USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 64
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Banks. - The first bank in Castleton, called the Bank of Castleton, was or- ganized in 1852; capital stock $100,000. Hon. William C. Kittridge was the first president ; L. D. Foote, first cashier. T. W. Rice succeeded Judge Kit- tridge in 1854, as president, and C. M. Willard, now of Fairhaven, was ap- pointed cashier. This bank was closed in 1859, and the Mutual Bank of Cas- tleton was organized in its place, with T. W. Rice, president, C. M. Willard, cashier. In 1865 the title of the bank was changed to the Castleton National Bank, and Carlos S. Sherman became president with I. M. Guy, cashier. The cashiers since then have been M. D. Cole, H. I. Cole, and the present incum- bent, D. D. Cole. Mr. Sherman is still president. Deposits, about $30,000. Capital, $50,000. Surplus, $10,000.
Attorneys. - Hon. Jerome B. Bromley was born in Pawlet, Vt., May 4, 1828, was educated in the Burr & Burton Seminary at Manchester, Vt., stud- ied law in the office of George W. Harmon, of Pawlet, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1849. He practiced in Pawlet until 1871, when he re- moved to Castleton village and has since been judge of probate for Fairhaven District. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1856-57, State's attorney in 1867-68, and represented Pawlet in the Legislature in 1869 and 1870. His son, Charles C. Bromley, now a student in his office, was born in Pawlet, November 17, 1863. Henry L. Clark was born in Mount Holly on the 5th of February, 1847 ; studied law with Edgerton & Nichols, of Rutland, and C. M. Willard, then of Castleton, and was admitted to practice in 1870. Since 1871 he has practiced here in company with Judge Bromley. He rep- resented Castleton in 1884.
John Howe was born in Castleton on the 8th day of October, 1833. He studied in the office of his father, Hon. Zimri Howe, and at the Albany Law School, and was admitted in the fall of 1854. He has practiced here ever since, with the exception of eight years and a half, following May, 1868, when he was without the State. He has been State's attorney four years from 1880, and represented the town in 1867, and in 1878. His partner, Moses J. Har- rington, was born in Castleton, August 8, 1859. He studied with Mr. Howe, and in a law office in New York city, and was admitted in March, 1884. He has practiced in Castleton ever since, and has been in partnership with Mr. Howe since February, 1885.
Physicians. - Dr. James Sanford was born in Castleton, October 19, 1816; received his medical education at the Castleton Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1840 and attended lectures in New York, and the Albany
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
College. In 1840 he commenced practicing in Westhaven. From 1844 to about 1863 he practiced in Fairhaven, and then took up his residence in Cas- tleton.
Dr. C. C. Nichols was born June 2, 1824, in Hubbardton, was graduated from the Castleton Medical College in 1847. From 1855 he practiced in Wells- until 1872, when he came to Hydeville. In March, 1855, he removed to Cas- tleton village.
Dr. G. Roberts was born in Leicester, Vt., September 1, 1861, received his medical education at the University of Michigan, and the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, from which latter institution he was graduated February 22, 1882. On the 20th of April following he came to Castleton. He practices homeopathy.
Postmasters. - Little is known respecting the postmasters in the early his- tory of the town, or in what year the office was established. For some years the first settlers went to Rutland for all mail matter. Dr. Selah Gridley may have been the first postmaster, though it is probable there were others before him. Samuel Moulton received the appointment in 1810, and held it till his death in 1838. His son, Cullen Moulton, was then appointed. From 1841 to 1843 the postmaster was Chester Spencer, then followed Cullen Moulton, Hannibal Hodges, Chester Spencer, Gustavus Buel, William Moulton, and in 1885 the present incumbent, D. G. Burt.
Miscellaneous Business. - The saw-mill of Simon Bassett, two miles north of Castleton village, was started about 1876 by the present proprietor.
The grist and saw-mill which stands on the site of the old oil-mill came into the possession of the present proprietor, Russell Streeter, several years ago. His predecessors were Bromley & Dewey.
The Sherman Marble Mill was started about the year 1835, by Sherman & Jackman, who were succeeded in 1842 by Sherman, Brother & Son. In 1844 Jackman & Sherman purchased it. In 1851 Sherman & Hyatt; in about 1854 T. M. Sherman ; in 1880 T. S. Sherman, the present proprietor.
The Press. - There are no newspapers published in town at present. The first newspaper published here was called the Vermont Statesman. It was commenced in 1824 by Ovid Miner. It was Whig in politics, under the man- agement of different editors retaining essentially the same political character. The Statesman continued until 1855.
The Green Mountain Eagle was established about 1834, under the excite- ment of anti- Masonry. Judge Howe was probably the prime mover and prin- cipal proprietor in the enterprise. Its existence terminated with the anti- Masonic party.
Hydeville. - The writer's informants (Mr. and Mrs. John Culver) concern- ing the history of Hydeville have been life-long residents here. John, son of Joel Culver, was born July 4, 1807, on the place now owned by Robert Will-
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TOWN OF CASTLETON.
iams. His wife, great granddaughter of Mr. Castle, from whom, according to one tradition, the town was named, was born on the 11th of August, 1816, in the same room which witnessed the birth of her future husband, Samuel Whitlock, her father having in the mean time purchased the farm of Joel Cul- ver. They were married January 1, 1851. Joel and Francis Culver, brothers, came to Castleton from Litchfield, Conn., with their step-father, Mr. Blanch- ard. Francis Culver acquired title to all the mill privileges in the present Hydeville, and operated for some time the saw-mill and grist-mill, which were erected by Colonel Amos Bird. Joel Culver owned the farm on the Poultney line, now owned by Walter Metcalf.
About 1815 there was an old forge here which had formerly done a large business, but was gone before 1820. In the earliest times the place was called Slab City, and afterwards Castleton Mills. For years prior to 1820 Mrs. Prudence Murdock kept tavern in the same house now occupied by Dennis McGraw. She was left a widow, with two daughters ; her husband, Throop Murdock, had owned and operated cloth-dressing works near the site of the Bolger Bros.' new mill. Mr. Swain, and afterwards David Bristol, also had a carding-machine here. The store of James Adams stood nearly in front of the old tavern and in the southwest corner of the door-yard. The Lovelands (Alanson, Alvin, and others) operated a tannery on the bank, on the place now owned by James Comstock. There was also an old earthenware pottery near the site of the Bolger store, run by Job Styles. It was gone before 1815. James Adams also made potash in a pine grove just north of Hydeville. Af- ter Francis Culver retired from the milling business here, he was followed by Drake & Parsons. Chauncey Langdon owned a saw-mill before 1820, on the site of R. Hanger's slate-mills.
In these early days there was no school at Castleton Corners and children used to come from there and beyond there to Hydeville, or Castleton Mills, to school. There were only two houses between here and the Corners, viz., one built and occupied by John Cross, now occupied by John Spenser, and the other occupied by Noah Arms, on the south side of the road, on the site now owned by Richard Phillips. The school-house stood in the hollow in front of the present hotel. David Shepard taught there about 1820.
There were no physicians here until about 1847, when Dr. G. W. Styles came. He went to California for a year or two in 1849, and later still to Sud- bury, but died here in about 1872. He lived first in Pine street, and afterwards in the house now occupied by Edward Cook. He had a drug store on the site of the Bolger store.
,Dr. Charles Bacchus lived here forty or fifty years ago, in Mrs. Clark's east room, but practiced so little that he is hardly worthy of mention.
Postmasters .- The first postmaster in Hydeville was Pitt W. Hyde, who was appointed not far from 1840. Simeon Allen, Russell W. Hyde, and Dallas
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
W. Bumpus have served since, Mr. Hyde for nearly twenty years. At the present writing, just after the death of Mr. Bumpus, no postmaster has been appointed.
Mercantile Interests .- The general store of the Bolger Brothers was erected in 1883, on the site of the old drug store of Dr. Styles. The general store of A. E. Cook was started by him in the spring of 1883, though he kept store near the depot four years before that. Bolger Brothers once occupied this store.
Miscellaneous Interests .- The grist-mill of Clifford & Litchfield was built by a Hydeville company about 1883.
The saw-mill of R. Hanger was first operated in 1883.
The Russell House in Hydeville was formerly a dwelling, built about 1865 by J. T. Hyde. Russell W. Hyde converted it into a hotel about 1875. In about two years he took in C. H. Hawkins as a partner, who now keeps it alone, though the property is owned by F. A. Barrows.
Tho only business of importance at Castleton Four Corners is the manu- facture of agricultural implements, carried on by Francis A. Barrows since 1852. He makes about 1,000 plows (including cultivators and shovel plows) annually.
THE SLATE INTEREST.1
The oldest slate interest in town, although not strictly a slate-mill, as usu- ally considered, is the slate-pencil factory of the Vermont Slate and Alum Company. In about 1840 John Cain, of Rutland, bought the land containing the quarry and used to take the slate to Rutland, where it was sawn into slips and they were converted into pencils. In 1854 James Adams entered upon the manufacture of pencils here. It was continued by him until 1859, when a partnership was formed with H. O. Brown, and continued until 1866. D. R. Satterlee then became a partner, under the firm name of Adams, Brown & Co. The year following it was incorporated as the " Adams Manufacturing Com- pany," with a capital stock of $225,000; James Adams, president ; D. R. Sat- terlee, vice-president, and O. A. Brown, secretary.
The factory is situated at the quarry, has a steam engine of eighty horse power, and suitable machinery for turning out 100,000 pencils per day. The company employ about 100 workmen. The pencils, called " soap-stone pen- cils," are of superior quality, and are sent to all parts of the world.
This stone is also ground into a fine powder and used in the manufacture of paper. In contains a very large per cent. of alum, and the company have expected to manufacture alum in large quantities. For the above purposes there is no quarry in the United States, if there is in the world, to compare with it.
I See Chapter XIII by George J. Wardwell, of Kutland.
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TOWN OF CASTLETON.
The mill was burned about 1873 and rebuilt. The company soon after failed and the property came into the hands of George P. and John A. Sheldon, who now own it. James Adams is manager.
In 1849 Hiram Ainsworth, of Castleton village, purchased the carding- mill of Mr. Wyatt and converted it into a mill for making school slates. It proved unprofitable, and he afterwards sold out to Sherman & Jackman, who converted it into a marble-mill.
The Lake Shore Slate Company, at West Castleton, is descendant from the the first marbleizing mill in the country. It is now a stock company, incor- porated in 1874, in which Samnel Hazard is the most extensively interested. The quarry was first opened in 1852 by the West Castleton Railroad and Slate Company, of which Newell Sturtevant was the moving spirit. The mills were erected soon after the quarry was opened. The process of marbleizing slate was imported to Boston from Europe, experimented upon in that city briefly, and then first developed here. The quarry was originally intended to produce merely roofing slate. One of the incorporators, John Borrowscale, was a slater from Wales. The first meeting of the directors of the West Castleton Rail- road and Slate Company was held at the Mansion House in Castleton, Decem- ber 15, 1852, present: Newell Sturtevant, Francis Hodgman, Middleton Gold- smith, John Borrowscale. There has always been a store here in connection with the works. About fifty men are now employed at the quarry and mills. About 22,000 feet per month of finished slate can be turned out. Up to the time when the mills were burned, in 1870, this was the largest finishing estab- lishment in the county, but the mills were then rebuilt on a smaller scale.
The Billings Slate works at Hydeville were established in 1834 by E. A. Billings, who operated them until his death six or seven years ago. His sons, E. A., George H., C. W. and L. H. Billings now own the property. The mills were repeatedly burned and rebuilt ; in 1870, 1877 and April 1, 1884. About twenty men are employed; Alexander Danville is the general superin- tendent.
Clifford & Litchfield (Joseph and N. A.) started their mill in Hydeville in January, 1885. They own also the mill at Cookville, which was begun there in 1857 by the Western Vermont Slate Company, at the head of which were Samuel Raynor and B. F. Cook. The present proprietors took possession in 1878. They employ in all from thirty to forty men.
The quarries now operated by Bolger Brothers (William, Martin, Thomas and James) was opened in 1876 by J. G. Hughes. Bolger Brothers took it under lease in 1879, and bought it in 1880. Their old mill is leased from R. Hanger; their new mill, just built, has a capacity of about 250,000 feet per annum. Downs & Delehanty (Patrick H. and James), finishers of marbleized slate mantels, own stock in a company called the Lake Bomoseen Slate Com- pany, about a mile east of West Castleton. They came to Hydeville from
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
Poultney with their finishing works in May, 1877. They employ about twelve men in finishing. They began to work the quarry near Lake Bomoseen in Au- gust, 1882, and erected a mill in 1885. The superintendent of the mill and treas- urer of the company is John Delehanty. They employ about seventeen hands at the mill.
In 1881 R. Hanger came to Hydeville from Fairhaven and built the mills he now operates. He has two quarries and employs between forty and fifty men. He has shipped over 200,000 feet of slate in one year.
John Jones & Co., of Castleton village, successors of the Castleton Slate Company, leased the mill Jannary 1, 1885. The Castleton Slate Company, composed of L. B. Smith, John Howe and A. P. Child, was organized, and the mill erected in June, 1882. The company ran it about two years. The quarry, which John Jones opened about three years ago, is two miles and a half north from the mill.
There are now in the town of Castleton twelve regular school districts and one union district. The town employs fourteen teachers.
The school district of West Castleton is No 9. A school-house stood for- merly on the site of the mills, having been erected in 1809, when Eli Cogswell, Enos Merrill, Araunah Woodward and Joseph Hawkins were selectmen. The present school-house was built about 1852. There is now there an attendance of about fifty pupils.
C. H. Simpson was the first postmaster, appointed about 1865, and held the office about five years. Samuel L. Hazard succeeded him until 1880, when he resigned to go to the Legislature and Samnel L. Hazard, jr., the present postmaster was appointed.
The present town officers are as follows. - Town clerk, John Howe ; select- men, Benjamin F. Graves, Joseph A. Clifford, Thomas Bolger ; treasurer, Will- iam Moulton ; first constable and collector, Phillip D. Griswold ; listers, Wil- son C. Walker, George W. Scribner, Patrick Murphy ; auditors, John Howe, Moses J. Harrington, Henry L. Clark ; town grand jurors, James H. Wiswell, C. M. Coffey, C. E. Ransom ; superintendent of schools, Moses J. Harrington ; town agent, John Howe.
Ecclesiastical. - The first religious society in town was the town itself. Probably the first minister here was Rev. Mr. Camp, who preached for a time in 1775. From 1784 to 1790 religious worship, regardless of denomination, was held in the store-house for the garrison during the war. In the fall of 1784, however, Rev. Job Swift, of Bennington, organized the Congregational Church, with an original membership of nine males and nine females, as fol- lows : Nehemiah Hoit, George Foot, Gershom Lake, Abijah Warren, Joseph Woodward, Benjamin Carver, Ephraim Buel, Perez Sturdevant, Jesse Belknap, Sarah Hoit, Wealthy Foot, Rebecca Moulton, Mary Woodward, Rachel Moul- ton, Elizabeth Carver, Amy Hickok, Mercy Sturdevant, Joanna Pond. The
Hanger
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TOWN OF CASTLETON.
first house erected for worship stood in front of the old burying-ground near the east end of Castleton village. The frame was erected, and the building enclosed in 1790, but it was unfinished within, and but partly glazed.
It was uninviting and insecure. The frame was strong, the timber for the most part oak and well put together ; but there was some neglect in under- propping the lower timbers in the center of the house. During the exercises of the election sermon, when the house was densely filled, the center gave way, so that the floor settled two or three feet. The alarm was great. Some of the crowd leaped through the windows, others shrieked, some fainted, others pressed for the doors. The true state of the case, however, being soon discov- ered, order was restored. Fortunately no one was seriously injured.
The building remained in an unfinished state for six years. In 1796 it was finished, and was the place of worship for the Congregational society for thirty- seven years following. Its length was about fifty feet, and its breadth about forty, standing the side to the street, with doors at either end. The pews were square with high backs; the pulpit at the east end, thirteen feet high, and gal- leries extended on either side and across the end opposite the pulpit. A pew in the gallery, elevated above the tops of all others, was the tithing-man's seat ; where, in exalted dignity, he watched the deportment of the boys and girls, whose allotment it was to occupy seats above.
A steeple was attached to the west end of the house several years later, and a bell hung in its tower, Hon. Chauncey Langdon proposing to meet half the expense if the other half should be secured. About two years since Charles Langdon, a grandson of Hon. Chauncy, was the means of procuring a new one.
In 1832 a new site was chosen a little to the west of the old one, and the foundations of the present edifice laid. The house was completed and dedi- cated July, 1833, at a cost of about $6,000. The same year a house and lot for a parsonage was purchased.
The first pastor, Rev. Matthias Cazier, was installed September 4, 1789, and dismissed December 13, 1792. For thirteen years subsequent to his dis- mission there was no settled pastor; yet public worship on the Sabbath was con- stantly maintained, and most of the time there was preaching by missionaries or other supplies.
Rev. William Miller labored here in 1802. Rev. Elihu Smith, the second pastor, was installed January 17, 1804, and remained till December 30, 1826. In 1816 the church enjoyed the addition of 187 members. There was a less extensive revival in 1820. After the dismission of Mr. Smith the church was without a pastor for two years. In November, 1828, Rev. Joseph Steele, then preaching at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., accepted their invitation to become pas- tor and was installed December 25, 1828. The number received into the church while he continued its pastor was 468. He was a native of Kingsboro, Fulton 35
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
county, N. Y. ; was a member of the church of which Dr. Elisha Yale was pas- tor ; graduated at Union College in 1824, and at Auburn Theological Seminary in 1827. He was twenty-six years at Castleton. The fourth pastor was Rev. Willard Child, D. D., installed February 14, 1855, who remained here until February, 1864. Since then have been installed Rev. Lewis Francis, Rev. Ed- ward T. Hooker, and the present pastor, Rev. George H. Byington. The church property is now valued at about $10,000.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in 1824 by Jonathan Eaton. The house of worship, though substantially erected in 1824, was not finished for several years. It first stood about one-fourth of a mile west of the village, and was removed to its present location near the center of the village in 1839 or 1840. It was neatly and thoroughly repaired and a convenient class-room appended in 1861.
The first regular pastor, Rev. C. P. Clark, was stationed here from 1832 to 1835. The present pastor is Rev. William Wood. The church property is now valued at about $5,000.
St. John the Baptist's Catholic Church was organized in 1834 by their first pastor, Rev John Daley, with a membership of fifty. They converted the old Liberal Church into a Catholic house of worship in 1879, and now estimate the value of their property at about $15,000. Rev. P. J. O'Conoll and Rev. Father Glenn, of Fairhaven, have charge of this church, as well as the churches at Poultney, West Castleton and Middletown.
The second Advent Church at Castleton village was organized by Rev. Milton Grant in 1860, with a membership of about twenty five. Rev. Albion Ross was the first pastor. The church edifice was erected in 1861 at a cost of $3,000, and will seat about 450. The present pastor, Rev. E. H. Libby, came in the spring of 1884.
The Calvinistic Methodist Church in the southwest part of the town was organized in 1862, by Rev. William Hughes, of Utica, N. Y. The first pastor was Rev. Daniel Rowland. The house of worship was erected in 1868 at a cost of about $4,000, but the entire church property is now worth not more than $2,500.
The Baptist Church of Hydeville was organized by A. Allen, Samuel Whit- lock and others, with Rev. Smith as pastor. Their edifice was erected in the spring of 1851. In 1879 Deacon James Williams, dying, bequeathed this so- ciety his property, and left it in a financially flourishing condition. The pres- ent pastor is Rev. Mr. Walker. Before the present house of worship was erect- ed, the society and all worshipers used to hold meetings in the school-house, and still further back, meetings were held in the upper story of the old grist- mill which A. W. Hyde fitted up for their use.
The Episcopal Church at Hydeville was organized in 1848 by I. Davey, P. W. Hyde, and E. Wallace, with Rev. Mr. Bailey as rector. The church edifice
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TOWN OF CHITTENDEN.
was erected in June, 1852, and consecrated the following March. Occasional preaching is now done by Rev. Mr. Lee, of West Rutland.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church of West Castleton was organized and the edifice erected in 1879. The church property is now valued at about $2,500. Rev. P. J. O'Conoll, of Fairhaven, preaches occasionally.
The Society of Liberal Christians was organized in 1867, by Joseph Adams, of Fairhaven, A. N. Adams, Johnson S. Benedict, William N. Batcheller and Gilbert Barber. In 1868 they erected what is now the Catholic Church west of the Bomoseen House. They finally went down. Their society was com- posed of Unitarians and Universalists.
CHAPTER XXIII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CHITTENDEN.
T HE town of Chittenden lies in the northeastern part of the county and is bounded on the north by the towns of Goshen in Addison county, and Rochester in Addison county, on the east by Pittsfield and a part of both Rochester and Sherburne, on the south by Mendon, and on the west by Pitts- field and Brandon.
Much of the surface is so broken and mountainous as to be unsusceptible to cultivation, though the western portion is more thickly inhabited, and con- tains a few excellent farms. East Creek, rising in the center of the town, and flowing southwesterly into Otter Creek near Rutland; and Furnace River, ris- ing in the northwestern part of the town and flowing into Otter Creek near Pittsford, constitute the principal drainage. Tributaries of the Tweed River flow from the eastern side of the Green Mountains.
The town, which derives its name from Governor Thomas Chittenden, was granted on the 14th and chartered on the 16th of March, 1780, the charter being in the customary form. Gershom Beach and sixty-five others were the grantees.
The next oldest man now living in Chittenden who was born in town is the venerable and still active Hiram Baird. He was born on the 19th of November, 1804, in a house which stood and still stands about forty rods south of his pres- ent residence, being on the same farm. He was married on the 16th of April, 1826, to Miss Sally Morse, of Leicester, Vt. He has had four children, but one of whom, Stephen, is now alive and a resident of Chittenden. His father, John Baird, came to Chittenden in 1792 from Worcester, Mass., and in the same fall his grandfather, John Baird, sen., arrived here. Together they purchased the farm just south of and embracing the present farm of Hiram Baird.
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