History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 62

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 62

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Calvin Skinner secured three acres near the "center bridge" in 1801. John and David Waller seem to have been residents of the village before David secured the hotel. In 1803 Curtis and Newell hung out their sign. The firm of Grant & Fessen- den dissolved in 1805, and became the next year J. & J. Fessen- den.

The academy, which was chartered in 1807, had for some years previous to that added to the attractions of the place, and in 1808 the settlement is spoken of as the "village so-called." Its future was assured, and the advent of such men as Judah D. Throop, a merchant engaged in a shipping trade, who built a fine residence where Mr. George Laird now lives, and of Dr. Jo Adam Denison, Stafford Smith, William Skinner, John Francis, Jacob Collamer, and others, the advent of these men gave the village a reputation for enterprise and intellectual superiority, which placed it among the leading villages of Windsor county.

It had its milliners, dentists, hatters, cabinet makers, shoe manufacturers, tanneries, and other kinds of business. Its prog- ress was slow but steady, until the building of the railroad, and the rise of the rival village at South Royalton. Three churches had been built, numerous shops had sprung up, and it had be- come the educational and business center for a large portion of the surrounding territory.

SOUTH ROYALTON VILLAGE.

No mother can see her daughter leave her arms for the shel- ter of a new home without a pang, however promising the pros- pect may be. The village of South Royalton does not stand in the relation of a daughter or even of a daughter-in-law to Royal- ton village. It was started by a man born and bred outside of her borders, who enticed from her fold some of her most reliable patrons and supporters of business, educational, and religious life. It was only natural that Royalton should regard the new settlement, which secured favors from the railroad that were denied to her, and which seemed to take pleasure in showing its independence and progressiveness, in the light of an enticing intruder.

However natural this feeling was sixty-four years ago, it seems strange today that a settlement at this point had not be- come a necessity long before the railroad made it so. It is an

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illustration of the inertia attendant upon satisfaction with exist- ing conditions, and lack of alertness in perceiving advantages that may accrue from a step forward.

A man who ventures nothing gains nothing. Not so with Daniel Tarbell, Jr., of Tunbridge. His first step toward a new settlement at the mouth of the First Branch was to prepare the framework of a building on his own premises, which was to be- come the first store in South Royalton. He was assisted by Henry Whitney, and at the proper time the timbers were drawn to the site of the proposed building by Harry Lunt. Mr. Tar- bell removed to South Royalton the very day the first train of cars went through to Bethel, June 26, 1848. He rented the ell part of Lyman Benson's house, and set up a store in his barn, but later removed it to the ell, and ran the business alone.

It was soon noised abroad that a great time was expected on the 4th of July. The first building in South Royalton was to be raised and the cars were to stop at that station. People came from all the surrounding towns, yes, even from Montpelier, which was not feeling very happy because the railroad did not run through that town. Crowds gathered early. Mr. Tarbell se- lected those whom he desired to assist in the raising, and the others stood around the stumps and looked admiringly on or cast anxious glances in the direction of the expected train. The framework went up without a hitch. Then a barrel of rum was rolled out, the head knocked in, tin cups were passed around to the workmen, and another barrel filled with crackers was brought forth, and a barrel of water, and the men were told to help them- selves. After their hunger and thirst were satisfied, every one was invited to clean up the platter, figuratively speaking.

Now the roaring monster with its thundering train steamed in, and hundreds, if not thousands, saw an engine pulling its load with fierce energy, for the first time. The women had a chance to decide whether it was a safe mode of travel or not, or whether the fear expressed by one young lady, that the sparks from the engine would be likely to set fire to their light apparel, would be realized.

The first store in South Royalton had been raised. It stood where the Foster feed store stands today. It was soon com- pleted, and the end next to the track was used for a depot, a large platform being built on that end. It continued to serve as a depot until some time the next year. Mr. Tarbell put in a stock of goods, having dry goods in one part and general mer- chandise in the other part of the building. Horace Parkhurst was clerk, and, perhaps, John Parker. Mr. Tarbell conducted his store about a year, then he rented the general merchandise

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department for two years to Dennis Fay of Lowell and Rufus Kendrick. He lived in one part of the building.

At first the side track was east of the main track, and the freight depot was erected the next year, 1849, east of the side track, which ran close to the west end of the store. The pas- senger depot stood about where the present building stands. The freight depot was 100 feet south of the store.

Mr. Tarbell began to buy land of Cyrus Safford and Lyman Benson, both of whom sold lots for dwelling houses and stores. His first purchase, July 15, 1848, was 110 feet on the railroad and 75 feet back, at the S. W. corner of the depot ground. He had this of Lyman Benson. In December he bought another lot of Mr. Benson. His second purchase was fourteen square rods and a house and barn, of Cyrus Safford. The house and barn were to be moved to the lot. These lots gave him opportunity for building. He next erected a store near the freight depot, on the opposite side of the street from the first store, which was rented in November, 1849, to Alvah Button of Tunbridge. His third store was one fifty feet east of the first one, and was rented before it was completed to Daniel McCain and Stephen F. Mana- han of Manchester, N. H., for five years. It is said to have been erected in thirty days. The bank was in the second story. This building is described in the deed as opposite the Button store. The firm sold W. I. goods and groceries.

East of this store Mr. Tarbell put up a small building, the front part of which was used as a carpenter shop, and the rear as a dwelling, by Ezra Wills. In 1850 more buildings went up. A store east of the Wills tenement was erected, and occupied by Nathan Dane, the druggist, who was a favorite with the school children. Unmarried, he adopted all the little ones that came to him, and as they went away sucking their sticks of candy, they thought him the dearest man in the world.

On the south side of Main street Phineas Pierce built a barn about opposite the store of C. E. Black. It set back somewhat from the street. Horace Parkhurst now wished to go into busi- ness for himself, and Mr. Tarbell erected a store on the corner near this barn. In the basement was a grocery kept by a man named Noyes. He had before this built a rather cheap building, one and one-half stories high, where a Mr. White had kept a gro- cery store. This building was afterwards used as a schoolhouse, and Miss Peabody was the instructor therein. It was removed in a few years. It stood on the common toward the hotel.

In 1849 and 1850 the hotel and depots were erected. Luke Tarbell, the son of Daniel, Jr., about thirteen years of age, drove the team to scrape the cellar for the hotel and the freight depot, also the one that brought the material for covering the first store,

THE BEGINNING OF SOUTH ROYALTON.

---

Mrs. Rebecca (Dickermah) Tarbell, 1813-1885. Charles P. Tarbell.

Daniel Tarbell, Jr., 1811-1892. Luke Tarbell.

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and hauled the lumber for the hotel and freight depot from Warren mountains to Roxbury. Mr. Tarbell, now living in Northfield, remembers those days as strenuous ones for a boy of his age.

What is known as the Daniel Jones house was built by the railroad boss, William Dennett. West of that Mr. Tarbell erected a blacksmith shop, nearly opposite the hotel. The smithy's name was Drew.

The houses now occupied by M. S. Adams and Edward Hope and the Methodist church were all built about this same time. Ezra Wills secured a lot on the common and soon had a home of his own there. Another small house on the common nearer the hotel was occupied by Alonzo Hewes, the teamster, who had a fortune fall to him later, and went to Boston, where he could the sooner spend it. In a mortgage given by Mr. Tarbell in April, 1851, he states that the land which he had from Cyrus Safford contained eighteen building lots, the land he had from Lyman Benson, eleven lots, that which he had from Phineas Pierce, two lots, and he names a two-story building being erected as a boot factory. This last was on the N. E. corner of the common, and turned out only hand work. In this mortgage was included a new two-story house occupied by Edward B. Stanley, now the Hope residence.

On the north side of Main street between the first and second stores, and in the rear of them, was a tallow chandler shop. The steam mill has been mentioned in the sketch on "Industries." An English gate saw was brought from Granville for this mill, and part of the logs came from that town. On the west side of the track opposite the depot Mr. Tarbell had a barn for pressing hay. He had, also, a dog named "Policeman." His business was to guard the freight on the platform. One morning Luke got up and found "Policeman" holding under arrest a crest- fallen man with a cheese in his arms. He called the dog off, and took the man to his father.

Ansel D. Whitney secured a lot and had a cabinet shop where the house of George Manchester stands today, and there was a bakery on the other side of North street opposite this shop. This was short-lived, and the building was made into a dwelling house. The milliner's shop seen in the cut of the. early village was erected some time later.

Some of the houses earliest built by Mr. Tarbell were the present residence of Dr. Fish, occupied by a Mr. Loverin, whose wife had a milliner's shop, and by Dr. Whitcomb, who had just moved to Royalton; the house south of the Dr. Fish residence, then occupied by Ebenezer Smith as a tenement and paint shop; and the house known as "Brightwood," another double tene- ment.

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About 1853 David Adams was employed by Mr. Tarbell to build the Southgate house, which C. C. Southgate purchased in 1854. The schoolhouse was completed in the fall of 1853. The first teachers were Harley Griffiths and Miss Mary Jane Lyman, daughter of Garner Lyman. In 1853 William L. Cilley built the house now occupied by Otis Flint, and the next year William Foster erected the Henry Sargent dwelling. The well-known Dr. Whitcomb residence was built in 1854 by Lyman Jones, the tinsmith. Mr. Tarbell put up a house where the Dickerman store now stands on the N. E. corner of Chelsea and Windsor streets, and this was occupied by Edward Parkhurst. Horatio K. Blake, the station agent, established his home where Elisha Osgood later lived and William B. Gould now resides. The house was on the other side of the road before the railroad came through the town. A little later the Tarbell-Ashley house was the home of Philip S. Hunter. In 1853 Moses Chase cast in his lot with the little village, and lived for some years in the "Bai- ley" house, on Windsor street, later owned by Frank Tenney. Amos Robinson, who owned a part of the Elisha Kent farm, was living at this time in the Cowdery-Bingham dwelling. A daugh- ter of his, who later joined the Mormons, lived in the Hackett- Lovejoy house. C. M. Lamb erected his own dwelling, which so long remained in the family.

There were no houses between the James Bingham place and the Cyrus Safford residence, now the home of Lester Corwin. A street ran up to "Pluck Hill," now called North street. On this hill Moses Morse lived in the John Woodward house of later date, and above him on the same side of the street was Thomas Prin- dle. The building now owned by Charles Folsom was built by Lyman Benson. Thomas Morse erected his own house, in which he lived so long, and which is now occupied by Joseph Abbott. On the east or north side of the river were two houses below the Pierce stand, on the left side of the road as one goes south, with only a garden between them. These have been torn down.

Mr. Tarbell swung his magic wand, and in a few years a village of considerable size had arisen. He at one time stated that he built three-fourths of all the houses as they were in 1884. It seems to have been his custom in some cases to sell a lot to a man, put up a building, and let the man pay for it as he could.

He was chiefly instrumental in building the first church and the first schoolhouse, the necessary adjuncts to any well organ- ized settlement. Of course he met opposition, and his business methods were often called in question, but that he had a sincere desire to see South Royalton grow and prosper, scarcely any one will deny. Some of his undertakings turned out disastrously,

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but that could hardly fail to be the case, where one man under- takes to run so many diverse enterprises at the same time.

After the failure of the bank, business for a time was at a stand-still, and real estate in little demand. It was a good time to buy, if one had faith in the future of the village. M. S. Adams appeared at the psychological moment, and Eben Wins- low, and later, John B. Durkee, Eli Hackett, and Edson Bixby, all of whom remained, and were foremost in their efforts to pro- mote the interests of the village.

In 1853 Burns & Winslow and A. D. Hutchins & Co. were among the business firms. Later Burns & Winslow became Winslow & Morey, and still later Winslow & Durkee, dealers in hardware. Hackett & Bixby was a firm which became Bixby & Jones after the death of Mr. Hackett in 1868. Bain & Crain had a dry goods and general merchandise store where McCain and Manahan had been, and later J. O. Belknap continued the business until the block was burned.

About 1870 William H. Martin came to South Royalton and opened a dry goods store. He continued in this business until 1877, when he went to Worcester, Mass. He returned to South Royalton in 1879, and opened another store, which he conducted until the great fire of 1886 laid it in ashes. He then joined with other merchants in erecting the Block, his part of it being in the east end. He put in another stock of dry goods and men's furnishing goods, which he sold in 1894 to Moody and Mathers, and closed his mercantile career.

William C. Smith came to South Royalton about 1859. After a few years he opened a tin shop, and in 1863 he formed a part- nership with John B. Durkee in the hardware business. After the fire of 1878 they moved into the lower part of the Vermont Central hotel. The partnership was dissolved in a few years, and Mr. Smith bought the Garner Dewey place and became a farmer.

Amos Lamb had a tin shop near his house, which was situ- ated opposite the Edgar Reynolds house. The shop and house were destroyed in the fire of 1886.

Among the photographers of South Royalton have been O. E. Hall and Howard Granger, who had studios successively in the house which was burned, where the present residence of Mrs. Moses Ellis stands. H. L. Bixby of Chelsea had a studio over the present marble shop, and W. E. Graham and I. L. Welcome have been serving the public more or less at different times in recent years in the studio built by Mr. Perley Belknap near the bridge.

Alonzo Wilmot was perhaps the first jeweler in South Roy- alton. He first had his shop on the north side of Chelsea street,

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then purchased the building which he sold later to Lewis Dick- erman, and which was burned in the fire of 1878. This was prob- ably the old boot factory remodeled. L. F. Terry was a jeweler here a number of years, who removed to Bethel, where he is con- ducting the same business. F. R. Seymour now occupies his old store in the Martin block.

The business career of John B. Durkee has been pretty well covered by the history of the partners with whom he was associ- ated. Mr. Durkee conducted a hardware business alone in South Royalton for a considerable period of years. He owned one of the blocks in the large brick Block. For several years before he sold to Charles E. Black his wife assisted him.

Edward Foster formed a partnership with C. C. Southgate in the tailor business about 1864. Mr. Southgate had the post- office at that time in the King block, and Mr. Foster took charge of it for ten years. He then began work for M. S. Adams, and continued until 1890, when he opened a grain, flour, and coal store in the rear of the Tarbell block. He was in this business at the time of his death in 1897.

W. V. Soper, in connection with a brother in West Randolph, had a marble shop in South Royalton, at first on Chelsea street, and later in the shop south of Woodard's Hotel, which he sold to Adams & McNichol. He carried on the monument business here for thirty-five or more years, and no man ever left a cleaner record when he gave up active life, than Mr. Soper left.

The purchase of the Martin stock of goods by Bert L. Moody and R. H. Mather has been mentioned. The partnership was dis- solved in 1900, when Mr. Moody sold to Mr. Mather, and opened a furniture store in the Tarbell block, having bought out S. M. Pike. He sold out to his brother Ernest in 1902.

G. J. Ashley began business in South Royalton as tonsorial artist about 1875, and continued in the same line until the estab- lishment of the R. F. D. routes, when he disposed of his equip- ment and took one of the mail routes. Failing health compelled him to resign, and he died not many months after. Mr. Ashley was universally liked, and he was quite successful in his calling.

Miss Hattie Bean and Mrs. Rebecca Blake had millinery stores here for some time.

Some of the firms with which Ebenezer Winslow was con- nected have been mentioned. Burns and Winslow began business in 1852 in the Tarbell building, and kept a stock of dry goods for one year. Mr. Winslow then continued in trade alone until the firm of Winslow & Morey was formed in 1855, which partnership lasted until 1863. Their stock was dry goods and groceries. Mr. Winslow was again alone in business for a time. The firm of Winslow & Durkee carried a hardware stock in William Tarbell's

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block from 1874 to 1881. Mr. Winslow then sold out to his part- ner, and did not again enter mercantile life. He was in business in South Royalton for nearly thirty years.

Mrs. Anna C. Hastings Waterman has a long and honorable record as a business woman in Royalton. She came to Royalton village in 1868, after the death of her first husband, and worked in the millinery shop of Mrs. Baker for a year, then purchased the business of Mrs. Baker, and opened a millinery store in the house of James Culver. She removed her store to South Roy- alton in September, 1871, and opened a shop in the old Dane drug store building. In 1881 she bought a lot of Simon Sanborn, and the next year built a house and store, where Arthur A. Abbott's harness shop now is. While building she had her store in the William Tarbell block. In 1890 she removed her store into the brick store erected in 1887 by H. H. Whitcomb, which she pur- chased and still occupies. The fire of 1892 destroyed her house. She took her daughter, Miss Addie Hastings, into partnership in 1892, and this firm continues to do business with its usual suc- cess. The reputation of the shop for artistic and excellent work is known in all the neighboring towns, and the semi-yearly open- ings are eagerly awaited by the patrons of the firm.

FIRES IN SOUTH ROYALTON.

Few small villages have suffered so much from disastrous fires as South Royalton. For about twenty years it was free from the ravages of the fire fiend, but in the next twenty-five years it had repeated visitations from this enemy, at one time having the business portion entirely wiped out.

On Nov. 21, 1873, an alarm of fire was sounded. This time the milliner's store of Miss Hattie Bean was destroyed. The fire started about three a. m., caused by a defective chimney.

When the two o'clock train stopped at South Royalton on the morning of Feb. 6, 1878, it left Mr. Henry Hatch. He soon discovered that a fire had started in the Tarbell block on the south side of Main street, now called Chelsea street. There had been a band meeting that night in the rooms of the G. A. R. in the attic of this building, but the members claimed to have left no fire in the stove. This fire was also said to have arisen from a defective chimney. Men and women turned out to fight the flames, which soon spread to the Dickerman block east of the Tarbell building. Considerable of the goods in this store was saved, and also household furniture in the tenement on the sec- ond floor. No engine was at hand, and water was carried in pails to fight the flames. The weary men were refreshed by hot coffee, which the ladies prepared and carried to them. The King block,

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owned by A. N. King of Tunbridge, which stood on the corner west of the Tarbell building, also caught fire, and all three were soon laid low. The Northfield Fire Company and the managers and employees of the C. V. R. R. prepared to hasten to the relief of the sufferers, but the fire was controlled before they reached South Royalton.

Winslow & Durkee were on the first floor of the Tarbell block, Henry Parsons and family on the second floor, Pigeon Bros. in the basement. In the basement of the Dickerman store was J. H. Hewitt, dealer in produce. He slept through the whole of the commotion, and came up street the next morning to find himself several hundred dollars poorer, having no insurance. C. C. Southgate was in the King block. He saved the post-office, moved it to the Jones block on the other side of the street, and was ready to distribute mail at about the usual morning hour. On the second floor of the King block was Seymour Durkee, har- ness maker; in the basement, W. L. Parsons, restaurant keeper. The entire loss on goods was not far from $10,000, only partially covered by insurance. The Tarbell block was not insured.

The post-office was moved to Wilmot's store about the first of March, and by the middle of the month Mr. Dickerman had his lumber on the ground for a new building, and was ready for customers the last of June. Mr. King and Mr. Tarbell also re- built.

On Sep. 11, 1883, another alarm of fire was heard. The fire started about ten o'clock in the evening. The Bixby & Jones building, the first store erected in South Royalton, was already blazing on the roof when the alarm was given. It was supposed that a spark from a railroad engine, which had lately passed, had fallen on the roof and ignited it. The means at hand for fighting fire were still inadequate. The Randolph Fire Company came, but without an engine, as they had no means of transporting it. Engine Co., No. 1, Water Witch of Northfield, arrived about two o'clock a. m., but the fire was already under control. They as- sisted in preventing its further spread.

J. O. Belknap was in the McCain & Manahan store, later called the "Banner Store," which went, as also did the next small building in which M. J. Sargent had his drug store. Mr. Sargent saved most of his stock of goods in a more or less dam- aged condition, but the other sufferers lost nearly everything. Bixby & Jones opened for trade in Tarbell's block on the other side of the street, and Mr. Belknap went into the Martin block. His family lived in the home of G. H. Manchester while he rebuilt. The property burned was very well insured, but not sufficient to cover losses. No new building was erected on the site of the first Tarbell store, but Mr. Sargent and Mr. Belknap at once began the erection of wooden buildings on the site of the burned stores.

SOUTH ROYALTON AFTER THE FIRE OF AUGUST 30, 1886.

SOUTH ROYALTON IN THE 1870's.

YIY

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In three years from this time, Aug. 30, 1886, the citizens of South Royalton were called upon to pass through the most trying ordeal in the history of the village. Fire was again discovered about ten p. m. in the Tarbell block on the south side of Chelsea street, by a lady at the South Royalton House, and then the flames were bursting out of the rear of the store of J. B. Durkee. Explosions of kerosene and gunpowder in the Durkee stock imme- diately followed. There was a high wind at the time, and soon the roof of A. H. Lamb's shop in the rear of the stores on the north side of the street was blazing. It was only a brief time before the stores to the right and left of the Tarbell block were in flames, and those on the other side were so soon struck by fiery brands, that the whole business portion of the village surrendered itself to the greedy jaws of the fire god about the same time. The course of the fire was from the Tarbell block to the King block, then to J. O. Belknap and M. J. Sargent on the other side of the street, next the grain and flour store of M. S. Adams caught, fol- lowed by the C. V. R. R. freight depot. The Dickerman store was early ablaze. From the stores the flames spread to the resi- dences of A. H. Lamb, G. H. Manchester, Mrs. Rebecca Blake, Silas Doubleday, Ezra Wills, and Edgar Reynolds. Other suf- ferers were W. H. Martin, A. P. Skinner, Lamb & Tarbell, who lost their law office; M. V. Adams, who lost a restaurant; and G. J. Ashley, who lost his barber shop. The total loss was esti- mated at from $75,000 to $100,000. The heaviest losers were J. O. Belknap, $16,000; W. H. Martin, $10,000; L. C. Dickerman, $9,000; M. J. Sargent, $8,000; G. H. Manchester, $6,000; A. P. Skinner $5,000; A. N. King, $4,000; C. C. Southgate, $3,000; Silas Doubleday, $2,500.

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History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911, Part 62

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