USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 23
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0.16
1.06
trace
trace
trace
trace
Phosphoric Acid. Alkalies (Sodium)
4.16
6.92
7.20
3.92
Water
1.37
1.38
1.50
1.24
"Magnesia
2.00
1.03
0.90
1.43
Peroxide of iron is probably the coloring matter. These analyses show that the bulk of slate deposits is made up chiefly of silica and alumina, and was therefore at one time ordinary clay.
IRON.
Beds of hematite (limonite) iron ore are found in many localities within this county, some of which have been worked, producing a superior quality of what was called " charcoal iron," charcoal being used for fuel in reducing the ores. In close proximity to these ore beds are large deposits of yellow ocher (lim- nite) which has been and is now being mined for paint material.
An extensive bed of limonite exists in the southeast part of Tinmouth near the north end of Tinmouth Pond, which was successfully worked for about thirty years. This deposit was called the "Chipman Bed." This bed was abandoned some forty years ago, and has not been worked since.
66
Bolger Brothers,
R. Hanger, Blissville . billiard beds, etc.
roofing
Lloyd and fones,
Jones, Roberts and Edwards, Poultney, mill stock Ripley and Stanley, (two quarries), Poultney
Captain Wm. H. Jones, Poultney
Jones and Parry,
Knapp and Pronty, Poultney .
Kinnie, Hunt and Co.,
46
H. W. Hughes (four quarries), West Pawlet. roofing Rising and Nelson '(four quarries), West Pawlet 66
Hugh J. Williams, Pawlet
199
MARBLE AND SLATE IN RUTLAND COUNTY.
About two miles north of the Chipman Bed is another deposit of ore which was opened and worked seventy-five years ago. This ore was excellent and iron of superior quality was made from it. This bed is now abandoned. There is a deposit of iron ore situated about one mile east of South Wallingford vil- lage that has been worked, but is now abandoned. The iron ore was of infe- rior quality, owing to the large percentage of manganese present. The follow- ing is an anaylsis of iron made from this ore, by Prof. Olmstead :- -
Metallic iron. 88.71
Metallic manganese. 11.28
99.99
The manganese made the iron hard and brittle.
A furnace for smelting iron was built in Pittsford in the fall of 1791 by Israel Keith, from Easton, Mass. The ore was mostly brought from Chitten- den, a distance of about two miles. A good quality of iron was made and found a ready sale. On the 4th of July, 1795, Mr. Keith sold the furnace property to Nathan Gibbs, Cornelius Gibbs, Edward Kingman and Luke Reed ; and in 1797 Nathan Gibbs purchased his associates' interests and took upon himself the sole management of it. He enlarged the works and continued the business till about the time of his death in 1824. After the death of Mr. Gibbs the furnace passed into the hands of Andrew Leach, who sold it to Sim- eon Granger & Sons in 1826.
The furnace was burned in 1827, but was rebuilt soon afterward and the business was conducted by " Simeon Granger & Sons" till the death of the father in 1834, when the two sons, Lyman and Chester, took charge of the works. In 1837 Lyman sold his interest to Edward L. Granger, another brother. C. & E. L. Granger continued the business until the death of the junior member of the firm in 1846, when George W. Hodges was admitted as a member of the firm, and the furnace business was conducted in the name of "Granger, Hodges & Co." till 1852.
After a partial suspension of business a stock company was formed and incorporated by an act of the General Assembly as the " Pittsford Iron Com- pany." This company did a brisk business for a short time, but soon sus- pended, not being able to compete with other companies elsewhere possessing superior facilities for the manufacture of iron.
In 1865 the name of the company was changed to the "Vermont Iron Company," which was composed of entirely new members, who repaired the furnace and again put it in operation ; but it was found to be an unprofitable business, and consequently was again suspended, and has remained so to the present time.
Iron was discovered in Brandon in 1810 and soon after a forge was built and bar iron of superior quality was manufactured for several years. In 1820 John Conant, esq., built a furnace for reducing the ore. It is to the energy
200
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
and enterprise of Mr. Conant that Brandon is indebted for an impetus then given to its business which added materially to its growth and prosperity.
In 1850 the furnace property, ore beds, kaolin mines, etc., were purchased by the "Brandon Car Wheel Company," who for a number of years manu- factured a superior quality of cold blast charcoal iron. The iron furnace has not been in operation for a number of years.
Three miles northeast of the Granger furnace, not far from the west line of Chittenden, are beds of limonite. That known as the " Mitchel Bed " has been worked quite extensively and the greater portion has been of excellent quality. The Mitchel Bed furnished much of the ore for the Granger furnace.
The yellow ocher (limnite), kaolin and manganese (psilolemane) ore, were each successfully worked while the iron furnace was in operation. Many tons of the manganese were shipped to England. The ocher is still mined to a moderate extent as a paint material by the " Brandon Kaolin and Paint Co.," of which G. W. Prime is president; C. H. Forbes, secretary. The ocher is also mined for paint material by the " Original Brandon Paint Co." No iron beds or blast furnaces are worked at the present time within the county.
A thick deposit of sulphate of iron, or iron pyrites, exists at Cuttingsville, which has been mined and used quite extensively in the manufacture of cop- peras. For nearly forty years these beds have been abandoned; the buildings in which the copperas was manufactured have been taken down and removed. With the exception of the mine but few traces of the works are to be seen.
CLAYS.
Clays suitable for brick are found in several localities within the county. Good bricks are manufactured in Rutland by John McIntire; also by Albert Davis. Their yards and kilns are just south of the village. A good quality of brick is also made at Brandon.
The bricks used in the construction of the United States court-house and post- office at Rutland were made from clay hauled from Pittsford and were pressed and burned at Rutland.
Fire-clay is found in Brandon and at one time was used in the manufacture of fire-brick and stone-ware. A deposit of fire-clay of excellent quality is found near the east line of Rutland, which is worked to some extent by the " Rut- land Fire-clay Co.," of which R. L. Perkings is manager and A. W. Perkings, treasurer.
The writer desires to state that he has gladly availed himself of information wherever it could be obtained, relating to the subject matter contained in the foregoing chapter. Much relating to geology has been derived from the fol- lowing works, viz. : Vermont Geological Reports, 2d vol., 1861. Dana's Man- ual of Geology, 3d edition, 188 -. Prof. Archibald Geike's Elements of Geol- ogy, London. Proceedings of the Middlebury Historical Society, vol. I, part
201
RUTLAND COUNTY EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
II, entitled The Marble Border of Western New England, Middlebury, Vt., 1885. A Treatise on the Slate Quarries of Rutland County, by Owen Ifor, 1884, as well as from many individuals who have kindly furnished me with infor- mation relating to the early development of the slate and marble industries. To all such I tender a hearty acknowledgment.
CHAPTER XIV.
RUTLAND COUNTY EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.1
Character of Early Settlers in Vermont - Their Reliance Upon the Church and the School-House - Plymouth Colony Act Relative to Education - Further School Legislation - Early County, or Grammar Schools - Rutland County Board of Trustees - Academic History - Rutland County Acad- emy - " Brandon Academy " - West Rutland Academy - Poultney Female Academy - Primary Schools - Provisions for their Support - The Pioneer School System and School-Houses - School Improvements - Normal Schools - Graded and Union Schools - Present School Conditions.
0 UR Vermont historian, Zadock Thompson, opens his chapter on " Educa- tion and Literature in Vermont," as follows :-
" Few of the early settlers of Vermont enjoyed any other advantages of education than a few months' attendance at primary schools as they existed in New England previous to the Revolution. But these advantages had been so well improved that nearly all of them were able to read and write a legible hand and had acquired a sufficient knowledge of arithmetic for the transaction of ordinary business. They were in general men of strong and penetrating minds, and clearly perceiving the numerous advantages which education con- fers, they early directed their attention to the establishment of schools."
There can be little doubt of the correctness of Mr. Thompson's views of the character of the first settlers of Vermont and that "they early directed their attention to the establishment of schools"; that is shown by the records of almost every town in the State.
The first settlers of Vermont were not born in Vermont. They came here in the main from the older settled colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, a few coming from Rhode Island and New Hampshire. They brought with them what education they had received and the characters they had formed in those colonies from which they had emigrated. And it is evident that those early settlers, after they came to Vermont, clearly perceived " the numerous advantages which education confers"; they must have acquired that capacity before they came here. It seems, then, to the writer, that for the better un-
1 Prepared and contributed by Hon. Barnes Frisbie, of Poultney.
202
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
derstanding of our educational history we should first go back to our settle- ment and briefly review the influences which had been at work in moulding the characters of our first settlers. We boast of our Puritan origin, and we may. Freedom had its birth long before the declaration of independence. It was weak at first ; it grew slowly but surely until it culminated in the Ameri- can Revolution and the establishment of a free government. What were the agencies which effected this growth ? History leaves us in no doubt on that subject.
New England was settled by the Puritans. First came those who fled from Nottinghamshire to Holland in 1608 to escape persecution. From Holland they landed at Plymouth in 1620 and founded the Plymouth colony. Between 1630 and 1650 large numbers of Puritans left England for America and found- ed the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The latter did not flee from persecution, as, at the time they left, Puritanism in England had increased in power and could not be assailed with impunity. The Puritans were, in fact, the best class of men England could turn out at the time to found new com- munities. They were free thinkers, independent in thought and action. They were subjects of the crown of Great Britain, but formed governments for them- selves in Massachusetts and Connecticut as purely democratic as the govern- ment of the United States is or ever was. They were behind this age in civili- zation, yet they were thoroughly democratic in their local government. Their laws were crude in style and form and they were intolerant to those who dif- fered from them in religious faith and doctrine, yet with an unflinching adher- ence to duty, as they understood it, and their firm reliance upon the church and the school-house, they made their way on in the progress of civilization, and succeeded in opening the way for the best government the sun ever shone upon.
As this chapter is to be devoted to educational history, we may briefly consider that which pertains to New England before the outbreak of the Revo- lutionary War. As one writer well says: "Scarcely had the Pilgrims landed when they put their heads together in order to devise means for the moral and mental culture of their children." The colony, or the colonies, and the schools started together. The first educational ordinance in Massachusetts was in 1642. This provided that the selectmen of every town should see to it that children and apprentices are not wronged in matters of education ; it also pro- vided for a fine of twenty shillings upon the offenders against the law. Vari- ous enactments were made in subsequent years by the General Court of the several colonies, with the view evidently of adequately supporting a generous system of education. They established free schools - schools that were open to all children of school age, and, more than that, they provided by law that all of school age should attend-compulsory, if need be. The next year after the New Haven colony was founded a school was established and in running
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RUTLAND COUNTY EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
order in that colony. I may be here permitted to take an extract from the Plymouth colony laws passed by the General Court of the colony in 1670 :-
" Education of children. - For as much as the good Education of Children .and youth is of singular use and benefit to any Commonwealth ; and whereas many Parents and Masters, either through an over-respect to their own occa- sions and business or not duly considering the good of their children and serv- ants, have too much neglected their duty in their education, whilst they are young and capable of learning : it is ordered: that Deputies and Selectmen of every Town shall have a vigilent eye from time to time over their Brethren and Neighbors, to see that all Parents and Masters do duly endeavor by them- selves or others, to teach their children and servants as they grow capable, so much learning as through the blessing of God that they may attain at least to be able duly to read the scriptures, and good profitable books printed in the English Tongue (being their Native Language) and the Knowledge of the Cap- ital laws, and in some competent measure to understand the main Grounds and Principals of Christian Religion, necessary to Salvation, by causing them to learn some Orthodox Catechisme without book, or otherwise instructing them as they may be able to give a due answer to such plain and ordinary Questions, as may by them or others be propounded to them concerning the same : and further, that all Parents and Masters do breed and bring up their children and apprentices in some honest lawful calling, labor or employment that may be profitable for themselves or their country ; and after warning and admonition given by the Deputies or Selectmen into such Parents or Masters, they shall still remain negligent in their duty in any of the particulars afore mentioned, whereby Children or Servants may be in danger to grow Barber- .ous, Rude or Stubborn, or so prove Pests instead of Blessings to their country, that then a fine of ten shillings shall be levied on the Goods of such negligent Parents or Master, to the Towns use, except extreme poverty call for mitiga- tion of the said fine.
" And if in three months after that there be no due care taken and contin- ued, for the Educaton of such children and apprentices of aforesaid then a fine of twenty shillings to be levied on such Delinquents Goods, to the Towns use ยท except as afore said.
" And Lastly, if in three months after that, there be no due Reformation of said neglect, then the said Select Men with the help of two Magistrates, shall take such children and servants from them and place them with some Master for years (boys till they come to twenty-one, and girls eighteen years of age) which shall more strictly educate and govern them according to the rules of the order."
These laws were drafted in "ye ancient style," but they unmistakably in- dicate the Puritan idea of education at the time, and it may also be remarked that the history of the Puritans in New England shows that their laws were not
204
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
a dead letter. They were thoroughly in earnest in their laws, in all the ways of life.
Thus began the settlement of New England and thus it progressed under that high ideal of life which brought to its aid religion and education. The free school-the school open to all, had been without precedent ; it was first adopted by the Puritans. It is not to be claimed here that the early colonial schools of New England had the perfection which a more advanced and enlightened age has shown ; but they were schools as good as could be gotten up at that age with the means they had, and were as faithfully and persistently maintained as any schools ever were. History gives no practical example that shows in a stronger light the value of general education. If we search the old colonial records we shall find much that is arbitrary, much that is superstitious, much that is intolerant in religion ; but we shall not fail to find that the Puritans put themselves on grounds from which they could advance and that they did ad- vance. The germ was transplanted from Europe to our shores, and here it grew, and was pruned from time to time, as it grew, of its inconsistencies with enlightened freedom, its superstition and its intolerance. And here is an op- portunity for the philosophical student of history to study the laws of growth which apply as well to nations, states, communities and societies, as to a tree or plant. The germ, so to speak, must be nourished by the material which the revealed and natural laws of God require to insure its growth, and the important factors in the nourishment by the Puritans were the church and the school-house.
Perhaps the space given to history outside of Vermont and before the State was settled, as introductory, may be regarded as useless ; but the writer does. not so consider it. If the reader adopts the reasonings and conclusions of the writer, we shall now understand why the first settlers of Vermont early direct- ed their attention to education ; we shall understand what made success possi- ble in the Revolutionary struggle. The writer is old enough to bring evidence- to bear upon this point. I was personally acquainted with quite a large num- ber of the soldiers of the Revolution, residents in the main of Rutland county. They were men, not machines, as were the common soldiers of the British army. I knew them as prominent and useful members of society ; members. of churches, deacons, civil magistrates and otherwise occupying places of trust and responsibility. They were not in general as highly educated as the aver- age citizen of to-day, yet the proportion who were obliged to make their cross. when they drew their pensions was probably not larger than that of the sol- diers of the war of 1861.
School Legislation. - The first constitution of Vermont, established by con- vention July 2, and December 24, 1777, contained this section : " A school or schools shall be established in each towr. by the Legislature, for the conven- ient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by each town,.
205
RUTLAND COUNTY EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
making proper use of school lands in such towns, thereby to enable them to instruct youth at low prices. One Grammar School in each County, and one University in this State, ought to be established by the General Assembly."
The first general law of Vermont, says Thompson, on the subject of pri- mary schools was passed by the Legislature on the 22d day of October, 1782. This law provided for the division of towns into school districts, for the ap- pointment of trustees in each town, for the general superintendence of schools and for the election of a prudential committee by the inhabitants of each dis- trict, to which committee power was given to raise one-half of the money nec- essary for the building and repairing the school-house and supporting a school, by a tax assessed on the grand list, and the other half either on the list, or on the parents of the scholars, as should be ordered by a vote of the district.
This was the law under which the school system of Vermont started. That there were some schools in the State prior to the passage of this law seems probable. Mr. Hollister, the Pawlet historian, says: "Next to providing themselves with shelter and the most common necessaries of life, our fathers, true to the institutions under which they had been reared, directed their at- tention to education. Schools were established as soon as a sufficient number of scholars could be gathered in any locality." This is true of all the towns in the county of Rutland, indeed of the State. The first school-houses, as well as the first dwellings, were of logs; so important to our first settlers was the education of their children that they made almost anything answer for a school- room. The historical student cannot fail to see the force of those words of Mr. Hollister : " Our fathers, true to the institutions under which they had been reared " (in Massachusetts and Connecticut), directed their attention to education.
The act of October 22, 1782, also provided that the judges of the County Courts be authorized to appoint trustees of a county school (grammar school), in each of their respective counties, and with the assistance of justices of the peace to levy a tax for the purpose of building a county school-house in each county. This part of the act was never fully carried into effect. The first county or grammar schools in Rutland were established, but no tax was ever raised as provided. Some of them were aided by " grammar school land " granted by the Legislature; though as early as 1786 a movement was made in Rutland county which resulted in the establishment of the Rutland County Grammar School at Castleton. This movement was mainly on the part of the people of Castleton, and through their efforts a grammar school was opened in that town in the year 1781. It was opened in "a gambrill-roof school-house" which had been recently erected, and was continued in the same until the build- ing was consumed by fire in the year 1800. The Legislature passed an act October 29, 1805, entitled " An Act Confirming the Grammar School in the County of Rutland, " and the Rev. Elihu Smith, the Hon. James Witherell,
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
and Messrs. Chauncey Langdon, A. W. Hyde, Theophilus Flagg, Samuel Shaw, James Gilmore, Amos Thompson, John Mason, Enos Merrill and Isaac Clark were constituted a board of trustees with the usual powers. Section F of this. act reads as follows: " And it is hereby further enacted that the house in Castleton in said county, lately erected on the spot where stood the school- house for said county, which was lately consumed by fire, be and is hereby established as a county grammar school-house for said county, so long as the- inhabitants of said Castleton shall keep the same or any other house in the same place in good repair for the purpose aforesaid to the exceptance of the County Court of said county."
I have been unable to learn that any tax was ever laid on the county of Rutland for the purpose of erecting buildings for a county school-house. A corporation was created by the Legislature under the name of the Rutland County Grammar School, and was twice afterward affirmed; once by the act last named in 1805, and subsequently in 1830. The school has been essentially an academy from the first and received its support, as other academies have to. this day, in the tuition fees of those who attended. It is the oldest academy in Rutland county and one of the oldest in the State. A portion of the time since its establishment it has had a large patronage, and was regarded as one of the the most flourishing institutions of its kind in New England.
Other Academies. - Other academies have arisen in Rutland county. The Troy Conference Academy was incorporated in 1834, and soon after com- menced as a school. A fine academy building in Poultney was completed in 1837, and the school commenced its work in that building in the fall of that year. For twenty years after the establishment of this school its patronage was large. In 1863 it was changed to a school for females under the name of Ripley Female College, and in 1873 was restored to the Troy Conference and has since been used as a Conference school with a fair patronage, and is now quite prosperous under the direction of Rev. C. H. Dunton as principal.
The " Brandon Academy " was incorpated by the Legislature in 1806. It existed as a school for several years, but never drew much patronage outside of the town. The Vermont Scientific and Literary Institution was organized about 1825 ; I find no record of its incorporation. A fine building was erected and the school started off under the auspices of the Baptist denomination, and for many years was quite flourishing. Like many other academies in the State, its patronage gradually diminished until it ceased to exist, and the " Old Semi- nary Building " became the property of the graded school established in Bran- don in 1865, and was repaired and remodeled for that purpose.
Several other academies have been incorporated from time to time in Rut- land county, but the three at Castleton, Poultney and Brandon have been the most prominent. The Vermont Academy was incorporated and located at Rutland in 1805, but I find no account of its ever existing as a school. The
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