USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 76
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Manufacturing Interests. - The saw-mill of Dr. Orel Cook was originally built about 1829 or 1830, by J. D. Esting, and rebuilt by Dr. Cook in 1871.
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
The Darius Carruth saw-mill was built about 1836 by Rufus Richardson. He ran it a number of years and then sold it to the present owners, the Sheldons of Rutland. Mr. Carruth operates it. General E. H. Ripley's saw-mill, was erected in 1853 by William Y. Ripley. Freeman W. Eggleston built a water- power saw-mill a short distance above the Carruth mill in 1884. It was first operated in April, 1885. It is estimated that the aggregate capacity of this mill is about 13,000 feet of lumber per day.
The present officers of the town of Mendon are as follows : Town clerk, Newton Squier (for the last twenty-five years) ; selectmen, George W. Seward, Oscar Wood, Osgood Sargeant; town treasurer, L. A. Green ; overseer of the poor, George T. Kennison ; constable and collector, H. H. Shedd ; listers, J. E. Seward, William Johnson, Edward Pomeroy; auditors, J. E. Seward, M. Fenney, William Johnson ; trustee of public money, Ezra Edson ; fence view- ers, Reuben Ranger, Robert Magin; town grand jurors, A. Bennett, Brooks Bennett, O. Wood; inspector of leather, A. Bennett ; surveyors of highways, Patrick Cooney, H. H. Shedd, Oscar Wood, John Parker, Peter Stebbins, Lewis Young, George Sargeant, Charles Hemenway ; town agent, Allerton Bennett ; county grand jurors, Ezra Edson and Allerton Bennett; petit jurors, Osgood Sargeant, Aaron G. Bissell, Charles Ranger, William J. Hagar, Marcus E. Ten- ney, Henry L. Gleason, Edward Pomeroy, John Cooney ; superintendent of schools, Matthias Kenyon.
The figures below indicate the increase of population from 1791 to 1880: 1791, 34; 1800, 39; 1810, III ; 1820, 174; 1830, 432; 1840, 545; 1850, 504; 1860, 633 ; 1870, 612; 1880, 629.
CHAPTER XXX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
M IDDLETOWN is situated in the southwestern part of the county and bounded on the north by Poultney and Ira; east by Ira and Tinmouth ; south by Tinmouth and Wells, and west by Wells and Poultney. The terri- tory of which it is formed is of a peculiar shape and was taken from the towns of Poultney, Ira, Tinmouth and Wells. The charters of these four towns were granted in 1761, except that of Ira, the date of which is unknown ; but it is supposed to bear about the sanie date. About three-fourths of a mile north of the village of Middletown, a little east of the present dwelling-house of Har- vey Leffingwell, on land now owned by a Mr. Cairnes, is the spot where was formerly located the northeast corner of Wells, southeast corner of Poultney,
41
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
the southwest corner of Ira, and the northwest corner of Tinmouth. The line from thence, between the towns of Wells and Tinmonth, ran south, passing in its course through the eastern part of the village between the school-house and the stream, a little west of the school-house; also, in its course further south, it makes the west line of the " old Zenas Frisbie farm " (now owned by M. E. Wheeler), the east line of the "Thomas Morgan farm," and passes very near the west line of the " Burnam farm," now owned by S. W. Southworth, and the "Perry farm," now owned by Mr. Atwater. The line from thence (the corners above named), between the towns of Poultney and Ira, ran directly north from those corners, and lines running east and west from thence divided the towns above named.
The township of Middletown was created by an act of the Legislature of October 28, 1784. Prior to that time the territory of which it is composed was included in the above named four towns, with the lines as above indicated. The settlement of the town, or the territory, was begun some years before 1784; and in speaking of such settlement it will be mentioned as if in Middletown.
The exact date of the first settlement cannot be given, except upon the authority of Mr. Thompson, who says in his history that " the settlement was commenced a short time before the Revolutionary War by Thomas Morgan and others," "and mills were erected." Mr. Morgan came here before the war, as did also Richard and Benjamin Haskins, Phineas Clough and Luther Filmore. Mr. Morgan, who lived until 1841, informed Judge Frisbie before his death that he found his way hither by marked trees and that when he arrived not a tree had been cut ; the entire town was an unbroken forest. He also said that he came about three years before the war began; but he probably considered the stirring events at Ticonderoga and Burgoyne's invasion as the beginning of the conflict ; if so, he probably made his settlement in 1774. Mr. Morgan bought one hundred acres of land about three-fourths of a mile south of the village site, and built his log house a few feet north of the site of the framed house on the "old Morgan farm" (now owned by his grandson, Daniel Morgan). In the summer of 1777, so energetically had he labored, he had four acres of wheat sixty or seventy rods from his house, opposite of where Orson Thomas now lives, and on the east side and adjoining what is known as the " Coy Hill road." He was called away to the struggle at Bennington and the wheat was never harvested. Richard Haskins commenced his settlement a little east of the village site and he, too, had two acres of wheat in 1777, which he never harvested, but went away to Bennington. Benjamin Haskins had built his log house and begun his improvements near where Deacon A. Haynes now lives. Luther Filmore had put up a log house on the southwest corner of what is now known as " the green," in the village. Where Phineas Clough first located himself is not now positively known ; but he very early settled on what has since been known as the "Orcutt farm," now occupied by
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Mr. Lobdill. These five men are all who are now known to have been here before the Revolutionary War. They all left in the summer of 1777, joined the militia at Manchester, and were all in Bennington battle.
But were " mills erected " before the war ? The mills known as " Miner's mills," in an early day were built by Gideon Miner in 1782. They were lo- cated about a mile and a half east of where the village now is. Mr. Morgan then assisted Mr. Miner, as a workman, in building the mills. Morgan brought the mill irons from Bennington on a horse. Members of the Miner family in- formed Mr. Frisble that there was some sort of a mill there when Mr. Miner came, while descendants of Mr. Morgan were equally confident that he had nothing to do with mills until he worked for Mr. Miner in 1782. If there was a mill there before that time, it was never operated and was rebuilt in 1782 by Mr. Morgan.
In Mr. Thompson's work referred to he says that the settlers "returned after the war," which is somewhat indefinite. While there was little done in the way of settlement for a few years after the summer of 1777, still Benjamin Haskins and Phineas Clough were back here in 1778, and Morgan and Fil- more a little later ; a good many others were here before the close of the war. Azor Perry came as early as 1778. James and Thomas McClure, it is sup- posed, came in 1779. William and Jonathan Frisbie came in 1781 ; and Gid- eon Miner, Nathaniel Wood and his sons, Jacob and Ephraim, Caleb Smith, Jonathan Brewster, Gamaliel Waldo, Nathan Walton, and some others were here as early as 1782. And Joseph Spaulding and some others, it is supposed, came the same year. We find that a Congregational Church was organized as early as the spring of 1782, and Mr. Spaulding was made its clerk. It is clear that the settlements from the close of the war were quite rapid, as in the fall of 1784 the people petitioned the Legislature, then in session in Rutland, for a new town; a movement indicating that the settlers in those parts of Poult- ney, Ira, Tinmouth and Wells now included in Middletown, fraternized and felt among themselves mutual interests, in spite of the town lines. Two churches had already been organized - another proof of that fact - Congregational and Baptist, and a log church erected near the southeast corner of the present burial ground ; the members were from the four towns, but they all had com- mon interests. If the town lines had not been changed, it is more than prob- able that the same village must have grown up here. The territory was formed apparently by nature for a town, and the increasing number of settlers real- ized it.
The prayer of the petitioners for the town was granted. On the 28th day of October, 1784, the following act was passed by the Legislature :- An Act constituting a new Town by the name of Middletown :
" Whereas, the inhabitants of a part of the towns of Wells, Tinmouth, Poult- ney and Ira, which are included in the bounds hereinafter described, have, by
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
their petition, represented that they labor under great inconveniences with their several towns for public worship and town business, by reason of being surrounded by high mountains,
" Be it therefore enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the representatives of the freemen of the State of Vermont in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, that the tract of land or district hereinafter described, be, and is hereby created and incorporated into a township, by the name of Middletown, and the inhabitants thereof and their successors with the like priv- ileges and prerogatives, which the other towns in the State are invested with, viz .:
" Beginning at a beech tree marked, standing west 26 degrees south 310 chains from the northeast corner of Wells ; thence east 40 degrees south 290 chains, to a white ash tree standing in Tinmouth west line; thence east IO degrees south 45 chains, to a beech marked ; thence north 33 degrees east 264 chains, to a beech marked ; thence north 10 degrees west 333 chains, to stake and stones standing in Poultney east line; thence south Io degrees west 28 chains, to stake and stones ; thence west 1 1 degrees north 60 chains to a small beech marked ; thence south 45 chains, to a hard beech tree ; thence west 40 degrees south 207 chains 5 links, to a stake and stones standing in Wells north line ; thence west - south 4 chains, to a stake ; thence south 10 degrees west 185 chains, to the first mentioned bounds."
These boundaries took three thousand five hundred and ten acres from Tinmouth, six thousand one hundred and eighteen acres from Wells, two thou- sand three hundred and eighty-eight acres from Poultney, and one thousand eight hundred and twenty acres from Ira ; making in all fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty-one acres.
Joseph Spaulding, who was a surveyor, was prominent in procuring the charter of the town, and it is believed that the form of the surrounding moun- tains governed the survey, to a large extent, thus giving the town its peculiar shape. After Mr. Spaulding had completed his survey and the arrangements for presenting the matter to the Legislature, the inhabitants conceded to him the honor of naming the town, which he did. As he had removed from Mid- dletown, Conn., and as the new town was situated, if the term may be used, " in the middle of four towns," he thought that name an appropriate one. In the fall of 1784, he, with the petition in his pocket, went before the Legislature in Rutland, presented the matter and the act was passed, as stated.
Following is a brief record of a town meeting in this town, held November 17, 1784, in the log meeting-house : -
" At a town meeting holden at Middletown, at the meeting-house, on Wed- nesday, the 17th day of November, 1784, Voted, Edmund Bigelow, Moderator ; Joseph Rockwell, Town Clerk ; Edmund Bigelow, Justice of the Peace ; elected as a committee, Edmund Bigelow, Joseph Rockwell and Joseph Spaulding, to
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
reckon with several inhabitants of the town respecting costs made in getting the town established. The meeting was adjourned to Thursday the 22d inst."
" At the adjourned meeting - Voted, That the amount allowed by the committee chosen for examining accounts for getting the town established be two pounds, 12 shillings and 7 pence.
"JOSEPH ROCKWELL, Register."
This meeting and its proceedings must be looked upon as the organization of the town. From this record we find that Edmund Bigelow was the first moderator of the town and the first. justice of the peace ; the latter office he held many years; and Joseph Rockwell was the first town clerk.
The first annual town meeting was holden March 7, 1785, at which meet- ing they elected the following town officers : Hon. Thomas Porter, of Tinmouth, being present, was chosen moderator, Joseph Rockwell, town clerk; Jonathan Brewster, Jacob Wood and Edmund Bigelow, selectmen ; Caleb Smith, town treasurer ; Ephraim Wood, constable ; Ashur Blunt, Jona. Griswold, Reuben Searl, listers ; Silas Mallary, collector; Jona. Frisbie, leather sealer ; Samuel Sunderlin, Reuben Searl, jurymen ; Nathan Record, tithingman; Elisha Gil- bert, hayward ; Caleb Smith, brander of horses ; Increase Rudd, sealer of meas- ures ; Edmund Bigelow, sealer of weights; Abraham White, Solomon Hill, John Sunderlin, Benjamin Haskins, Benjamin Coy, Phineas Clough and James McClure, highway surveyors ; Luther Filmore, pound-keeper, Thomas Mor- gan, William Frisbie and Increase Rudd, fence viewers.
At the same meeting Ephraim Wood, Gamaliel Waldo, Reuben Searl, Bethel Hurd, Benjamin Coy, James McClure and Edmund Bigelow, were ap- pointed a committee to divide the town into school districts. That committee afterwards performed that duty, and the school districts, with a very little alter- ation, remain to this day as recommended by that committee.
Immediately following this town meeting record is a "roll of the freemen of Middletown," which was doubtless made in the spring of 1785. Following are the names : -
Ephraim Wood, John Sunderlin, Daniel Haskins, Samuel Sunderlin, Jacob Wood, Reuben Searl, Joseph Spaulding, Jona. Brewster, Benjamin Haskins, Jona. Haynes, Increase Rudd, Jesse Hubbard, Barzilla Handy, Gideon Miner, Isaiah Johnson, Abel White, Benjamin Coy, Timothy Smith, Francis Perkins, Samuel Stoddard, Benjamin Butler, Nathan Record, Jona. Mehuran, Elisha Gilbert, Richard Haskins, Thomas Morgan, Chauncy Graves, William Frisbie, Anson Perry, Sylvanus Stone, Thomas French, Gideon Buel, Caleb Smith, Jona. Griswold, Gamaliel Waldo, Joseph Rockwell, David Griswold, Edmund Bigelow, Philemon Wood, Jona. Frisbie.
By this list we are enabled to know who were the early settlers of the town, and to it may be added the names of Luther Filmore, James and Thomas Mc- Clure, and Silas Mallary, who are known to have been here prior to 1785.
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
Filmore, as we have seen, was here before the Revolutionary War, and was elected pound-keeper at the first annual meeting ; Mallary was elected collector, and James and Thomas McClure are known to have been here about as early as 1779.
Interrupted as the settlement of this town was by the Revolutionary War, yet the grand list taken in the spring of 1785, the first one made, shows that five hundred and seventy-four acres had been cleared ; and the personal prop- erty in the list was eighty-one cows, forty-seven horses, thirty-six oxen, eighty steers, seventy-three head of other cattle and twenty-two swine. This indicates a remarkable growth and development in the few years of settlement preced- ing the date of the list. Judge Frisbie's father, who was a son of William Fris- bie, told the judge what the condition of the settlement in the town was when his father came in 1781. He said that Filmore had cleared up three or four acres where the village now is. Morgan had a little more than that cleared, and the two Haskinses and Azor Perry had made some progress in their clear- ing. He told me that according to his recollection, six log houses had been put up within the present limits of the town, when he came here. Those he gave me as" Mr. Morgan's, Filmore's, the two Haskinses', Clough's and Azor Perry's. Those were undoubtedly all there were in the town, or within what is now the town, in the spring of 1781, except what had been put up on the " McClure road," as it has been called - for it is well known that Isaac Clark (old Rifle) settled there as early as 1779, and that year he was made town clerk of Ira, and James and Thomas McClure settled there, it is believed, the same year. At this time (1785) we find at least forty-four freemen in the town - the number of inhabitants might have been three or four hundred, as most of the early settlers had large families.
A grist and saw-mill had been erected, and were in active operation, grind- ing the grain of the settlers, and sawing their lumber. Three framed houses had been built and preparations made for erecting more. Of these first settlers in the town let us speak a little more in detail.
Thomas Morgan, as we have stated, made the first clearing and claimed to have built the first framed house, though he said that Filmore and Richard Haskins each began building the same season. Morgan's house stood on the lot now owned by Daniel Morgan. Thomas Morgan was from Kent, Conn., and lived where he first settled to about the time of his death, which occurred December 20, 1841, aged ninety-four years. Jonathan Morgan, his son, was the first child born in the town (1782). He was for many years justice of the peace ; represented the town in 1838, and often held the office of selectman. He died December 3, 1857, from the effects of being thrown from his wagon. He left three sons and four daughters, of whom Daniel is the only one living in Middletown.
Luther Filmore felled the forest where the village stands. He came from
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Bennington and put up his cabin on the southwest corner of the "green," as it is called. He afterwards built a frame house on the opposite side of the road, in the yard of the place now occupied by E. W. Gray. He owned the land occupied by the burial ground and deeded it to the town September 30, 1787 ; he also owned 150 acres including the present limits of the village. He was the first inn-keeper in the town, beginning soon after he built his house. The tavern was kept there by him and a part of the time by one of the Brews- ter family, until some years after 1800. Sometime after 1811 Henry Gray bought and lived in the house until about 1835, when he built the brick house ; the old tavern house was moved down below "Cider-mill Hill," and repaired for tenant uses. Luther Filmore died February 9, 1809, at the age of sixty, leaving several sons, none of whom are living.
Richard Haskins returned after the war to his settlement, near where Lu- cius Copeland lives. He was from Norwich, Conn., where the Wood families came from ; they came in 1782 and took Mr. Haskins's settlement and he took the next lot north - now the Copeland Haskins farm. He lived a long life and raised a large family ; he died about 1845 in Highgate, Vt., when over eighty years old. Benjamin Haskins was a prominent man, a member of the Congregational Church, and though somewhat eccentric, was a useful man in the community. It is said that he successfully encountered and routed four- teen wolves with no arms but a cudgel, when they attacked some cattle he was driving home. He died in 1824, aged seventy years.
Phineas Clongh died September 24, 1809, on the farm where he first set- tled ; he left but one child, a daughter who married Erasmus Orcutt. She in- herited the farm, which became known as the "Orcutt farm." She was the mother of five children, the only living one being, Phineas C. Orcutt, now in New Jersey.
Azor Perry was deeded a piece of land by one of the Tinmouth proprie- tors in 1777, the tract being in what is now Middletown, and in the spring of 1778 shouldered his axe, came on and took possession of his land. It was the same tract now known as the Azor Perry farm, and owned and occupied by Jonathan and Merritt Atwater. He built a log honse where Mr. Atwater's dwelling now stands, covering it with poles and bark. Here he lived the first year alone, and was married at Bennington in 1779. He was from the town of Orange, Conn., but lived in Bennington a while before settling in Middletown. He was a rough, unpolished man, but of strong will and high courage, and fought at Bennington and other early battles of the war. Many anecdotes are related of his prowess in fighting wolves and bears, for which space cannot be here given. He had eleven children, several of whom are still living ; one of these is Mrs. Atwater, who lives on the old farm. Mr. Perry died November 15, 1824, aged sixty-nine.
Thomas and James McClure probably came next in the order of settle-
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ment. They were natives of Scotland, and with another brother first stopped at Wallingford, after coming to Vermont. A little latter, in 1779, James and Thomas came on farther and decided to locate in the northeast part of the town (then in Ira). Their settlement was made at the upper end of the road which leaves the main road running from Middletown to Tinmouth, a little east of what is known as the " Edgerton place." It was supposed a village would be located at this point, which led to their selecting it as a place of residence. The two brothers appear to have been prominent men and held many import- ant positions. James died February 22, 1815, at the age of sixty-seven years ; Thomas died before 1800. Each left a family ; David G. and Samuel were sons of James. David G. was a physician and succeeded Dr. Ezra Clark ; was in practice here several years prior to 1822, and removed to Ohio. Samuel was a farmer and died in Middletown ; had a large family, of whom two sons and two daughters are living. His son, David G., lived and died in Rutland ; his daughters married, one of them Albert H. Tuttle, of the Rut- land Herald, and the other C. M. Haven. Harry B. McClure, second son of Samuel, lived many years in Middletown, but removed to Spencerport, N. Y.
Next in the order of settlement came William Frisbie, whose name appears on the roll of 1785. He was a native of Bethlehem, Conn., and lived in Still- water, N. Y., a number of years before coming to Middletown ; all of his chil- dren were born there. He took part in the battle of Saratoga, near his own home. The land he bought was what is now known as the " Buxton farm," and he put up his log house near where the brick house now stands ; in 1785, or 1786, he built a frame house a little northwest of the brick house site. He is remembered as a somewhat eccentric man ; unyielding in his principles and intolerant of a wavering disposition in others. He died March 1, 1813, at the age of seventy-six years. He had two sons and four daughters. The oldest son, William, jr., was seventeen when his father came to the town ; he studied medicine with Dr. Clark and began practice in company with him, but soon went to Pittsford, where he practiced until about 1820; thence he removed to Phelps, N. Y., where he died about 1837. He has descendants in Phelps and several in the West. Zenas, the second son, was a farmer and lived and died in Middletown, aged seventy-six years; he died January 19, 1851, leaving eight children ; two sons and a daughter live West, and a daughter, Mrs. Lucy A. Thomas, lives in Middletown, and a son, Hon. Barnes Frisbie, now lives in Poultney, and is one of the assistant judges of the county.
The settlements cannot be further taken up in chronological order; but Captain Joseph Spaulding, a name ever to be honored in the town, may be appropriately alluded to next. He first settled on what has been known as the " Micah Vail farm," now owned by C. Clift, but soon removed to where William Spaulding now lives; this place has ever since been owned in the fam- ily. It has already been indicated that Captain Spaulding was the leading
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spirit in the formation of the town, and the people very properly made him their first representative. He was about thirty-six years old when he came here ; had taught school in Connecticut and also taught the first one in this town, following the honorable occupation for some forty winters and until he was more than seventy-five years old. He was captain of the first militia in town and held that office at the time of the Shay's rebellion in 1786; he started with his company to the relief of the courts at Rutland, but learned at Castle- ton that their services were not needed and they returned. He died February 25, 1840, at the great age of ninety-six years. He was a candid, judicious and honorable Christian man. Harley Spaulding, now living on the next place north of the old homestead, and Deacon Julius Spaulding, of Poultney, are the only representatives here of the families that sprang from Captain Joseph Spaulding.
Jonathan Brewster came in as early as 1782 and settled on the farm now owned by William Kelly, about a mile and one-half south of the village. He was a leader in the formation of the Congregational Church and its first dea- con ; represented the town four years, and died April 29, 1820, aged seventy- six years. He had a large family, seven of whom -Orson, Ohel, Oramel, Jonathan, Eunice, Lydia and Joanna -survived him. Orson removed to Northampton, Mass., and there died ; Ohel died and left two daughters, one of whom is the widow of Dr. Amos Frisbie, formerly of Poultney ; Jonathan and Oramel removed to northern New York and died there; Eunice married Fitch Loomis, and was the mother of Reuben and Fitch Loomis, jr., Mrs. Henry Gray, Mrs. Thaddeus Terrill and Mrs. Johnson; she died about 1851. Lydia became the wife of William Fay, the well-known early publisher of Rutland ; Joanna married Luther Cleveland.
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