History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 70

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 70

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He studied medicine with Professors S. W. Thayer at West Randolph, and P. D. Bradford, finishing with the latter, in Bethel, Vt. He was graduated from the Castleton Medical College in June, 1847, and opened an office in Danby in September of the following year. Dr. F. E. Whipple was born March 12, 1857, at Danby. He studied medicine with his father and was graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, March 10, 1881. He began to practice at once in Danby. (For further particulars of the two professions in this town, see Chapters XVI and XVII.)

The variation in population of Danby since the first census of 1791 is shown by the following figures: 1791, 1,206; 1800, 1,487; 1810, 1,730; 1820, 1,607 ; 1830, 1,362; 1840, 1,379; 1850, 1,535; 1860, 1,419; 1870, 1,319; 1880, 1,202.

The present officers of Danby are as follows: W. F. Otis, jr., clerk and treasurer ; E. J. Reed, I. W. Kelley, J. N. Phillips, selectmen ; W. Hilliard, con- stable; Mrs. I. C. Adams, superintendent of schools; Elkanah Parris, D. C. Smith, H. J. Fisk, listers; C. G. Herrick, overseer of the poor ; J. N. Phillips, town agent.

Ecclesiastical. - As has already been observed, a large portion of the early settlers of Danby were Quakers, and a society, formed at an early day, held their meetings at first in a log house on a hill west of the residence of Howell Dillingham. In 1785 the first regular edifice was erected on the southeast corner of the present farm of James E. Nichols. Another church was built in 1805 not far from the present residence of Howell Dillingham. The Friends at this time outnumbered all other denominations. The Hicksite division of 1827 separated this body in Danby, and the orthodox Friends built about 1830 a church near the residence of C. G. Herrick. The last church was built in 1845 in the east part of the town; but the society has now entirely run out. Spiritualism has to a large extent taken the place of Quakerism.

The Baptists formed a society here in 1781, and appointed Rev. Hezekiah Eastman their first pastor. Thomas Rowley, Abraham Chase, William Brom- ley, sr., John Stafford, Nathan Rowley, Roger Williams, Joseph Fowler, Ste- phen Calkins and Abel Haskins were among the first members. Mr. Eastman left here about 1800 and the church discontinued. It was reorganized in 1826 under Elder Joseph Packer. The church went down about 1850.

The first church edifice was erected by the Methodists in 1795, and stood west of the Corners near the burial ground. It was torn down in 1822 and meetings were thereafter held in the brick school-house. The Methodist Church and society flourished here until within a short time. Within a year a new Methodist Church has been organized at the Corners. G. F. Eddy fills the pulpit there usually.

In 1838 the church building now used by the Congregationalists was built by a union society composed of Episcopal Methodists, Close Communion Bap-

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tists and Friends. The church south of the Corners was finished in 1839. The building at the Corners was completed about 1840.

The present Congregational Church at the east village was instituted in 1869 by Rev. Aldace Walker, D. D. It had first but twelve members. The pastor was Rev. James P. Stone. The present pastor is Rev. L. D. Mears. The church property is valued at about $2,000.

- CHAPTER XXVI.

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FAIRHAVEN.

T HE town of Fairhaven originally embraced the town of Westhaven, and was chartered at Manchester October 27, 1779, by the General Assembly of the State. It is situated in the western part of Rutland county and bounded on the north by Benson ; on the east by Castleton and a part of Poultney ; south by Poultney River (separating it from Hampton, N. Y.), and west by Westhaven. The surface is generally hilly, the hills rising only in one in- stance to the dignity of mountains, viz., Mount Hamilton, just northward from Fairhaven village. To the northward of this eminence is the " Great Ledge," reaching the Benson line. To the eastward of Mount Hamilton and along the east border of the town is Scotch Hill, so named from the number of Scotch people who settled there. Along the west part of the town extend the great slate deposits, which have given the locality a national renown and a source of wealth practically beyond computation. (See Chapter XIII.)

The numerous picturesque valleys which lie between the hills of the town and along the streams embrace lands of great productiveness, with soil of varied character. The principal streams are the Castleton and Poultney Rivers. The former enters the town from the east, south of its center, and flows westward to the Poultney River. The latter, as stated, forms the south- western boundary of the town. Numerous small streams coming down from the hills and reaching the larger ones, drain the entire town. Inman Pond, situated about three miles north of Fairhaven village, is on the top of a hill, covers an area of about eighty acres and is fed entirely by springs ; from this the village receives its water supply.

The grant of Fairhaven was made in consideration of the sum of £6,930, and signed by Governor Chittenden. Of the large number of original grant- ees only Colonel Matthew Lyon, Oliver Cleveland, Philip Priest, Israel Trow- bridge, Derrick Carner and Eleazer Dudley, became settlers here.

The first meeting of the proprietors to organize under their charter was

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held at the house of Nehemiah Hoit, Castleton Corners, June 14, 1780. Col- onel Ebenezer Allen was moderator, and Isaac Clark, proprietors' clerk ; here it was voted to make a division of one hundred acres to each proprietor's right, with five acres for highways, and Lieutenant Elisha Clark, Oliver Cleve- land and Asa Dudley were chosen to lay out the first division lots. Captain John Grant was chosen proprietors' treasurer. It was voted that the 21st of August, 1780, be the day to begin to survey the pitches. At other meetings in 1780 and 1781, three other divisions were voted, the first of one hundred acres ; the second of sixty-three acres, and the third of fifty acres. At a meeting in April, 1782, Beriah Mitchell and Oliver Cleveland were appointed a committee to warn land-owners when to work on highways. The main high- way from Castleton line to Mr. Dudley's camp, a point somewhere not far westward of the present division line between Fairhaven and Westhaven, was surveyed October 8, 1782, via " Muddy Brook," Philip Priest's house, and the house of Joseph Haskins. In November, 1782, Philip Priest and Curtis Kel- sey were appointed overseers of highway work, and the laying out of other roads continued as the needs of the settlers demanded.

The town was organized at the house of Mr. Priest, August 28, 1783, with Mr. Priest moderator, and Eleazer Dudley, town clerk. The selectmen chosen were Philip Priest, John Meacham and Heman Barlow; Michael Merritt, con- stable. No other officers were chosen until the spring of 1784, when the fol- lowing were elected on March 22: Eleazer Dudley, town clerk; Eleazer Dudley, Thomas Dickson and Oliver Cleveland, selectmen ; Daniel Munger, grand juryman ; Philip Priest and Beriah Mitchell, listers; Beriah Mitchell, constable ; Michael Merritt, treasurer ; Ichabod Mitchell, John Meacham and Philip Priest, surveyors ; Philip Priest, Michael Merritt and Eleazer Dudley, trustees to take care of the school right and the right for the support of the ministry. The school lot was sold, according to a vote, in September, to Eleazer Dudley for £75.

The warning for the March meeting of 1792 called it for the purpose of choosing town officers and " to see if they will agree to petition the Legisla- ture of this State to divide this town into two, and to see if they can agree upon a dividing line." James Witherell and Lemuel Hyde were appointed agents to petition the Legislature for the said division. The questions of mak- ing the division at Mud Brook and at Hubbardton River were both voted against ; but the proposed division as it was finally made received forty-eight votes in favor and seven against. The minority made considerable opposition to the proposed division, holding that the town was too small for such a divi- sion, and that the western land was the most valuable, etc .; but the division was made by act of Assembly passed the 18th and signed the 20th of October, 1792, at Rutland. The two towns had but one representative and held their freemen's meetings together until 1823, when the town of Fairhaven was granted her separate rights in this respect.

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Up to the date of the division settlement of the town had gone forward with gratifying rapidity, and improvement of farms, roads and bridges and the general prosperity of the settlers had progressed in encouraging ratio.

The first settler of prominence was Oliver Cleveland, who had established a settlement here before the town was incorporated in 1779. Although held to be a resident of Fairhaven, he first settled in 1777 on the New York side of Poultney River, then supposed to be a part of Vermont. He came from Killingworth, Conn. ; a few years after his arrival he came on to the tract of land embracing the present farms of Charles P. Green and Chauncey Wood. At his death in September, 1803, the farm was divided among his three sons, Josiah, Albert and James. Notwithstanding his absolute illiteracy, Oliver Cleveland was a leading man in the early days of Fairhaven, and served as selectman nearly every year between 1784 and 1803. None of his descend- ants live in Falrhaven now, though some are living in Chicago and other parts of the West.

John Meacham came to Fairhaven very soon after the arrival of Oliver Cleveland, and resided north of his farm, on the well-known Kidder place, now occupied by Mr. Wood. He had ten children, but no descendants of any of them now live in town. Joseph Ballard came about the same time and lived north of Meacham. He has no descendants here now. Besides these settlements, which seem to have been the first in the south part of the town, there were others farther down the Poultney River, some of which may have been older still. For instance, at the point were the " Hessian Road " crossed the river, Jonathan Lynde, who, it has been suggested in Mr. Adams's his- tory, may have been one of a company of Dutch people that came from the Bennington or the Albany neighborhood at the time of the Revolutionary War, had improved a place.

It is probable that Benoni Hurlburt, Joseph Carver, Jonathan Hall and John Van Dozer settled before the town was chartered, on the fall of Poultney River, now known as Carver's Falls. There were undoubtedly other settle- ments made along certain portions of Poultney River at this period, though the more prominent characters in the organization of the township came about the beginning of the year 1780 or soon after.

Michael Merritt, in August, 1780, came from Killingworth, Conn., to the farm on the old disused road, in the west part of the present town, now owned by Heman Stannard, of Hampton, N. Y., being the same farm whereon Jona- than Lynde had begun improvements. He was chosen first constable at the organization, and afterwards served as town clerk, treasurer, selectman, and in other public offices. He died here August 18, 1815, aged seventy-seven years, leaving eleven children, none of whom, or their descendants, survive in Fair- haven. Philip Priest, brother-in-law to Mr. Merritt, having married his sister, came with him, and built his log house on the farm now owned and occupied 38

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by Hiram Hamilton. He kept tavern here for a number of years. He died in Chateaugay, N. Y., about 1816. He was a prominent man in town affairs. Israel Trobridge and Jeremiah Durand came about this time from Derby, Conn., and located near the west line of Castleton. In the summer of 1780, too, came Curtis Kelsey, sr., from Woodbury, Conn., purchasing the proprietary right in Fairhaven of Josiah Grant, of Poultney. He was one of the wealthiest of the early settlers. His farm included the tract now owned and occupied by Elbridge Estey. He died in March, 1827, aged eighty-seven years. In 1788 Silas Safford and his brother-in-law, Ager Hawley, arrived from Arlington, Vt., and made the first settlement on the site of the village. He owned the farm where Myron Barnes now lives, and kept tavern there some of the time. He was elected the first justice of the peace of the town, and remained in the office for forty years. He had thirteen children, Alonzo being the ninth. Alonzo Safford was interested for some years after 1829 in the paper mill. He lived on the site of the present residence of R. E. Lloyd. He died in Michigan a few years ago. Silas Safford died May 12, 1832, aged seventy-four years. While in the village he occupied the house which now forms the rear part of Henry Green's dwelling-house.

The most prominent of all the early residents of Fairhaven, Colonel Mat- thew Lyon, came here from Arlington, Vt., in 1783, after having purchased tracts of land including nearly all the present village. While yet resident in Arlington he proposed to Mr. Safford to give him eighty acres of land as a premium to go to Fairhaven with his family and board the men who might be employed in building his proposed mills. With Ager Hawley, a millwright, he agreed to build a grist-mill in co-partnership, Hawley to have one-third of the mill. Safford and Hawley accordingly came to Fairhaven. Hawley then built the first grist- mill, either this season or the following spring, on the south side of the lower falls, a little below the present site of the Marble and Marble- ized Slate Company's mills. About the same time the bridge over the river and the saw-mill on the north side were built. In 1784 Colonel Lyon's house is said to have stood near the north end of the bridge under the hill. But sub- sequently, about 1785, he built and for a number of years occupied a tavern on the hill where the Park View House now stands, and later still he lived on the site of the Knight block. He was really the "father of the town," having, even before his removal from Arlington, caused the erection of the first saw and grist-mills ; and in the summer of 1785 commencing the building of the forge and iron works, and a short time afterwards of the paper-mill. Colonel Lyon was prominent beyond the boundaries of his own community. Although nicknamed "The Knight of the Wooden Sword," for alleged cowardice while holding a lieutenant's commission in a company of soldiers stationed at Jericho in 1776, under the command of Captain Fassett, he denied the justice of the charge, and attained political eminence in the State and nation. He was rep-

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resentative from Arlington from 1779 to 1782, and while in the General Assem- bly, in October, 1779, he became one of the original grantees in the charter for Fairhaven. In 1786 he was one of the assistant judges of the Rutland County Court, and in 1788, 1790 and 1791 selectman. After being repeatedly de- feated, he succeeded, in 1796, in securing the election to Congress, and took his seat in November, 1797. He was a bitter opponent of the Federalist ad- ministration, and in 1798 was arrested, tried and convicted under the " alien and sedition " law, and sentenced to four months' imprisonment and a fine of $1,000, with the costs of the prosecution. He passed his imprisonment at Ver- gennes. Before his term had expired he was re-elected to Congress, and pre- vented the re-arrest with which he was threatened by immediately proclaiming himself on his way to Congress. He soon afterward removed to Kentucky. He died near Little Rock, Ark., August 1, 1822. Some of his descendants were recently residents of Eddyville, Ky. (See Chapter XV.)

Joel Hamilton came from Brookfield, Mass., in 1783. During a part of the time he lived in the town he resided where his nephew, Hiram Hamilton, still lives, and died there June 5, 1826. He was constable from 1785 to 1793, and was also for a number of years deputy sheriff of Rutland county. He has no direct descendants in town.

Samuel Stannard lived at first toward the lake in Westhaven, but soon after made his home on the farm afterwards occupied by his son Heman, and now owned by his grandson, Heman Stannard, of Hampton, N. Y., and where Mr. Cook lives. He died April 8, 1815, in his sixty-seventh year. He was a prominent man among the early settlers, and was frequently chosen on the board of selectmen. Timothy Goodrich, from Woodbury, Conn., in 1784 set- tled on the farm now owned by Heman Stannard. He died February 17, 1829, in his seventy-third year. His brother, Chauncey, lived and died on the farm now owned and occupied by O. P. Ranney. He died in his sixty-ninth year, September 20, 1856. Daniel and Ashael Munger, who also came in 1783, settled on the intervale through which the well-known "Munger Road " now runs. The houses are now all gone. Joseph Snow occupied a house on the west side of the road, nearly opposite the residence of Daniel Munger. Daniel Munger was deacon of the church, and probably superintended the building of the old edifice about 1791. After his death his son, Ashael, succeeded him as deacon. He died February 10, 1805, in his eightieth year.

Lieutenant Charles McArthur, of Nobletown, N. Y., purchased, in July, 1783, two hundred and sixty acres of land on the hill in the northeastern part of the town, now known, from McArthur's national origin, as Scotch Hill, where he erected the first framed house in town. He died on the 8th of October, 1815, in his seventy-fourth year.

Eli Everts and Ambrose, his brother, came to town some time in 1783, the former locating on the place now owned and occupied by Rufus Hamilton.

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He was called " captain " by his contemporaries. He was selectman in 1793. Richard Beddow, an Englishman and a deserter from the army of Burgoyne, settled about this period near John Meacham, on the farm now occupied by Isaac Wood and Mrs. A. Kidder. He was a blacksmith and nailer, and man- ufactured nails with John Meacham in a shop on his farm.

In the fall of 1783, after the civil government of the town was organized, Moses Holmes came to town from Lenox, Mass., and settled on a thirty acre tract of land on Poultney River and next north of John Meacham, but a year later moved to the extreme south part of the town. David Punderson, who was one of the listers in 1785, resided on the upper side of the road beyond Mr. Everts. In the early part of 1785 Charles Rice came here from Brook- field, Mass., and settled on the west street, but afterwards removed to West- haven where he kept a public house, with the sign

" Nothing on this side, and nothing on t'other ; Nothing in the house, nor in the stable either."

He removed to Canada before the War of 1812.

Isaac Cutler, one of the most prominent of the early settlers, came also from Brookfield in the spring of this year. He lived on the farm now owned by Hamilton Wescott, and occupied by Brooks Roberts. He kept a popular tavern there for a number of years. In 1798, it is supposed, he came to the village to live with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Dickinson, who kept the vil- lage tavern. Later still he lived on the site of Owen Owen's present residence. He died in Westhaven, in November, 1832, aged eighty-six years, after a five years' residence there. He had been a Revolutionary soldier, and was for years a justice of the peace in Fairhaven. Stephen Rogers came in 1785 from Branford, Conn. He was an intimate friend of Colonel Lyon. He was fol- lowed, soon after his arrival here, by his younger brothers, Ambrose, Beriah and Jared. Stephen, with the aid of Colonel Lyon, started the first tannery in town, under the hill on the west side of the common. He built a house on the site now covered by the dwelling of Simeon Allen. He went west in 1801.

Gamaliel Leonard came in 1785 from Pittsfield, Mass., to Greenfield, N. Y., staying on Hampton Hills, and while there in 1786 bought land on Poult- ney River in Fairhaven. In the spring of 1786 he erected the second saw-mill in town on the site now covered by the saw-mill of Edward Bristol, having previously built his house near the falls. In 1788, in company with Elias Stevens and Daniel Arnold, of Hampton, he built a forge at the west end of the mill. An ancestor of his, James Leonard, erected the first forge in the country, on the banks of the Taunton River. Gamaliel Leonard was a Revo- lutionary soldier. In 1811 he was one of the selectmen. A grandson, How- ard Leonard, and great-grandson, are now living over the State line on the road to Whitehall. In the summer of 1786 Charles Hawkins, sr., came from Smithfield, R. I., and located north of the junction of Muddy Brook with Poult-

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ney River on the road that has since fallen into disuse. He was a blacksmith in Rhode Island. He died on March 31, 18to, in his seventy-fifth year. Mrs. Harris Whipple now living in town is his granddaughter. He has other de- scendants in Detroit and other portions of the West. David Erwin, otherwise " colonel," and otherwise " general," came from New Jersey as early as 1786. He was a man of decided ability, and acted as foreman in the slitting-mill here for some years. Ethan Whipple from North Providence, R. I., grandfather of Harris Whipple and C. C. Whipple, still living here, came this year. He had taken an active part in the Revolution. He was a carpenter by trade, and built the house where John Allard now resides. He was one of the selectmen from 1782 to 1796, and in 1802, 1803 and 1805. He was town treasurer from 1793 to 1813, and town clerk from 1809 to 1813, thus taking a leading part in town government. Among the arrivals of 1787, were Dr. Stephen Hall, of Connecticut, on the west street, the first physician owning land in town, and Timothy Brainard, of East Hartford, Conn., on the farm lying next south of Oliver Cleveland's, between the Poultney west line and Poultney River.

In the spring of 1788 Major Tilly Gilbert came from Brookfield, Mass., in company with Gideon Tafft, who resided here a while and then removed to Whitehall. Major Gilbert, then quite a young man, put up for a time at the tavern of Silas Safford, on the site of Henry Green's residence, and was em- ployed by Colonel Lyon to teach school, probably in the school-house on the common. From about 1781 to 1799 he was a resident of Benson and Orwell, but returned to Fairhaven in the latter year and opened a store, dispensing drugs and medicines as well as more common merchandise. His house was on the site of the present Knight block. He owned a half interest in the lower saw-mill, with his brother, Eliel, until November, 1802, when he bought out his brother. In 1806 he purchased the saw-mill on the upper falls, and re- tained the former until 1813, the latter until 1822. He built the house which his son, Benjamin F. Gilbert, still occupies, in 1814. He removed to West- haven in about 1832, where he died September 5, 1850, at the age of seventy-nine years.

Isaiah Inman came from Massachusetts in the fall of 1788 with his family and lived for a time with his brother-in-law, Charles Hawkins, sr. Inman Pond, near which he located, derived its name from him. Thomas, or " Doctor " Dibble, came from Nobletown, N. Y., about this time, and settled near the Castleton line.

In 1789 Dr. James Witherell, an eminent physician, came from Mansfield, Mass., via Hampton ; his residence while here was on land now owned by Ham- ilton Wescott. He succeeded to the practice of Dr. Stephen Hall, and was for more than twenty years an influential citizen here, being several times a rep- resentatative in the State Assembly, judge of the County Court and once a Member of Congress. He removed to Detroit, Mich., about 1810, where he

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became one of the United States judges of the Territory. He has descendants there now who hold a prominent place in society. Judge Witherell bore a prominent part in the Revolutionary War, and at Detroit in the War of 1812. He died in Detroit, January 9, 1838, in his seventy-ninth year.

Other arrivals about this period were Frederick Hill, Jabez Newland, Be- riah Rogers, Charles Boyle, Olney Hawkins, William Buell and Nathaniel Dickinson. Abijah Warren, from Litchfield, Conn., a son-in-law of Daniel Munger, came at least as early as 1790. He lived latterly in the grist-mill house.

John Brown, who kept the town records from 1793 to 1801, as town clerk, was a beautiful penman. He came here from Rhode Island in 1792, and re- sided for a time on the piece of ground now occupied by Mr. Campbell (son of James Campbell) ; subsequently he kept the tavern in the village a number of years. He died at St. Albans, on the 16th of March, 1805, aged thirty- nine years.

Shubel Bullock, a carpenter and joiner, came to Fairhaven about 1798, and built his house southwest of the Cedar Swamp. After several years he removed to the farm next south of the Durand Place. He had a numerous and respectable family.

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History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 70

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