevator with mill attached. It is 76 feet high, and has a capacity of 10,000 bushels of loose grain and 100 tons of sack grain. It has a 35 horse-power gasoline engine, and can turn out from 35 to 45 hundred weight of flour in an hour. It was erected for Mr. Hewitt's personal use and for custom work.

In the road survey of 1783 a tannery is mentioned. From the second mile tree "near the tan yard" the survey ran 200

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rods to a bridge at the mouth of the Second Branch. Benjamin Parkhurst owned this land, and must have put in the tannery before that date, so that it seems safe to say that this was the first tannery in town. Mr. Parkhurst came to Royalton when only two or three other families were in town. It was probably this tannery outfit which he sold to Jacob Fox in 1800, but it is also very probable that Mr. Fox enlarged or rebuilt the works. In 1807 Mr. Fox leased his tannery for seven years to Otis Wil- son and Ebenezer Trissell of Randolph, and was to receive $275 yearly in sole leather and neat's upper leather. In about one year the lease was declared void. In 1823 Mr. Fox sold Oel Billings land where "the old tan works were," which looks as if Mr. Fox had changed the location, and built new vats. In 1831 he sold the tannery to Coit Parkhurst, but it must have come back into his hands, for in 1837 he contracted with James Everett of Randolph to run the business. In 1839 he sold the tannery to William Smith, who in 1847 sold to George W. Cook. Mr. Fox bought the tannery and other land of Mr. Cook in 1850, and gave a mortgage for the same. In 1854 Martha, widow of Jacob Fox, sells what appears to be the tannery with other land tc James M. Culver. Just when it ceased to be operated is not known.

On Dec. 15, 1794, William Pierce bought of Lyman Back three-fourths of an acre situated on the river and a brook. Mr. Back had purchased this land of Nathaniel Morse, and it was a part of 21 Town Plot. Mr. Pierce built tan vats on this land for custom work. He lived in the house now owned and occupied by John Shirlock, and the vats were in the rear of the house. He carried on the business of tanning hides for many years, and was followed by his son, William, Jr. He had bought an addi- tional acre of Mr. Morse in 1795, and the tan house seems to have been on this land, which he sold to Charles Button in 1831, and which Mr. Button sold to Phineas Pierce, who sold it to William Pierce, Jr., in 1840. The business was continued but a few years after this.

Huckens Storrs had a tannery. He died in 1786, and, when his estate was settled, three acres, including the tannery and blacksmith shop, were set off to his daughter Anna, who later married Cyprian Andrus. Anna and her husband deeded this property in 1803 to Ashbel Buckland. It came into the hands of Phineas Pierce in 1811, but he seems to have devoted his attention at first to the manufacture of cloth, and not much more is heard of the tannery.

In 1805 Benjamin Packard bought of Ebenezer Parkhurst 100 acres, W. 2 Large Allotment. In 1818 he sold to Silas Pack- ard a lot on the brook running by the schoolhouse on Broad

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Brook, and in 1826 he bought one-fourth acre of Amos Robinson. He sold both of these purchases in 1826 to A. J. B. Robinson, and then mention is made of a tannery on the brook opposite the Broad Brook schoolhouse. The vats were probably erected by either Benjamin or Silas Packard. The works do not appear to have been run long, if at all, after Mr. Robinson bought them.

Abijah Lincoln and Capt. Asa Partridge, his uncle, formed a partnership in 1826 as tanners and curriers. They secured a water right of Stafford Smith on a brook which empties into White river just above the bridge at Royalton village. The tan- nery was located on the east side of the river on the left hand side of the road, a short distance from it, and on a rising knoll on the side of the brook next to the bridge. The firm did a thriv- ing business for two years, then Mr. Lincoln bought out Capt. Partridge. There were two bark grinders connected with the tannery, one run by horse power and one by water. After Mr. Lincoln had carried on the business for a few years, he added a shoe manufactory for the purpose of working up the product of the tannery into sale shoes. This was a large two-story building, located about half way between the present residence of Miss Cornelia Stickney and the house known of late years as the resi- dence of Dr. James Morse.

This shoe manufactory was given up after a few years, and Mr. Lincoln moved the building to the place where Mr. Joel Emery now lives, cut it down, and made it into a dwelling. The product of the shoe shop was of the best quality, in both sale and custom work. The overseer and manager was Cornelius Goodell, the father-in-law of Mr. Lincoln, whose occupation was that of a shoemaker, and whose fine work was in great demand. Mr. Lincoln died at the early age of thirty-five of quick consump- tion, and the industry ceased with his death.

In 1799 Ebenezer Herrick bought of Zebulon Lyon twenty- two square feet of land, for which he was to pay $1.00 on the first of May yearly forever. Mr. Herrick erected a shoemaker's shop on this land, and later he established a tailor's shop. In 1802 he sold his shop to Grant, Bellows, and Fessenden. It was one of the first shops erected in the village, and served as a land- mark in describing boundaries. It was on the north side of the street, a few rods west of the "red store" later made into the Felch house.

There was a shoemaker's shop on the premises of Jeremiah Trescott, but whether he conducted it, or Zebina Trescott, who deeded it to him in 1819, cannot be stated. Both may have done custom work, and from an early date. In the early part of 1800 Robert Button had a shoemaker's shop near his house, which he sold in 1818 to Oel Buck. Jesse Button had a shop

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near where Henry Pierce now lives. This was a good location, close to the tannery. In 1827 Oscar Henry had a shoemaker's shop at North Royalton. He sold to Elisha Parker, and in 1841 it was in the hands of Jacob Fox. Of course Mr. Fox was not a shoemaker, but it passed through his hands as so many other pieces of property did.

James O'Grady began shoemaking in 1870 in Royalton vil- lage on the common, in the premises now owned by George Tag- gart, and continued the business for about twenty-five years.

Willard V. Eastman has the longest record as a shoemaker in town, doing custom work, mostly repair work. He had his shop in his house from 1873, when he came to South Royalton, until within a year or two, when age compelled him to cease con- tinuous work of this kind. He is now eighty-eight years of age, and still at his bench.

In 1890 a few enterprising citizens banded together to pro- mote the equipment of the unused mill, erected in 1882 by M. S. Adams, for the turning out of fine finished lumber. The firm was composed of Mark J. Sargent, William H. Martin, Charles P. Tarbell, Charles B. Viall, and Casper H. Abbott. On July 9, 1890, they leased of George Tarbell this Adams mill for a period of five years. It is located on the Tunbridge side of the bridge across the First Branch, above the Abbott & Doyle mills. It is on the site of the old fulling mill and clothier's works. They engaged Charles H. Abbott as superintendent, and fitted the mill with the proper machinery. All went well for a while, but through lack of business acumen, inexperience, and distance from the market, the venture did not prove successful. In 1896 C. H. Abbott bought up the stock and established a branch fac- tory at Chelsea, and a stock company was formed there with Mr. Abbott at its head. The business was then run as C. H. Abbott & Co. Under the original company the directors of that company had become holden for borrowed money, and were not released, as they had expected. C. H. Abbott & Co. went into insolvency in about one year, and carried with it the South Royalton Shoe Company. The heaviest losers by this failure were Forest Southard, A. P. Skinner, George Tarbell, C. P. Tar- bell, and Mark J. Sargent. The company had turned out a large product, and their goods had been sent to every state in the Union. Mr. Abbott had a salesroom in Boston, but their work did not prove saleable, and heavy losses resulted.

A new company was formed and duly incorporated through the office of the Secretary of State, Dec. 13, 1898. The sub- scribers were Frank M. Merrill, Charles D. Pierce, Charles P. Tarbell, Isaac E. Harriman, and Mark J. Sargent. Charles P. Tarbell was chosen president and treasurer, and Charles E. Mer-

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rill was constituted head of the organization. The company had a paid-up capital of $10,000. It was incorporated under the firm name of The White River Shoe Company.

There still remained the old drawback, long distance from market, and to remedy this, the plant was removed in 1901 to Epping, N. H. By an arrangement with the stockholders, Mr. Merrill assumed the obligations of the company, and took the business into his own hands, still retaining the firm name of The White River Shoe Co. The plant was removed successively from Epping to Farmington and Bristol, N. H., and to Tops- field, Mass. Two years ago last April, 1909, the machinery was shipped back to South Royalton, and the firm name changed to the Hapgood Shoe Company. It is now in a building erected by Mr. Hapgood at the end of North Street. It is doing business on a smaller scale, employing about seven hands, and turns out excellent sale work, and some custom work. In the March meet- ing, 1900, the town had voted to exempt from taxation for five years The White River Shoe Company, and thus gave all the encouragement possible to this industry.

The Adams mill left vacant by the removal of The White River Shoe Co. remained vacant until 1906. It was then leased to the Percival Furniture Company. This company was or- ganized in 1897 in Barton. For good reasons it decided to re- move to South Royalton. Its present officers are C. F. Percival, president; Stimpson Clark, treasurer; and E. F. Moody, clerk. Ii has about $25,000 invested in the plant here. Up to the pres- ent time, they have been manufacturing couches, but have now changed to the making of convertible furniture, especially twen- tieth-century divan beds. Mr. Percival gives personal atten- tion to the industry but a small part of the time. About fifteen hands are usually employed, who are at present under the super- intendency of William Wellington.

There was a brick yard on Broad Brook in very early days. Clay was obtained from the hill between the Arthur Davis house and the schoolhouse, and this hill is still called "Clay Hill." Mr. Amos Robinson, who was interested in various manufactures, in 1800 secured from Ebenezer Parkhurst fifty acres in the south- eastern part of lot 2 Large Allotment, where "Clay Hill" is situated. Mr. Robinson built his own house of brick, the school- house and the Horace Royce house were also built of brick, and it seems likely that Mr. Robinson owned the brick yard, and that he had ceased to utilize it before he sold the lot. This would account for no mention of it in deeds.

Samuel Cleveland owned 38 Dutch as early as 1810. Jacob Fox took a mortgage on the land, and it came into his hands, and in 1821 John Tracey and Samuel Cleveland, Jr., bought the

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lot. Two years later Mr. Tracey sold to his partner, and then a brick yard was mentioned. Mr. Fox got a mortgage again, and in 1834 he rented the brick yard to Mr. Cleveland for two years. At the end of the two-year lease he sold the farm. The yard seems to have been operated only by the Clevelands.

Elias Curtis had a blacksmith shop near his house by the mills on the First Branch, when the Indians burned the town. That was probably erected before the saw mill was finished, and was the first in town so far as is known. Another was built near the mills, but when cannot be stated. It existed in 1817 when Oliver Luce sold the mill property to Phineas Pierce, and a trip hammer is also mentioned. The one at the mouth of the Branch was perhaps built by Mr. Pierce. He rented it in 1841 to Robert Merrill for three years. It passed through various hands, and was owned and run for many years by Henry Sar- gent, who purchased it of Charles Crandall. It has not been used as a blacksmith shop for some time.

No doubt one or more blacksmith shops were erected in the village soon after other shops sprang up. In 1807 Harvey Skin- ner bought a small lot of Zebulon Lyon, sixty rods west of the meeting-house. He sold this in 1812 to Ebenezer Frost, and then there was a blacksmith shop on it, which he probably built. It was owned by various persons, but David Graves and Lorrain Terry appear to have been blacksmiths as well as owners. Asa Keith in 1839 sold one-eighth of an acre to Nathan Church, saying he had carried on the blacksmithing business in the village for three years. Mr. Church made some improvements, and set up a hatting business. In many cases the owners of the shops did not carry on the business themselves.

John Francis, the lawyer, became owner of the shop on the common, or at the north side of it, and sold it to Darius Dewey, who put his son-in-law, Bela Hall, in it. Mr. Hall was a black- smith in the village for some time, and will go down in history as the man from whose forge the sparks flew, which set fire to the old meeting-house. There was another shop in the village in more recent years on Bridge Street, where Mr. William Skin- ner's storehouse now is. There was also a blacksmith shop near the Calvin Skinner residence, and one at North Royalton near the hotel. Both of these have disappeared. Only one shop is now run in the village, and that is owned by George Joy, and is nearly opposite the store.

At South Royalton there was a blacksmith shop in connec- tion with the steam mill. Dostie Faneuf, Sr., was a blacksmith in South Royalton for many years. He came here about 1865, and a few years afterwards built the shop near the hotel. He sold this some years later, and tried farming for a time. In

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1889 Willard E. Fay erected the two-story wheelwright and blacksmith shop just west of the bridge across White river in South Royalton, and conducted the business until 1894, when he sold to Mr. Faneuf, who continued the business until a few years before his death in 1908. This, perhaps, gives him the longest record of any blacksmith in town. His sons, Dostie and Eugene, both had a similar business here for some years. There are two shops in the South village at the present time, one owned and run by Hoyt Knight, and the other, the one erected by Mr. Fay, is carried on by Raymond Ricker. These are the shops which Mr. Faneuf occupied. Mr. Faneuf built and carried on a shop at N. Royalton, which he sold to Mr. Rich, and then built an- other there. His whole term of service in town was about forty years.

In 1811 George Whitney conducted a hatter's business in Royalton village, in a building owned by Daniel Gilbert. Jabez H. Boardman had a similar shop in the village in 1816. He leased land of Daniel Gilbert for 900 years, and was to pay an annual rent of three dollars. In 1829 he sub-leased to Joel B. Fox for two years. Mr. Boardman lost his property in 1840, and Joel B. Fox got the hatter's shop, and sold two-thirds of it to Hatsel Brewer.

In 1843 Asahel Clark bought the "Collamer" office and opened a harness shop in the upper part of the village, which business he continued for a considerable period of time. In 1811 Solomon Wheeler had a cooper's shop near the potash works in the upper end of the village. In 1868 James Pike came to South Royalton and opened a wheelwright shop, where he did fine work until nearly the time of his death in 1890. This shop was on Windsor street near his residence; on the opposite side of the street.

The "Rix and Hatch" saw mill came into the possession of Norman Sewall in 1902. He built a creamery near the mill. This creamery was deeded to Fred E. Fowler in 1907, by the heirs of Mr. Sewall, now deceased. Mr. Fowler has continued to carry on this business with marked success. Joseph W. Waldo erected a creamery in 1900 on the east side of Chelsea Street some distance above the Pierce stand. The next year he sold to Leon H. Richardson, who conducted the business for about five years, when it closed for lack of patronage. The farmers in the vicinity of Royalton and South Royalton have been send- ing their milk to Boston for the last few years.

It will be observed that quite a variety of industries were actively carried on in the first two decades after the town began to be settled, and in the succeeding ten years the number was still further increased. The town, however, is and has ever been

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pre-eminently an agricultural town. Although, except along the larger streams, the land is mostly hilly, it is very productive, and some of the hill farms are the very best in town.

The main products for sale at home or for shipment have varied from year to year. Late years potatoes have been the main crop, and dairy shipments have been what the farmers have depended upon chiefly for regular revenue. During the first years in the history of the town, it would seem that flax, beef and pork, butter and cheese, and poultry were the main products which were taken to Boston in the winter, or to the store of Elias Lyman in Hartford, and from there were conveyed by boat to market.

Early attention was given to the cultivation of fruit or- chards. Time has shown that along the river apple trees do not thrive so well, but fine orchards were in bearing within a sur- prisingly short time after the settlement of the town. Zebulon Lyon had an orchard on his farm in Royalton village in 1798, and a currant garden, which figures in a large number of deeds. Mr. Lyon seems to have cherished that currant garden as the apple of his eye, and whatever lots he sold, he never parted with that until adverse circumstances compelled him to do so. John Hibbard had an orchard in 1807. Hezekiah Young had an orchard of twenty acres in 1812, which doubtless brought him in many a dollar during the war, when cider was high.

The first orchards were started from seed brought from Connecticut. The descendants of the Joiners and others tell how their ancestors carefully saved the seeds from their apples as they ate them, anticipating their removal to the wilderness of Royalton. In recent years, since the decadence of cider mills, less attention has been paid to apple orchards, and although a few century-old trees are still standing along the Second Branch and on the Salmon Joiner farm, new ones have not replaced the old ones long since decayed, to such an extent as to make good the loss.

In lot 38 Dutch, about 1850, was a hop field, cultivated by Chauncey Tenney. He contracted with William Skinner to fur- nish him the product of 5,000 hills of hops yearly for five years, at a price ranging from ten to twelve cents.

Sheep have not been raised in Royalton so extensively as in some other towns, though nearly all farmers have kept more or less of them. This industry was stimulated during the Civil War, when wool was high. Horace P. Allen and William Skin- ner have been the principal wool buyers since the advent of the railroad.

Dairies of medium size have been and are very common. One section of the town acquired such a reputation for these products 27

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that it was called "Dairy Hill," otherwise known as "Dewey Hill." The returns of the year 1892 show that there were 530 sheep in town, furnishing 4,122 pounds of wool; 294 cows, yield- ing 44,470 pounds of butter; 8,555 maple trees producing 12,950 pounds of sugar and 682 gallons of syrup. In more recent years the sugar orchards have been badly injured by caterpillars, and often fine orchards are not utilized for making sugar, the farmers preferring to use their time in other ways.

A half century or more ago considerable fine stock was raised, both cattle and horses. Charles Woodworth and Thomas Lovejoy raised a high grade of valuable horses, Mr. Woodworth having an unusually fine blooded Morgan horse. He also raised prize cattle. David Cowdery, Charles B. Viall, and John B. Goodrich have been extensive dealers in live stock, chiefly cattle and hogs. The raising of hogs has declined since milk has been shipped to Boston. D. W. Cowdery with others was at one time owner of the "Putnam Morgan" horse, sired by the "Woodbury Morgan." It was twenty-six years old at the time he owned it, in 1847. C. P. Tarbell, Daniel Bliss, and John Waterman have also been owners of racing horses.

An interesting feature in the development of the town has been the telephone. When the New England Telephone Com- pany ran its line from Boston to Lowell, it did not foresee the possibilities of this new invention for rural towns and distant places. They offered to rent phones and give rights of territory to those who would put up lines remote from the district in which they were operating. A. C. Brown of Montpelier accepted the offer, and secured the right to a certain territory in Wash- ington, Orange, and Windsor counties. He ran a grounded line from Randolph to South Royalton. It was on the north side of the river, and did not cross the bridge for two years. The New England Company had found that their circuit was broken by interference from electric light plants. A suit followed, and it was decided to put up two wires, transposed at the end of each mile. Before the system was brought into the village of South Royalton, M. S. Adams rented two phones and ran a line from his residence to his mills, and so has the honor of being the first man to have a telephone in this town. The New England soon pushed on to White River Junction, and then extended here. They found their mistake in giving Mr. Brown his right, and are said to have bought him off by paying $50,000. Their cen- tral office in South Royalton was in the house of M. J. Sargent. This was in 1882, after a second wire had been added to the single line, thus making a metallic line.

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About 1886 George Mudgett had a telegraph line from Tun- bridge to Strafford and South Strafford. Patents on telephones expired about this time. Marvin H. Hazen was then station agent at South Royalton. He purchased of Mr. Mudgett his telegraph line and converted it into a telephone line. Owing to unsatisfactory telegraph service between his station and Chelsea, Mr. Hazen bought of the Western Union Telegraph Company their line between South Royalton and Chelsea, and connected it with the line secured from Mr. Mudgett and made the two into telephone lines. From this small beginning his telephone system has gone on increasing, until he has nearly 200 miles of pole line, about 1,000 miles of wire, and has lines in eighteen towns. He called his line The Rapid Telephone Line. In 1902 the New England Company began to take note of this independent line. It had steadily grown in spite of their competition. Arrange- ments were made by which Mr. Hazen agreed not to extend his lines farther, they turned over their offices to him in the terri- tory covered by the Rapid Telephone Line, withdrew all claim to local service in this territory, and allowed Mr. Hazen to con- nect his line with the New England for long distance business. This agreement continues to the present time. The central office here is in the home of Mr. Hazen. In 1906 by special permit from the town and by contracts with private individuals the lines of the New England were many of them removed from the high- way and set in fields.

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History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 46

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