USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 68
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O. H. Round was born in Clarendon, December 5, 1788, in the first house built at the Springs. He lived to be nearly ninety and held every office in town, except town clerk, and when he was in town no one else was thought of for moderator of the town meetings; he was constable from 1817 to 1831 ; represented the town in 1827-28; was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention about the same time, and was captain in the militia. He was a man of great energy and endurance and had a remarkable memory, and claimed that he never took a chew of tobacco, smoked a pipe or cigar, never drank any spirits of any kind, nor paid a lawyer a fee in his life.
Among other early settlers in the town may here be properly mentioned the following : -
William Crossman came in from Easttown, Mass., in 1777, locating first in Brandon, but removed to Clarendon in 1781, settling on the farm now owned by W. R. Crossman. William was a Revolutionary soldier, and related that Burgoyne's men came as far as his home in Brandon and took his oxen and grain from him. John Weeks was an early settler from Washington, Conn., and located in Clarendon on the farm now owned by John Cleveland in 1787. Newman Weeks, of Rutland, is his grandson. Jonathan Parker settled in the north part of the town in 1785 and became a large land-holder. James Eddy settled in the town at an early date. He was a scout in Revolutionary times for the colonial army and was engaged in many daring expeditions. Many
"The minstrels of that noble house, All clad in robes of blue, With silver crescents on their arms, Attend in order due.
" The great achievements of that race They sung, their high command, How valiant Manfred o'er the seas First led his Northern band.
" Brave Galfrid next, of Normandy, With venturous Rolla came, And from his Norman castle won, Assumed the Percy name.
" They sung how in the conqueror's fleet Lord William shipped his powers ; And gained a fair young Saxon bride,
With all her lands and towers." - HARGRAVE's History, p. 290.
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
of his descendants still live in the town. Lewis Walker came to Clarendon from Cheshire, Mass., in 1779, and settled on the farm where he died in 1813. His son, Lewis, jr., was born on the homestead in 1781 and became prominent in the town. Silas Whitney, the first selectman of the town (1778), came from Connecticut in 1770. Isaac Tubbs immigrated from Connecticut about 1780, locating on the farm now owned by Daniel Tubbs. Isaac built a tannery on that farm and carried it on for more than forty years. Daniel Colvin came in 1780 and located on the farm now owned by the heirs of Benjamin Fisk. Elias Steward, from Volney, Conn., settled in the southeast part of the town in 1777. Christopher Pierce came to this town from Exeter, R. I., in 1802 and settled on the farm now owned by Hannibal Hodges ; he subsequently purchased the farm recently owned by his brother, Giles, where he died in 1811, leaving a large family. James Wylie came in from Connecticut in 1777, locating on Otter Creek on the farm now owned by W. L. Wylie. After his death, in 1834, his son William took the homestead, where he has since resided. Oba- diah Chapman came from Salisbury, Conn., in 1786, and occupied the house of Silas Smith, recently owned and occupied by Burr Chapman and now in possession of Josiah Seaman. This is one of the oldest houses in good repair in the town. Mr. Chapman purchased a farm in the north part of the town, and in 1786 built the house in which he lived and died ; it stood just in front of Joseph Chapman's brick house; the old farm has remained in possession of a representative of the family from the first. Charles F. Button was an early settler and father of Frederick Button, who was born in the town in 1789, passed his life here and died in 1874. Daniel Dyer came to Clarendon from Rhode Island in 1798 and settled on the farm now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Lydia S. Briggs, widow of Philip Briggs. Joseph Congdon, father of George Congdon, was a settler in the town previous to the Revolution. Thomas Spencer settled near the center of the town at an early date. His son, Calvin, born in 1799, studied medicine at Castleton and practiced in Clarendon until his death in 1870. He was father of J. C. Spencer. Henry Hitchcock, who died in 1871, was a merchant at Clarendon Springs for some years.
Stephen Arnold was the first town clerk, his first record being made in 1778. Abner Lewis was the first representative.
Mrs. Sprague, grandmother of Frederick Button, is said to have been the first white woman who came to the town. Her son, Durham Sprague, was the first male child born in town. Mrs. Sprague died at the great age of one hundred and four years.
The first frame house in the town was erected by Daniel Briggs in the year 1777 ; it is still standing in the southeast part of the town.
The first mill built in Clarendon was situated on the farm now owned by Timothy K. Horton ; the mill-irons were brought from Albany in a two- wheeled cart drawn by oxen.
575
TOWN OF DANBY.
Stephen Pope was one of the first tanners in the north part of the town ; he also did shoemaking as early as 1795. A furnace was operated at West Clarendon, southwest of Chippen Hook, before 1817, and did a large business for those days ; stoves were cast there.
Nearly all of the early industries, except farming, as well as the mercantile business, which for many years gave Clarendon a position as a leading town in the county, have been given up, and chiefly since the building of the railroads. The Rutland and Bennington Railroad crosses the town north and south, and the Vermont Central crosses the northeast corner of the town ; but the con- summation of these improvements only served to carry to other points (prin- cipally to Rutland) the business of the locality.
CHAPTER XXV.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF DANBY.
D ANBY, which forms with Pawlet and Mount Tabor the southern tier of towns in the county, is bounded on the north by Tinmouth and Walling- ford; on the east by Mount Tabor ; on the south by Dorset, in Bennington county, and on the west by Pawlet. It is a trifle more than six miles square, containing 24,960 acres. The surface is broken by mountains, and indented with valleys, which unite the various water-courses so plentifully distributed throughout the town. The Danby or Spruce Mountains intersect the town north and south and at nearly right angles with the Dorset Mountains on the southern boundary. The principal streams are Mill River, which is formed by the concourse of many small brooks in the southwestern part of the town, and flows east into Otter Creek in the town of Mount Tabor ; and Flower Brook, which is formed in a similar manner in the northwestern part of the town and flows southerly and then westerly into Pawlet River in the town of Pawlet. These streams and their tributaries have afforded the inhabitants unsurpassed mill privileges. Like all the towns in the county, it was originally covered with a luxuriant mantle of forest trees, which were a source of wealth to the earlier inhabitants.
The original design for the settlement of Danby was conceived, and the plan adopted, in Nine Partners, N. Y. The charter was granted by Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, on the 27th of August, 1761. The following persons were the grantees : Jonathan Willard, Samuel Rose, Matthew Ford, Lawrence Willsee, Benjamin Palmer, James Baker, Jonathan Ormsby, Joseph Soper, William Willard, Joseph Marks, Daniel Miller, Daniel Dunham,
576
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
John Nelson, Aaron Buck, Asa Alger, Joseph Brown, John Sutherland, jr., Joseph Brown, jr., Thomas Brown, Jeremiah Palmer, Benjamin Hammond, William Blunt, Israel Weller. Benjamin Finch, Noah Pettibone, Samuel Shep- ard, John Weller, David Weller, Nehemiah Reynolds, Jonathan Palmer, Will- iam T. Barton, jr., John Partilow, Joseph Alger, Hugh Hall Wentworth, Sam- uel Alger, Jonathan Weller, Lucius Palmer, Ephraim Reynolds, John Downing, Captain John Chamberlain, Moses Kellogg, Reuben Knapp, David Willoughby, Isaac Finch, William Barton, Gideon Ormsby, John Willard, Samuel Hunt, jr., Eliakim Weller, Noah Gillett, Colonel Ebenezer Kendall, Samuel Hunt, Nathan Weller, William Kennedy, Nathan Fellows, Lamson Sheah, John Edmunds, Daniel Ford, Richard Joslin, William Shaw.
The first meeting of the proprietors was held, in pursuance of the provisions of the charter, at the great Nine Partners, Cromelbow precinct, Duchess coun- ty, N. Y., and Jonathan Willard, through whose efforts, chiefly, the charter was obtained, was the moderator of the meeting. The second and subsequent meetings were held at Nine Partners, N. Y., until the spring of 1763, and com- mittees were repeatedly appointed for the purpose of surveying the new town- ship, dividing it into shares, laying out roads, etc. The first road was actually laid out in the fall of 1763, or spring of 1764, and led from Bennington to Danby, and is now used for a highway across the mountain from Danby to West Dorset. It was first worked in the summer of 1764, and those who per- formed the work were to receive their pay in land. Although at first a mere bridle-path, it was the only road to the town for some time, and was conse- quently the avenue of the original settlements.
The first settlements in Danby were effected in the summer of 1765, when Joseph Soper, Joseph Earl, Crispin Bull, Luther Colvin and Micah Vail es- tablished homes in the wilds of the new township. Joseph Soper came with his family from Nine Partners, N. Y., finding his way by marked trees, and bringing his worldly goods on horseback. He made a clearing and erected a log cabin on the farm now occupied by Benjamin M. Baker. The cabin stood there until about 1800. Joseph Earl, also from Nine Partners, began a clear- ing west of Soper and near the present residence of John Hilliard. In the fol- lowing year, it seems, he erected a log cabin, and was joined by his family. Crispin Bull settled near the present residence of Richard Stone, but afterwards made the first clearing in the east part of the town, and erected a cabin a little south of the school-house. Luther Colvin came from Rhode Island and pitched on the farm now owned by John Hilliard and occupied by Eli Wellington. Micah Vail's settlement was on the farm owned by A. B. Herrick, south of the Corners. These five families constituted the population of Danby in 1766.
The hardships and privations which these rugged and daring pioneers suf- fered cannot be depicted, but a faint idea is already given in the tragic death of the first named. Joseph Soper was frozen to death a few years after his
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TOWN OF DANBY.
arrival here, and before the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. There being no grist-mill in town, the settlers had habitually either pounded corn in bowls, or hollowed stumps of trees, or gone to Manchester, fourteen miles away, for their grist. Soper had gone on an errand of this kind, and on his return had stopped at the house of a brother in Dorset. It was already dark, and the night was bitter cold. A fierce snow storm, and a heavy wind were raging. Soper resisted the importunities of his brother's family and pursued his way alone across the menacing mountain. His family waited for him all night in vain, and his brothers, fearing that some disaster might have befallen him, came to Danby on the following morning. They found the team, and near by the lifeless body of Soper against a tree, where he had been overcome by the cold, less than a mile from home. He was buried in a hollow log on the ground that witnessed his death, the land being now owned by John Hilliard, nearly opposite the residence of Harvey Harrington. Joseph Earl left town during the Revolu- tionary War. Crispin Bull was one of the first board of selectmen, chosen in 1769. He received from the proprietors sixty acres of some of the best land in town for sixty days' work building roads. It is now owned by George W. and Stephen W. Phillips. He died in 1810 at the age of seventy years. His father, Timothy, was a Quaker, and settled in 1767, a little southwest of the residence of Harvey Harrington. Luther Colvin found his way here by marked trees. His log cabin had but one room and no windows or doors. It is said that he brought the first stove into town, and built the second framed house. He also joined the Quaker society. He was an enthusiastic hunter and trap- per. He died in 1829 at the age of about ninety years. Captain Micah Vail was very prominent in the town and State. He was moderator of the annual town meetings in 1773 and 1774; was one of the selectmen in 1770 and 1775 ; was a firm friend of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and an unwavering opponent of the New York land jobbers. He represented Danby in the convention which assembled at the house of Captain Kent, in Dorset, in 1776, and pro- nounced the New Hampshire Grants " a free and separate district." He and his wife both died on the same day in 1777, and were buried in the same grave.
In the year 1766, Seth Cook, then twenty-six years of age, came to Danby from Rhode Island and settled on the since well-known " Cook farm," now occupied by the widow of the late Seneca Smith, south of the Corners. The town then contained but seven families. He was one of the first board of se- lectmen in 1769, and was unjustly suspected of entertaining royalist ideas. He died in 1801. Nathan Weller came from Nine Partners, N. Y., in the spring of 1767, and settled on a portion of the farm now owned by Harris Otis. He was a prominent man in the early history of Danby, having been selectman eleven years front 1770, town treasurer in 1772, and lister four years. Cap- tain Stephen Calkins came from Connecticut in 1768, and settled on the pres- 37
578
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
ent farm of C. G. Herrick. He purchased the right of an original proprietor, and was thus the first to clear a farm north of the Corners. He was the first selectman elected in town. He was captain in the Revolutionary War, and took part in the siege of Yorktown, when the British surrendered. He built the first grist-mill in town. He died in 1814, at the age of eighty-three years. Thomas Rowley came to Danby from Hebron, Conn., in the same year with Captain Calkins and settled near the residence of the late A. C. Risdon, and was surveyor for the town and proprietors' clerk for a number of years. He was town clerk from 1769 to 1782 inclusive, was one of the town's committee of safety ; was elected representative in 1778 and again in 1782. He opposed, with Chittenden, Allen and Warner, the pretensions of the New York land jobbers. He was the poet of the Green Mountain Boys. In 1768, also, Jesse Irish, from Nine Partners, settled on the farm now owned by Nelson Colvin. He had seven sons, some of whom, like himself, bore the reputation of being Tories. It is related that his property was confiscated because of his active sympathy with the British. He remained in Danby until his death, some years after the war.
The year 1770 witnessed a considerable immigration of settlers. Among others that came that year was William Bromley, sr., who settled on the pres- ent homestead of Ira H. Vail, and erected his rude log cabin on the site of the present framed house. He was town clerk from 1776 to 1780; proprietors' clerk in 1786; one of the committee of safety in 1777 ; selectman in 1781, and town treasurer from 1783 to 1785. He died in 1803, at the age of eighty- four years. Abraham Chase also came in 1770, from Nine Partners, and es- tablished a settlement near the recent residence of A. C. Risdon. He owned and kept the second tavern in town in 1774. After a few years he removed to Plattsburg, N. Y. Captain William Gage came the same year (1770) and kept a tavern on the site of the poor-house. He held many prominent posi- tions of trust in the town ; was especially active against the claims of the "Yorkers " to Vermont territory ; joined the army during the invasion of Bur- goyne, and participated in the battle of Bennington. He remained in town some years after the close of the war. Wing Rogers came from Mansfield, Mass., in 1770, and came at once into possession of broad acres, including the farms now owned by J. E. Nichols and F. R. Hawley. He was a Quaker and one of the founders of that church in Danby. He was a man of great force of character and peculiar eccentricities. He was the first " hog constable," being elected in 1777 ; was selectman four years, and a member of the Legislature from 1790 to 1793 inclusive. He died after 1800 in Ferrisburg, Vt. His brother, Stephen, settled also in 1770, on the farm now owned by the H. P. Tabor estate. He was a Quaker. In 1790 he erected there the first two-story house-built in town. He died in 1835, at the age of eighty-five years. Israel Seley came from Rhode Island in 1770; participated in the Revolution and
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TOWN OF DANBY.
died in 1810, advanced in years. Ephraim Seley, a brother, came here about the same time and built the red tavern at the Corners. He opposed the New York land grants. He removed to Canada. Walter Tabor, another immigrant of 1770, came from Tiverton, R. I., and settled on the ground afterward cov- ered by the woolen factory, near the A. C. Risdon place. He fought in the Revolution, and after the war was over became the associate of Micajah Weed in the tanning business. In about 1792 he removed to Mount Tabor, where he died in 1806.
Abel Haskins, sr., came from Nine Partners, N. Y., in 1772, and lived here until his death in 1820, at the age of eighty years. Ezekiel Ballard, a Quaker, came from Rhode Island in 1775, and settled on the north part of the farm now owned by A. A. Mathewson, and afterward on the farm now owned by the H. P. Tabor estate. In the same year Joseph Wing came from Dartmouth and settled on the farm now owned by William H. Bond. He died at the age of ninety in 1810.
In 1776 Joseph Armstrong, of Bennington, took up a temporary residence in the northwest part of the town. He afterwards settled in Pawlet. In the same year Governor Thomas Chittenden, to avoid the dangers of the exposed condition of the frontier, came to Danby by the way of Middlebury and Cas- tleton, and took up his abode on a farm at the foot of the mountain, presuma- bly near the residence of the late A. C. Risdon. On the evacuation of Ticon- deroga in July, 1777, he went to Pownal, and later to Arlington and to Will- iamstown, Mass. At the close of the war he returned to Williston. Stephen Williams was the first settler on the present farm of Frank Goodwin, and af- ter a residence of a number of years here, during which he was honored with various town offices, he removed to Concord, Erie connty, N. Y. Bethuel Bromley came from Preston, Conn., in 1777, and founded a settlement on the farm of the late Hiram Bromley. He was a brother of William Bromley, sr. About the time of his arrival, Oliver Harrington, from Rhode Island, settled in the little village, where he resided until his death in 1839, aged eighty-one years. Elihu Benson came from Rhode Island as early as 1778, but probably did not establish a residence here until several years later. Obadiah Edmunds came the same year from the same State. Although a man of peaceable dis- position, he bore a share in the War of the Revolution. He died in 1809. Elisha Fish also came from Rhode Island in 1778, and began the clearing of the farm now occupied by Freelove Fish. At the time of his death, in 1845, when he had reached the age of eighty-three years, he had acquired what was then deemed to be a considerable property. Charles Leggett, one of the first school teachers in Danby, lived here from 1778 to 1806, when he removed to Chester, N. Y. Anthony Nichols came to Chittenden, Vt., from East Green- wich, R. I., his native place, in 1776, and two years later commenced the farm now occupied by Isaac J. Nichols and sisters, in Danby. He was a Quaker.
580
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
He introduced about the second stove in town, the " Abbott stove." His death occurred in 1822, when he had attained the age of seventy-one years. His brother, Charles, accompanied him on his arrival in Danby, and settled at Scottsville, near where his grandson, Charles, now lives. The name of Dr. Ebenezer Tolman, the first physician in town, first appears on the roll of 1778. He was a prominent man in town until he went away in 1800, and was suc- ceeded in practice by Dr. Adam Johnson. John H. Andrus came from Col- chester, Conn., in 1780, and established a home in the west part of the town. He held many prominent public positions, having been one of the judges of the County Court in 1811 and 1813, a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1814, and a councilor in 1820. He was also selectman eleven, and representative nine years. He died in 1841, aged seventy-three years, in Pawlet, whither he had removed in 1822. Another settler of 1780 was Henry Frost, who kept tavern near the residence of the late A. C. Risdon, and ran the first store in town. He was selectman two years. Thomas Harrington, sr., came from Gloucester, R. I., in the same year. He brought considerable money with him and became an extensive land-owner. He was selectman four years and town surveyor for a long time. Thomas Nichols, sr., the ear- liest known ancestor of the Nichols family who came to Danby from Green- wich, R. I., in 1780. He was of Welsh descent. He died at an advanced aged in 1798. Jonathan Seley, who subsequently became one of the largest land-owners in town, came from Rhode Island about the year 1780. He was constable in 1784, selectman five years, lister five years and justice of the peace ten years. He removed to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and afterwards to Ohio, where he died. Rev. Hezekiah Eastman, the first settled minister and the first Baptist clergyman in town, was ordained at the house of Stephen Calkins on the IIth of October, 1781. He received the benefit of the share of land reserved by the charter for the first settled minister of the gospel. Al- though his education in the schools was limited, he had great natural ability, a thorough knowledge of the Bible and of men and affairs. He preached in nearly all the surrounding towns, often traveling long distances, both on foot and on horseback, to meet his appointments. Services were usually held in log buildings. He remained here until about the year 1800.
Captain Amos Brown, of Gloucester, R. I., settled in 1782 on the farm now owned by his grandson, Daniel Brown, and is entitled to the credit of having been the first to make a clearing in the west part of the town. He af- terwards settled on the farm now occupied by his grandson, John Brown. The present dwelling house he erected in 1793. He died in 1843, at the age of eighty-six years. Lemuel Griffith came also in 1782, on the farm now owned by R. E. Caswell, and soon became one of the most extensive land-owners in town. The apple orchard that he planted is there yet and the site of the old house is marked by the cellar, still visible. The first buildings were removed
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TOWN OF DANBY.
in 1839. He died in 1818, at the age of seventy-three years. He has no sons or grandsons in town now, but many more remote descendants. J. C., C. W. and S. L. Griffith are great-grandsons.
Joseph Button and Daniel Parris, both worthy of mention, came in 1785 ; the former, from Rhode Island, settled on what is still known as the " Button farm," now owned by Howell Dillingham. He was a Quaker, and possessed great wealth and energy. He kept a store and manufactured potash. He died in 1829, at the age of eighty years. Daniel Parris came from Williams- town, his native place, and built a house on the farm now owned by his grand- son, John S. Parris. He died on the 17th of February, 1822, aged sixty-two years.
The principal arrival in 1787 was that of Caleb Smith, who first resided on the farm now owned by A. D. Smith. The site of the old log cabin is marked by a single apple-tree. Like so many others of these early inhabitants he was a Quaker. The house which he built in 1798 is still occupied by his grand- son. Captain Alexander Barrett, who came in 1788, was a prominent Metho- dist here in early days, and a man of wealth and social position. He died in 1849, in his eighty-second year. In the year 1789 came three brothers from Scituate, R. I., viz., Benjamin, Benoni and Reuben (sr.) Fisk. Benjamin set- tled on the present farm of Anthony Haley, and remained here until his death in 1866, when he had attained the unusual age of ninety-five years Reuben Fisk, sr., who cleared a part of the farm now occupied by P. W. Johnson, had the power, it is said, of healing by manipulation. He removed to Hol- land Purchase.
In about the year 1790 Stephen Baker from Rhode Island came here, worked a while for Daniel Parris, and in 1804 settled in the little village, having returned to Rhode Island and married in the mean time. He went to Rhode Island again, then to Mount Holly in 1814 and from there came here in 1828 and took up his residence near Scottsville, where his son, Orean, now lives. He died in 1858, aged eighty years. He has four sons, Benjamin M., Orean, Austin S., John F., and two daughters, Elizabeth and Philena S., wife of Simeon E. Harrington, now in town. The year of his arrival here witnessed also the settlement of Bradford Barnes, of Plymouth, Mass., near what has been known as " the borough " or, Danby village, on the Rowland Stafford farm, now owned by A. S. Baker. He kept a tavern here until about the year 1802. He died in 1816 at the age of sixty-nine years. In 1790, also, John Buxton, from Rhode Island, established a residence on the farm now owned by N. Clark. He died in 1845, being then eighty-five years of age. James Sowl first lived here about 1791, when he settled on the farm which his father, Wesson Sowl, had previously cultivated to some extent. He died at Westport, Mass., the home of his father. He had been a seafaring adventurer in his earlier days.
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