USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 77
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Gideon Miner removed from Woodbury, Conn., to Rutland in March, 1779, and to Middletown in 1782; he settled about two miles east of the vil- Inge, at the place formerly called " Miner's Mills." He built a grist-mill and saw-mill, the first in the town. He was much esteemed and died in 1808, aged eighty years. Gideon Miner's oldest child was Abigail, who married Thomas Davidson, and died in Saratoga, New York, in 1843, at the age of seventy- eight. Samuel Lewis Miner, the oldest son, removed to Castleton in early life and died in 1817, aged fifty years, leaving three children-Roxena, Cyrena, and Lewis. Captain Joel Miner was the third child, and became a man of un- usual capacity and conducted a large business ; he was the leading man in the town at the time of his death. He died suddenly at Montpelier, while attend- ing the Legislature in the fall of 1813, at the age of forty-four years ; his chil- dren were Ovid, now in the ministry in Syracuse, N Y., and Lamson, also a clergyman, and died in the midst of his usefulness at the age of thirty-three. Gideon Miner, sr.'s, fourth child was also named Gideon, and becamea prominent man; was deacon in the Congregational Church nearly forty years, and re-
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
moved to Ohio in 1834, where he died at the home of his son, Dr. Erwin L., in 1854, aged eighty-four years. Ahiman Lewis Miner, son of Deacon Miner, is an attorney and now lives in Manchester (see Chapter XVII). Deacon Miner's other children were Chloe, who died in Ohio; Malvina, living in Mis- souri as the wife of a clergyman ; a daughter who died in Onondaga county, N. Y., and another who died in Ohio in 1858; Orlin H., removed to Ohio in 1834 and died two years later ; and Thomas Davison Miner, who died in Ohio in 1856. Returning to the children of Deacon Miner, sr., there were Ase- nath, who married Alexander Murray and removed to Albany, N. Y., and Lamson, who died in 1806. The youngest was Elizabeth, who married Moses Copeland and had four children, Lucius, Martin, Betsey and Edwin. Lucius and Edwin are among the prominent citizens of this town; Martin became a lawyer and died in Bristol, Vt., January 11, 1861. Betsey married Deacon Julius Spaulding and died in Poultney in 1865. Moses Copeland died May 3, 1858, aged eighty-eight years, and his wife, Elizabeth, died in Poultney in the fall of 1866.
The name of Caleb Smith is on the roll of 1785, and he probably came here as early as 1783. He settled where Elihu B. Cook now lives and was prominent in establishing the Baptist Church ; was its first moderator and first deacon ; he was also town treasurer. He died February 10, 1808, at the age of fifty-nine years, leaving a son, Jedediah, and a daughter who married Ros- well Tillie, of Tinmouth.
Gamaliel Waldo came here as early as 1782 from Pawlet, finding his way by marked trees. While Ticonderoga was occupied by Allen and his men, Mr. Waldo was employed to convey provisions to the fort, a perilous duty ; he lived at Pownal during the Revolutionary War, and settled here on the farm owned by Mr. Hulburt, cleared that place and remained there until his death, in 1829. He was the father of one son and four daughters.
Asa Gardner, who died here in 1849, came in with his father's family when he was ten years old, and lived to be nearly eighty. His three sons, Charles, Almer and Daniel R., all lived and died in this town. Asa Blunt and Nathan Walton came about the same time Mr. Waldo did and settled north of him on the hill road to Ira. Mr. Blunt removed to northern New York quite early. Mr. Walton raised a large family and died in 1829.
Edmund Bigelow, who was the moderator of the meeting at which the town was organized, and the first justice of the peace, settled where M. E. Wheeler lives; he seems to have been the acting magistrate for fifteen years or more following his first election, and to have been a competent official. The late Dr. Bigelow, of Bennington, was his son.
Joseph Rockwell settled where the widow of E. Prindle resides, and was the first town clerk. The late Solomon Rockwell was his son, and other descend- ants live in St. Lawrence county, N. Y.
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
John and Samuel Sunderlin settled north of the village ; Samuel probably on the place recently owned by Mrs. Germond. John was a lieutenant of mi- litia under Captain Spaulding and a man of real worth. His two daughters married Dyer Leffingwell and Ohel Brewster. John's son, Daniel, married Nancy Stoddard, and their sons, Erwin and Edwin, succeeded Merritt and Horace Clark as merchants in Middletown. John Sunderlin died about 1826, on the farm now owned by the widow of Whiting Merrill. Samuel passed much of his life in Shoreham, but died in Middletown, March 11, 1862.
Increase Rudd settled on the farm now occupied by Mrs. Aden H. Green and her son, Albert A. He had a large family, none of whom are left in this vicinity.
Gideon Buel and Jonathan and David Griswold all settled on what is now the road from " Miner's Mills" to the Haskins place, where Deacon Hayes lives ; they were all Revolutionary soldiers. Roswell Buel, an attorney and member of the Rutland bar, is a grandson of Gideon Buel. (See Chapter XVII). Jonathan Griswold moved from his first settlement to the farm next on the north, now known as the Griswold farm. He had a son named Jona- than, who was killed by the discharge of a musket, heavily loaded with a blank cartridge, near his head on a " training day" in June, 1816. Jonathan, sr., died earlier than his brother David. The latter lived to December 10, 1842, being ninety-three years old at his death. All of his children, except his son David, removed from the town many years ago. The son married Emily Paul, daughter of Stephen Paul and sister of Dr. Eliakim Paul ; they had one son and four daughters.
Jonathan Frisbie, a brother of William Frisbie, settled near where Martin H. Coy now lives. He had several children, most of whom died young.
Benjamin Coy went to Tinmouth before the Revolutionary War, and after that struggle was over, settled in this town where his grandson, Martin H. Coy, now lives. He was an industrious, honorable man ; had a large family. Martin H. and Charles P. are sons of Reuben, son of Martin; Charles P. has moved to the West.
Francis Perkins was a faithful soldier of the Revolution ; he was from New London, Conn., and located first where John Lewis lived and afterward, about 1786, removed to where Charles Gardner lived ; he remained there until his death. His first summer there in his log house, with his wife and his little child, before he had a clearing made on which to raise anything, was one of much privation ; they lived much of the time on greens and leeks. Once or twice he carried a little potash to Manchester, with which he purchased what he could bring home on his back ; and on one occasion he worked for Azor Perry a day, for which he was given half a bushel of grain ; this he carried to Miner's grist-mill, had it ground and carried it home, making about nine miles travel, besides his day's work, during the day. Such were some of the priva-
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tions of the fathers of the town. He was an honorable and upright man, and died December 26, 1844, at the age of eighty-six years.
Jonathan Haynes was probably the last man who settled here prior to the making of the roll given a few pages back ; he came early in March, 1785, and his name appears on the roll of Captain Samuel Robinson's company, which was in the battle of Bennington. Mr. Haynes was severely wounded in that engagement, and at first given up as beyond recovery; but he survived, settled here and built a log house a few rods southeast of where the school- house in the south district now stands, and on the opposite side of the road. Soon afterwards he removed about half a mile to what is known as the Haynes farm, where his grandson now lives. He died in Middletown May 13, 1813, at the age of fifty-nine years. Of his large family all removed from this town except Hezekiah. The latter also had a large family, two of the sons being physicians; these were Bacchus, now in Rutland, and Sylvanus H., deceased.
The foregoing list includes the families who settled here before the spring of 1785, with a little of their locations and what they accomplished. They were people who came here fully imbued with energy, perseverance and a determin- ation to create homes in the wilderness ; how well they succeeded is known to all. Leaving for a time this record of settlements, let us see what the town authorities, as well as the men we have named, turned their attention to in early years.
The town took early steps to provide a burial-ground, the first one being on land now owned by Mrs. Green, opposite the present foundry and saw-mill of E. W. Gray ; the land was then owned by Increase Rudd, but the purchase, made on the 30th of July, 1787, was from Luther Filmore. Following is the language of the deed, in which we find the location of the first school-house :
" Beginning at the corner of the road, four rods west of the school-house in the center of the town at a stake and stones, thence running west sixteen rods, thence south ten rods to a stake and stones, thence sixteen rods to a stake and stones, thence ten rods to first mentioned bounds."
This ground was almost entirely occupied with graves in less than seventy years. General Jonas Clark saw the necessity of enlarging the grounds, and in October, 1853, conveyed to the town about an acre of land adjoining the old ground on the west ; this was a gift to the town, the only condition being that it be kept fenced.
In 1791 the first census was taken and showed the population of Middle- town to be six hundred and ninety-nine - only a little more than one hundred less than at the present time. Rapid progress had been made, not only in clearing up lands and putting up buildings, but two churches had become firmly established and prosperous; schools had been organized in about every district ; roads had been made and by the united effort of a hardy, in- telligent and industrious population, they were moving along harmoniously.
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
Another grist and saw-mill had been erected by Nathan Record, near where the road which runs to the " Barber place " crosses the race-way that now carries the water to Gray's mills, on land now owned by Mrs. Anna Clark. A blacksmith's shop, and one or two other shops had been built in the village. Mr. Filmore had begun to keep tavern, and John Burnam, who moved into this town some time during the season of 1785, at about this time (1791) com- menced building mills and dwelling-houses at the place since known as " Bur- nam Hollow." Mr Burnam removed from Shaftsbury to Middletown, and first purchased largely of real estate in the south part of the town. His pur- chases included what has been known as the " Burnam farm," now owned and occupied by Mr. S. W. Southworth ; also the Whiting Merrill farm, lying west of Mr. Southworth's, and also a large tract of land lying south of the Merrill farm. He first put up a log house in what is now called the " upper orchard " on Mr. Southworth's farm ; the road then ran in that vicinity. The next year (1786) he built a frame house, and in the year 1791 he again made large pur- chases of real estate in the west part of the town ; he began at once the erec- tion of a dwelling house, afterwards known as the "Sam Willard house," which is still standing and said to be the oldest house in the town. His son, Jacob, occupied these premises, while the father continued his extensive oper- ations, building mills, a forge, foundry, an oil-mill, carding-machine, a distill- ery and dwellings. All these manufactures were successfully inaugurated and carried on until the great freshet of 1811, which swept them all away. He rebuilt the forge and saw-mill, but did not enter largely into business again. Mr. Burnam was a lawyer and a man of uncommon ability ; was born in Old Ipswich, Mass., in 1742 and came to Bennington in 1761, being one of the first settlers in this State; he represented the town in the Legislature six years, and died in Middletown August 1, 1829, leaving four sons and two daughters, none of whom are now living ; indeed, none of his many descendants now live in this vicinity.
The census of the town in 1800 shows the population to have been one thousand and sixty-six-a gain of three hundred and sixty-seven in nine years. This indicates very rapid settlement. The village had sprung into existence with about as many inhabitants as it now has, and probably more business. Every part of the town was settled and the farms were cleared or partly cleared and under successful cultivation.
The " Woods Scrape."-This affair (it having been generally termed "the Woods scrape"), occurred in Middletown about the year 1800, and deserves brief mention here ; our account being drawn from the very careful investiga- tions made by Judge Barnes Frisbie. The Wood families were early settlers of the town and came from Bennington ; some of them were in this town as early as 1782 and were originally from Norwich, Conn. In 1800 they were more numerous here than the people of any other name in the town ; there
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being at that time Nathaniel, Nathaniel, jr., Ephraim, Jacob, Ebenezer, Eben- ezer, jr., John and John, jr., Philemon, Lewis, David and Moseley Wood. The Elder Nathaniel was the father of Nathaniel, jr., and of Jacob and Ephraim. Nathaniel was a preacher and after the organization of the Congregational Church, offered his services in their pulpit ; but Deacon Jonathan Brewster, having known him in Connecticut as a man who delighted in controversy and neighborhood difficulty, opposed Wood's proposition. He was, however, a member of the church until 1789, when that body passed the following :-
" That Joseph Spaulding, Lewis Wood and Increase Rudd be a committee to confer with Mr. Nathaniel Wood, and tell him his fault, viz .: of saying one thing and doing contrary, and persisting in contention, and saying in conven- tion that he wished for a council ; and when the church, by their committee, proposed to have a council to settle the whole matter, he utterly refused."
In October of that year the church excommunicated him. It appears that this trouble arose mainly from Wood's charges against other members and the church, in which he claimed that injustice had been done him. He was a very ambitious man, had a strong will, good mental power and could not endure defeat.
Being thus excluded from the church he began holding meetings of his own, chiefly in the dwellings of his sons. At this time, however it might have been previously, his doctrines included a belief in supernatural agencies and special judgments of God upon the people. By the year 1800, such was his tenacity of purpose and his influence upon others that he had drawn into his circle nearly as many as constituted either of the other congregations. These he assumed to regard as modern Israelites, or Jews, who were under the special guardianship of the Almighty, while the " Gentiles " (that is, all who were opposed to him) would suffer for their action. Such was the situation of Wood and his followers, when the new phase of the affair was developed through the use of a witch hazel rod for the discovery of buried treasure and money-dig- ging. The Woods did not begin this feature of the business, but they were in condition to readily assume it.
A man calling himself Winchell when he first arrived in the place began using the hazel rod. He was undoubtedly a great and an expert rascal, and probably came some time in the year 1799. It developed that he was a fugi- tive from justice from Orange county, Vt., where he had been engaged in counterfeiting. He went to the house of Mr. Cowdry, near the line between Wells and Middletown, and staid there for some time, becoming intimate with that family. Mr. Cowdry was the father of Oliver Cowdry, who later became a noted Mormon and claimed to have written the book of Mormon. It is probable that while Winchell was at Cowdry's he began his impositions in the way of money-digging. Later in the year 1799 he repaired to Ezekiel Perry's, in the extreme south part of the town, and remained there all winter, keeping
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secreted from public gaze and practicing his deceptions whenever possible with- out attracting too much attention to himself. In the spring of 1800 he became a little bolder and gathered quite a number in that immediate neighborhood, whom he confidently assured there was money buried in that region and that he could find it with the rod. He told them if they would keep the secret and aid in digging for it, they should share in the results. When everything was ready, Winchell, followed by his dupes, took his rod, went to the hill east of Perry's house and there, just on the Tinmouth side of the line, pretended that the rod had located the treasure. His followers immediately began digging, which was continued two or three days, when the party began to show signs of giving out. Winchell made other investigations with his rod, and informed them that the money was in an iron chest under a great stone, and that they would soon come to it. Again they went to work and soon struck a stone. Again Win- chell had recourse to his rod, and as a result told the men they must wait till sundown before raising the stone; that not a word must be uttered nor their faith waver in the least, or he could not answer for the consequences. After much prying and lifting at a stone so heavy as to defy their efforts, one of the men stepped on another's foot, and the latter cried out, "Get off my toes !" Winchell then exclaimed, " The money is gone ! Flee for your lives !" Every man dropped his tools and ran in terror from the spot. Winchell had got what little money the dupes had, while the digging was going on, which was, doubtless, his prime object.
Soon after this affair Winchell made the acquaintance of the Woods, whom he found ready and anxious to join in his ignoble work. They began the use of the rod, the elder Wood using it mostly as a means of revelation, from which he deduced and delivered numerous prophecies ; while Jacob, one of his sons, became the " expert " in the use of the rod for treasure-finding. The Woods did not do much of the actual labor of digging, leaving the hard work for their followers, while Winchell still remained concealed. The greatest part of the digging was done on the Barber farm and on the Zenas Frisbie farm, then owned by Ephraim Wood ; but they dug a good deal in many other places, and many ludicrous incidents are related in connection with this pastime, for which we have not the space. The rods-men, as they were called, became absolutely infatuated and gave up most of their time to the folly, and several families outside of this town indulged in money-digging.
Among the numerous instances of imposition practiced and credulity de- veloped, which we cannot stop to relate, was a pretended revelation to the Woods that they must build a temple. The timber was prepared and the frame raised as far as the rafters, when another revelation put an end to the project. Towards the end of the year 1800 it began to be apparent that a crisis was approaching. " Priest Wood," as the old man was called, was becoming more vehement and frenzied on his favorite theme of God's judgments on the misguided
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people who did not adopt his creed, and it was not difficult to perceive that some sort of a collapse or crisis was near. Finally, as anticipated, a revelation came that there was to be an earthquake, just prior to which " the destroyer " would pass through the land and slay a portion of the unbelievers and the earthquake would complete the destruction of the remainder, with their pos- sessions. The day predicted for this great event was January 14, 1801. Con- cerning this climax of the whole miserable business we now quote from Judge Frisbie's history of the town as follows : -
When the day arrived for the earthquake, the Woods and their friends all collected at the house of Nathaniel Wood, jr., who lived on what has been known as the Micah Vail farm, which is now owned and occupied by Crockee Clift, and as they left their own houses, prepared them for the earthquake by putting the crockery on the floors, and wrote on each of their door-posts : " Jesus our passover was sacrificed for us." The rods-men, or those who handled the rods, among whom Captain Wood was chief, were at Nathaniel jr.'s, house early in the day. One of their duties on this occasion was to de- termine who were and who were not to be saved from the approaching destruc- tion or " plague," as they called it, and to admit such into the house, and those only who were to be spared. The occasion was with them the Passover, and how they kept it will pretty fully appear from the letter given hereafter.
Up to the evening of this day the people of the town had looked uncon- cerned upon this folly of the Woods, but now they became suddenly aroused, and many were very much alarmed. They feared some evil might befall some of the inhabitants during the night. They (the Gentiles) had no belief in the Woods' predictions, but feared that they or some of their followers would them- selves turn " destroying angels " and kill some of the inhabitants, or get up an artificial earthquake by the use of powder, which would result in injury to per- sons or property. Captain Joel Miner was commander-in-chief of the militia in town, and hastily collected his company. Captain Miner was a very ener- getic, as well as a very earnest man. General Jonas Clark was at the time one of his subordinate officers, and was teaching a singing school which had assem- bled at the house of Mr. Filmore. Captain Miner came in much excited, rep- rimanded him for his indifference in the matter, and ordered him to duty. He left his singing school at once, and took his place in the militia. The general was not in the habit of neglecting his duty, but he was a philosopher, and it is probable that he " didn't think there would be much of a shower." Captain Miner stationed his company as sentinels and patrols in different parts of the town, with directions to allow no person to pass them unless a satisfactory ac- count of themselves could be given, and especially to have an eye out for the " destroying angels." The town had a quantity of powder, balls and flints, as the law then required; these were kept in the Congregational meeting-house in a sort of cupboard under the pulpit. From this the militia were supplied
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
with the requisite ammunition, and Jonathan Morgan was left here to guard the military stores. There was no sleep that night among the inhabitants ; fear, consternation, great excitement and martial law prevailed throughout the night - but the morning came without any earthquake, or any injury done to any of the inhabitants or their property, except Jacob Wood's crockery was broken up in his house, where he left it on the floor. A journeyman hatter in the em- ploy of Dyer Leffingwell said he thought " the earthquake hadn't ought to go for nothing," and went into the house (it was where Lucius Copeland, esq., now lives) in Captain Wood's absence to attend the Passover, and broke up and destroyed his crockery. That was the extent of the mischief so far as the destruction of property was concerned, and no individual received any bodily harm. The militia were dismissed in the morning and went to their homes.
We now introduce the letter to which reference has been made. It is from Rev. Laban Clark, D. D., a man who was over ninety years old when he wrote. Mr. Clark was with the Woods on the eventful night.
" In the year ISO1 I traveled in the north part of Vermont, and in Lower Canada. I met at that time a man who told wonderful stories of finding St. John's rod, and the strange things it accomplished. November 1, 1801, I went to Brandon circuit, which then included all of Rutland county. I heard, on arriving there, much talk of the rod-men. People were saying that certain per- sons were directed by rods to certain plants and roots that they used to cure diseases, in many cases which they thought almost miraculous. In December I went to Poultney for my first appointment there; and was informed that two young women had been following the rods in a severe cold and dark night over places where men could scarcely go by daylight. I went thence to Mid- dletown, where I preached in the house of a Mr. Done, the only Methodist family in the place. After the close of the services the people began to inquire of Mr. Done about the " girls' tramp; " and I learned that his daughter was one of the young women above mentioned. When I could see Mr. Done alone I conversed with him upon the subject. He told me that many people in America were, unknown to themselves, Jews, and these divining rods would designate who they were. I asked him to let me see one of the rods. After some hesitation he did so. I asked him to learn by it whether I were a Jew. The rod immediately pointed towards me. I said then, ' If that is true, please tell me to what tribe I belong ?' He tried several different tribes, but there was no motion of the rod. I then said, 'I think I belong to the tribe of Joseph.' At once the rod pointed towards me; thus proving to my satisfaction that it was moved by the imagination of the person who held it. I felt anxious for the result of all this, but said little.
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