History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n; Rann, William S
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5

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Lake St. Cathrine, lying in the towns of Poultney and Wells is five miles. in length and one mile wide in its greatest breadth. Recent authorities ac- count for the name St. Cathrine as being given to this body of water by a party of Jesuit fathers who, at an early date, had a mission among the Indians and were stationed upon the shore of this lake. This statement is well authenti- cated by Catholic authority. The lake is called " St. Augustine " in Thomp-

NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS.

son's history. It is authenticated by record that it bore this name as early as 1767. Governor Hall, in speaking of the name, says: "It appears from the New York land papers in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, that on the 27th of April, 1767, a survey was returned of five thousand acres of land for Colonel Maunsell, in the county of Albany, on the west side of 'Lake Cathrine' and that the same land was granted to him, March 7, 1771. On a map published in London in 1779, on which are located the several grants made by the governors of New York up to the time of the Revolution, Maun- sell's tract is marked as lying on the west side of a body of water designated as ' St. Cathrine.'" The present name was undoubtedly the original one ; although it has been called at various periods by different names, among them being " Lake Austin," or " Wells Pond." It covers an area of about two thousand acres, lying in two parts which are connected by a channel about three-fourths of a mile in length and from three to eight rods in width; the lower portion is called the Little Lake, and is about three-fourths of a mile in length by one-half in breadth. It is a beautiful sheet of water, surrounded by mountains ; the water is clear, abounds in fish, and it has become a favorite resort for visitors in summer. Several hotels have been erected for their ac- commodation and a small steamer plies its waters.

There are many lesser bodies of water that should be mentioned, some of which are even designated as lakes, and the majority as ponds, and many are in remote and unfrequented parts of the county. Among them are Martin's Pond in Benson, two miles long and the same in width. Inman Pond, a ro- mantic body of water in the north part of Fairhaven, deriving its name from Isaiah Inman, who settled near it. In Hubbardton there are twelve ponds wholly or in part within the limits of the township, some with and others without names. Beebe's Pond is one mile long and three-fourths of a mile wide. Lake Hortensia, which is three miles long and a half mile wide; its original name was "Gregory's Pond," and afterwards " Horton's Pond." It is near the village of Hortonville. Jackson Pond, near Mechanicsville in Mount Holly, is a mile long and half a mile wide ; it was first occupied by Abram Jackson, one of the first settlers, as a mill site, but is now utilized by a large manufacturing establishment. There is a natural pond on the height of the mountain on the line between Mount Tabor and Peru. From this pond flows a stream called Big Branch, which enters into the Otter Creek at Danby ; the whole distance traversed by it is about seven miles. The town of Rutland has several small bodies of water, but none that have assumed any importance or value. There are two considerable ponds in the south part of the town of Shrewsbury, one of which is now known as Shrewsbury Pond ; it is a roman- tic spot and is used for the cultivation of fish. Chapman Pond, in Tinmouth, is a mile and a half long and half a mile wide ; has some celebrity as a fishing resort. There are three considerable ponds in the town of Wallingford, the

HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.

longest of which is called Spectacle Pond, and sometimes "Lake Hiram; " it is two miles long and a mile wide. Another pond covers about fifty acres and is not far from the one just mentioned. West of the Otter Creek, about a mile from the village, is Fox Pond, which is three-fourths of a mile in length and half a mile in width. These three bodies of water are beautifully located and picturesque in all of their surroundings. These lakes and ponds, surrounded by the mountains, their placid surfaces in attractive contrast with the rugged steeps, add materially to the beauty of the landscapes of Rutland county.

CHAPTER III.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

Iulian Occupation - The Iroquois and Abenakis - Claims of the Indians to I ands - Evidences OF Iroquois Occupation - Rutland County Before the Revolution - First Records of Explo: ation - Chris and Melvin's Expeditions - Vermont Debatable Ground in the French War - Military Roads - The Road from Charlestown, N. II., to Crown Point - Elias Hall's Statement.

IN the preliminary chapter of this work considerable allusion has been made to the colonial history of this region ; this fact, and the no less important one that the details of that period have passed into general history and are in- scribed in hundreds of brilliant pages, must be an excuse for the comparatively brief space which we here devote to the subject.

The rich alluvial lands along the Otter Creek and other streams of this region offered the most favorable fields for hunting and fishing, and some of the Indian tribes doubtless made this country a place of residence or resort. At the time of the first discovery of Vermont by the French nobl man, Sam- uel Champlain, in 1609, the powerful Iroquois were its nominal possessors ; they were probably trespassers on the territory of the Abenakis, or Canadian Indians, by whom they were eventually expelled. Evidence of it. original populousness does not rest entirely on tradition. Indian mounds, tombstones and various memorials of aboriginal life and death were found on the territory occupied by them. Along the valleys and over the mountains doubtless passed successive generations of aboriginal inhabitants, with no chronicler to note their comings and goings. In this district of the country they planted their corn, hunted, lighted their council fires, planned their tribal wars, wood, wed and wasted away in age and death, as much unheeded and unknown by the civil- ized world as the successive growths of the dark and, gloomy forests they inhabited.

Frequent petitions have been made to the Legislature by the descendants

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

of the Iroquois asking remuneration for lands once owned by their nation. The first petition was presented in 1798, a second in 1812, and renewed in 1853. A commissioner was appointed who made a full report upon the Indian claims, and they were registered. This territory has also been claimed by the Caugh- nawagas, a branch of the Mohawks, whose principal seat was at Albany, though they had temporary residences here, to which they annually repaired for the purpose of hunting and fishing. Their descendants now exist in tribes at St. Regis, in Franklin county, N. Y., and at Sault St. Louis, near Montreal. They claimed a conveyance of a tract of territory, the boundaries of which are thus described : "Beginning on the east side of Ticonderoga, from thence to the great falls on the Otter Creek, and continues the same course to the height of land that divides the streams between Lake Champlain and the River Con- necticut, from thence along the height of land opposite Missique, and thence to the bay."

There are evidences that every year large numbers of these tribes were seen in their canoes ascending the Otter Creek to their favorite hunting grounds, wherein they constructed small huts and there took up their abode during the season favorable for the prosecution of their usual employment. The question what Indian nation first occupied and owned western Vermont has not to this day been fully settled, and still remains an historical problem.

Notwithstanding the patient investigation of the subject of the original In- dian occupation, much that is unreliable has doubtless been handed down in tradition from generation to generation, especially in respect to the earlier dates; but in regard to the origin of the Iroquois, the localities of their resi- dence, and their principal wars and conquests, the successive transmitters of their history could hardly fail of being essentially correct. We may, therefore, confirmed as it is by many circumstances found to exist on the advent of the Europeans, set it down as an established fact that the Iroquois originated in the northwest and gradually extended themselves over the southeastern por- tions of New York to the upper parts of the Hudson and finally to Lake Cham- plain, and some distance at least into the country east of it. The conclusion is also established that they could not have reached and become possessed of western Vermont much before the French found their way into the St. Law- rence in 1535, since their conquest of the Mohegans did not take place till about the time North America was discovered by the whites, and it may be reasonably supposed that many years elapsed after their conquest and posses- sion of the rich and extensive Mohegan territory southeast of the upper Hud- son before they pushed northerly on to Lake Champlain to engage in a new war with the Abenakis, which should wrest from them their territory in the Champlain and Otter Creek valleys. It is equally evident they relinquished their possessions between 1740 and 1760 or about the period of the settlement of the State.

HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.

Rutland county prior to the Revolution was unsettled and was predatory ground. Up to 1760 the territory was almost an unbroken wilderness. A few men from Massachusetts had located at "Dummer's Meadows," on the Connecticut River, near Brattleboro ; others had built a few block-houses and commenced clearings at several points farther north. Some French Canadians had built temporary residences at Chimney Point, on the shore of Lake Cham- plain, in the present town of Addison. But till the commencement of the French War a large proportion of this region was little known to- civilized men, few of whom had ever penetrated its mountain fastnesses. Such was the con- dition of this section of. the country and such were its inhabitants at the first approaches of civilization. The only known and authentic records of the ex- plorations of the territory embraced in this county were the diaries kept by James Cross and Eleazer Melvin. The former made his journey in April and May, 1730, and the latter in May, 1748, but this region of country did not be- gin to be generally known till 1754, when a series of operations began which eventually changed its whole physical aspect and brought a hardy race of civilized men to settle and open the territory.

Mr. Cross made his tour of observation, starting from Fort Dummer, April 27, 1730 ; he traveled up the banks of the Connecticut to Bellow's Falls, to the falls in the Black River at Springfield, and thence by Ludlow and Plymouth Ponds, until Arthur's Creek-Otter Creek-was reached, on Sunday, the 30th. The party then made canoes and sailed down the creek to Gookin's Falls, at Center Rutland, and thence to Sutherland Falls and onward down the creek until Lake Champlain was reached. The canoes were carried around all the falls.

The Melvin expedition, composed of eighteen men, passed through this territory eighteen years afterward, and followed nearly the same route ; he started on a military expedition May 13, 1748, from Fort Dummer, continued up the Connecticut to Number Four (Charlestown), and then followed the Black River. On the 19th the party " crossed several large streams, being branches of the Otter Creek." Saw many signs of the enemy, both old and new, such as camps, trees girdled, etc. On the 20th they marched over the Otter Creek and around the Sutherland Falls. Further along they found sev- eral camps of the previous winter and beaten paths made by the enemy. On the 24th they came upon a camp fenced in with a very thick fence, where was found a keg of about four gallons which appeared to be newly emptied of wine, as plainly appeared by the smell, and about twelve pounds of good French bread. They reached Lake Champlain and this point on the 28th, and had a skirmish with a party of Indians. They then began a retreat, being pursued by about one hundred and fifty of the enemy. They again came to the banks of the Otter Creek, in Pittsford, about a mile below Sutherland Falls and marched to Center Rutland where they camped. Thence they fol-

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

lowed up the Otter Creek to the head of one of its branches. Before arriving at Fort Dummer Captain Melvin's party had another skirmish with the enemy, and his party was scattered and four men killed, one wounded and one taken prisoner.

During the struggle between France and England for territorial possession the settlements of the French were separated from the colonies of New York and New England; Vermont only separated them. Its territory was, there- fore, frequently passed over by military expeditions to Canada, the American soldiers traveling the wilderness by means of paths indicated by marked trees. Army supplies could only be transported in packs on horseback, and even this was accomplished with much difficulty. The route from Canada to the Con- necticut was by the way of Lake Champlain and Black River. There was an old path which was called Indian Road. Massachusetts, feeling the necessity of a road for facilitating the military operations of the government, in 1756 considered the feasibility of constructing a military road between the Connect- icut River and Lake Champlain opposite Crown Point, and the Legislature of that State made provision for a survey to ascertain "the distance and practica- bility of a communication between Number Four, on the Connecticut River, and Crown Point by the way of Otter Creek," and that the course of the creek, its depth of water, its falls, the nature of the soil and the growth of woods near it, should be reported. A fort was also projected on the height of land between the Black River and the Otter Creek, the surveys were made to the top of the Green Mountains, but there was no attempt to build either the road or the fort, the pending hostilities rendering it hazardous. In 1759, how- ever, a military road was laid out by General Amherst, from what is now Charlestown, N. H., to Crown Point. The enlisted men of New Hampshire and Massachusetts were quartered at Crown Point, and the object of building the road was for transporting troops and baggage between the two localities named. Two hundred men, under the command of Captain John Stark, en- tered upon the construction of the road. The work began at Crown Point and a good wagon road was first constructed to the Otter Creek. Lieutenant-Col- onel Hawks then cut a bridle path over the mountain, but did not complete the work ; the reason for his abandoning his purpose has never been explained. In 1760 New Hampshire soldiers constructed a new road from Number Four to Ludlow where the bridle path of Colonel Hawks ended. They followed the bridle path to Otter Creek and thence on to Crown Point. They could transport the military stores in wagons to Ludlow and thence by bridle on horses. There were two branches, and the first branch was only in use prior to 1759, passing through Rutland, from what was called the Little Falls, and Center Rutland. The second branch ran north from what is now Main street in Rutland, going north and intersecting the first branch in Pittsford.

Mr. Elias Hall, whose father was in the army of General Amherst, made 4

HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.

some years ago substantially the following statement : When nineteen years of age he accompanied his father to look over the scenes of his father's military service. Crown Point and Chimney Point being only half a mile apart, the old French road starting on the Vermont shore of the lake, his father traveled the route on his way home from the fort in 1759, and passed through East Shoreham and Whiting. Fort Mott, at Pittsford, was on the line of his route and near the road from Pittsford to the corner of Main and West streets in Rutland, where another fort is understood to have been located; thence the route ran through Clarendon, Shrewsbury, and Mount Holly, Ludlow, Caven- dish and on to Number Four, (or Charlestown, N. H.) This is a description in brief of the route of the old French or military road connecting Crown Point with the Connecticut River. The details of this route along the various points it passed and its boundaries will receive further attention in subsequent pages. Many towns, however, have claimed to have been on the line through which it did not go, especially in the western section of the county.

CHAPTER IV.

THE NEW YORK CONTROVERSY.

The Grounds of the Controversy - Issue of Conflicting Patents-Schedule of Patents and Date of Issue-Difficulties Engendered in Attempts to Eject Settlers-A Military Organization under Ethan Allen-Lydius's Claim and Grants under it-The First Arrest and Trial-Other Incidents-Benjamin Hough's Offense and Punishment - Proclamations and Counter-Proclamations - The Controversy Quieted by the Opening of the Revolutionary Struggle.

B UT a brief reference can be made to the long and bitter controversy with the authorities of New York, which caused so much annoyance and trouble to the early settlers on the New Hampshire Grants. It was a controversy which was to decide the strength of New York laws and the fate of the settlers on the territory now constituting the county of Rutland, as well as the sur- rounding vicinity. The situation of affairs that led to this historical contro- versy may be briefly stated as follows : -

On the 10th of April, 1765, a proclamation was issued by Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Colden, of New York, giving a copy of an order of the king in council of the 20th of July preceding, declaring the boundary line between New Hamp- shire and New York to be the Connecticut River, and notifying his majesty's subjects to govern themselves accordingly.

That a twenty mile line from the Hudson, extending northerly to Lake Champlain, was the eastern boundary of New York, is proven by the charter

THE NEW YORK CONTROVERSY.

title of the Duke of York upon his accession to the throne in 1685, making New York a royal province. The disputed territory had been repeatedly and uniformly recognized by the king's government as belonging to the Province of New Hampshire, and never to that of New York.

The king, in 1741, commissioned Benning Wentworth governor of New Hampshire, describing his province as reaching westward "until it met his other governments," thus bounding it westerly by New York. Governor Went- worth, with authority from the king to grant his lands, issued charters of over one hundred townships, each of six miles square, within such territory. Among these charters nearly all the land in the present Rutland county had been granted in sixteen different townships, viz. : Brandon (by the name of Neshobe), Castleton (by the name of Harwich), Pawlet, Pittsford, Poultney, Rutland, Sher- burne, Shrewsbury, Sudbury, Tinmouth, Wallingford and Wells.

Meanwhile, and soon after the issue of the proclamation of Lieutenant- Governor Colden, he began the issue of patents in the present territory of Rut- land county, and by the following November had granted about twelve hun- dred acres under what were termed military patents, chiefly in Benson, Fair- haven and Pawlet. The military patents entire that were granted in the county embraced more than 26,000 acres, all of which patents, except one thousand acres, were made in direct contravention of the order of the king, of July 24, 1767, forbidding the New York governors from making such grants. The last patents embraced lands in Pawlet, Wells, Poultney, Castleton, Fair- haven and Benson. Although these military patents were ostensibly a re- ward for military service, they were in reality made for the benefit of land speculators. The grants made for purposes of settlement were not to exceed one thousand acres each, and to only one individual ; these were termed civil grants. The following compilation from the records of New York patents shows the date of each patent, the name of the leading patentee, the location of the tract and the number of acres as far as relates to Rutland county : -

1770, May 20, Kelso, Tinmouth, 21,500 acres; August I, Hutton, Shrews- bury, 12,000 acres; September 8, Wm. Faquar, Benson, 5,000 acres.

1771, February 28, Adam Gilchrist, Poultney, 12,000 acres; April 3, So- cialborough, Rutland, Pittsford and Clarendon, 48,000 acres ; June 12, Hales- borough, Brandon, 23,000 acres; June 24, Newry, Shrewsbury, Sherburne and Mendon, 37,000 acres ; June 28, Richmond, Wells and vicinity, 24,000 acres.

1772, January 7, Durham, Clarendon and Wallingford, 32,000 acres ; Feb- ruary 20, John Tudor, Danby, 1,000 acres ; November 6, Henry Van Vleck, Ira, 5,000 acres ; June 19, John Thompson, Pawlet, 2,000 acres. Making in all 222,500 acres.

The patent of Socialborough bore date April 3, 1771, and the grant covered about 48,000 acres, as stated, forming a tract thirteen miles in length and six in width, and was nearly identical with the New Hampshire townships of Rut-

HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.

land and Pittsford. The patent of Durham, which was issued by Governor Tryon, bore date January 7, 1772, and included most, if not all, of the land in the township of Clarendon, which had been chartered by New Hampshire Sep- tember 5, 1761.

It was well known in New York that these lands had long been granted by New Hampshire, and were actually occupied under such grants, and the new patents were procured in utter disregard of the rights and claims of the settlers. So all attempts to survey the new patents, or to eject the present holders, were met with sturdy resistance on the part of the settlers, and thus it came about that those who opposed the authority of New York were stigmatized as " riot- ers," " conspirators," and " wanton disturbers of the public peace," while the "Yorkers " were in turn called " land jobbers," " land pirates," etc.

Of the many personal collisions that grew out of this state of affairs, we can refer to only a few ; others will be found described in the various town his- tories. Committees were appointed for local protection from the operations of the New York speculators, and towards the latter part of the year 1771 'a mil- itary organization was instituted with Ethan Allen in command. The duties of this body were to watch for and report in their several neighborhoods any hostile movements of their adversaries, and to hold themselves in readiness to move to any part of the threatened territory whither they were directed for the defense of the interests of the settlers.

The first settlement was made in Clarendon about 1768, under a lease from one John Henry Lydius, an Indian trader and native of Albany. He claimed title to a very large tract of land on Otter Creek, by virtue of a deed from some Mohawk Indians, dated in 1732, and a pretended confirmation by the king through Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, in 1744. This claim aroused the " Green Mountain Boys," who at once determined to put a stop to this en- croachment. They determined that none of the New York officers living in the disputed territory should be permitted to perform any official acts, and that in order to separate the interests of the inhabitants of Durham from those of their New York associates, the latter should be required to acknowledge the validity of the New Hampshire title by purchasing and holding under it ; and that if mild measures should not be found sufficient to carry into effect these resolutions, forcible means should be resorted to.

This soon led to open hostilities against the New York adherents, and es- pecially Benjamin Spencer, of Clarendon. Under the lead of Ethan Allen and Remember Baker, on Sunday night, the 20th of November, a party of twenty or thirty men took Spencer into custody and kept him until Monday morning, by which time the number of Green Mountain Boys had increased to over one hundred. Before beginning Spencer's trial, Allen addressed the people, in- forming them that he and others had been appointed " to inspect and set things in order, and to see that there should be no intruders on the grants, and de-

THE NEW YORK CONTROVERSY.

claring that Clarendon [then Durham] had become a hornet's nest that must be broken up." The trial then began, Spencer being accused of " cuddling with the land-jobbers of New York to prevent claimants of the New Hamp- shire rights from holding the lands which they claimed, and with issuing a war- rant as justice of the peace contrary to orders ; and with endeavoring to seduce and inviegle the people to be subject to the laws and government of the colony of New York."

Spencer was found guilty and his house declared to be a nuisance, and sen- tence was passed that it should be burned to the ground, and that he should promise that he would not in the future act as a justice of the peace under au- thority from New York. On an appeal from Spencer the sentence was recon- sidered, and it was decided that the house should not be wholly destroyed, but only the roof should be taken off and might be put on again, provided Spencer should declare that it was so put on under the New Hampshire title, and should purchase a right under the charter of that province. Spencer, promising com- pliance with these terms, the Green Mountain Boys proceeded to remove the roof " with great shouting, much noise and tumult." On a further promise that he would not act again as magistrate, Spencer was discharged from cus- tody. A part of the company then visited the house of the New York coro- ner, named Jenny, and finding him absent and his house deserted, set it on fire and it was burned to the ground. Most of the inhabitants of Clarendon who held under the New York patents were also visited, and, upon their being threatened, agreed to purchase under the New Hampshire title. The New York narrative of this invasion of Clarendon said : "The men composing the mob conducted themselves in a coarse, boisterous and blustering manner, using very violent as well as profane language, threatening destruction and death to those who should fail to acknowledge the New Hampshire title and become its advocates."

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History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n; Rann, William S Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n; Rann, William S
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 1170