USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 78
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" At my next appointment in Poultney Brother Done met me there. He looked so very dejected I feared he had come for me to attend some funeral service for a friend. I asked for his family, and for the cause of his sorrow.
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
' O,' said he, ' the judgments of God are abroad.' He then said they had de- termined to spend the next day as a day of fasting and prayer, and he desired me to go and be with them. Accordingly, accompanied by Mr. Yates and Esquire Wells, I went. When we arrived old Priest Wood was lecturing on the words, "Thy judgments are made manifest," Rev. xv, 4. When he closed I announced my appointment to preach at Mr. Done's that evening. I was asked to change the place to the one we were now in, as seats were there all ready. I consented. I went to Mr. D.'s to tea and found a great deal of secret manœuvering going on. To give them all freedom I went to the barn for a time. On my return, I found posted on the door, 'Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.' I said nothing but went to my meeting. After preach- ing, several persons commenced holding up rods, and running from one end of the room to the other. I prepared to leave, when Bro. D. came to me much agitated, and expressed sorrow that I could not stay at his house that night. ' Where will I go?' I said. He replied, 'O, you will fare as well as the rest of us.' So I sat down. We were soon ordered to go to the house fixed up for the occasion - a school room where they had made a large fire. They all came in much agitated, many weeping. I found they were expecting there was to be an earthquake. I conversed with several respecting those that had the rods. They professed to have been converted, but all the evidence I could gain of the fact was that the rods would work in their hands. We sat there till morning light. As morning dawned they went out and looking upward, kept working the rods. At last the old minister said : 'O, I told them I thought it would not be until to-morrow night.' Soon after light I went to Brother Done's and asked to take a nap. On passing through the parlor I found all the crock- ery setting in the middle of the floor. After sleeping, I was taking my break- fast, when two men came in and said they had found out the whole mistake. They had thought because the rods had directed them to have all their goods packed up, that there was to be an earthquake. But this was the 14th day of the first month, (it was the 14th of Jan.), and on the 14th day of the first month the children of Israel were directed to keep the Passover with shoes and hats on. So they were directed now to keep that day until they were prepared to go into the New Jerusalem. I made no remark, but concluded they had now something to work on to deceive the people.
" After eight weeks I had another appointment to preach in the same place. When I inquired of Brother Done respecting the rods, he seemed perfectly honest and sincere, but all in earnest and perfectly duped. He told me the rods were able invisibly to remove gold and silver. He said they had found that there was a vast quanity of it in the earth, and the rods could collect it to one place. They were now doing the work and expected to get enough to pave the streets of the New Jerusalem. I asked him if the gold came in its native state or in currency. He said in both. I then asked him if they had
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
any person who understood refining gold. He said they had one who under- stood it perfectly well. 'Where is he,' I said. 'He keeps himself secreted in the woods,' he replied. I asked his name, and he told me it was Wingate. I remembered at once ; it was the name of a man who was detected about two years before in Bradford, Vt., in inilling counterfeit dollars. My father having been selectman of the town at the time, I had known the case well. After some reflection, I said to Brother Done, 'I fear there is counterfeiting going on, and if you are not careful I fear you will be drawn into it and your reputation and your family ruined.' Ile was alarmed. I said, ' I think I can tell you how to escape. If my fears are correct, they will call on you for sums of money, and will want it in specie.' He replied they had already done so. I advised him then to put away his rod and quit them, or he was a ruined man. Four weeks after that, when I returned, he told me he had not seen his rod since I left. I asked him to burn it. He replied his wife knew where it was, and left the room. She brought it and I burned it.
" I ascertained afterwards that the eldest son of Priest Wood, called Captain Wood, was the principal religious mover in sight while Wingate kept concealed. Wood was Wingate's outside agent, and got up the religious excitement to aid the scheme."
The foregoing was penned by a friend for Mr. Clark, as will appear from the following, which accompanied the same in Mr. Clark's own hand.
The conclusion of this whole affair is that Wingate, mentioned by Mr. Clark, and Winchell, as he called himself, were one and the same; and that he was a counterfeiter hiding from justice, and that this affair was inaugurated for the purpose of covering some further scheme of counterfeiting. Whether the Woods were privy to this feature of the business, if it existed, seems to be in uncer- tainty. It is more probable, perhaps, that their part in the affair was more in- timately associated with the religious fanaticism and projects of the elder Wood; and that when Winchell came on the scene with his "rod," they seized upon it for their own purposes. Previous to the beginning of this imposition with the rod, the testimony is to the effect that the Woods were respectable members of the community, and some of them were very able meu ; Jacob Wood was elected one of the selectmen at the first meeting after the town was organized ; Ephraim was elected constable at the first annual meeting and several times afterward; Nathaniel, jr., was probably the superior of all the Woods in ability and culture ; he represented the town in the Legislature several successive years; was for a long period the active justice of the peace here; was town clerk several years and held other offices. He was father of Reuben Wood, who studied law with Jonas Clark, went to Cleveland, Ohio, about 1817, ob- tained a large practice and was made a judge of the Supreme Court of that State, and later governor. After the collapse of the "earthquake " the Wood families soon removed from Middletown to Ellisburg, N. Y., and it is said be- came excellent citizens.
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
As to Mr. Clark's opinion that this Wood movement gave rise to the Mor- mon doctrines of Joe Smith, there seems to be a good foundation for it. The two " religions" were much the same at the start; the father of Joe Smith lived in Poultney at the time of the Wood affair and had a hand in it; Winch- ell went from here to Palmyra, N. Y., where Joe Smith's Mormon religion ob- tained its first substantial footing ; it has been said that Oliver Cowdry's father was in the "Wood scrape," and he afterwards went to Palmyra and there Winchell and himself, and later their sons, engaged in searching for money with the hazel rod. We cannot devote more space to detailing the evidences that the seeds of Mormonism, at least, were planted in Middletown ; but the fore- going are the stronger points of the proof and are thought to be quite convinc- ing. We have not sufficient ill-will towards Middletown to care to make the proof any stronger.
In the year 1801 there was again placed on the records a " roll of the free- men of Middletown." As a list for reference it is valuable : Ephraim Wood, John Sunderlin, Daniel Haskins, Samuel Sunderlin, Jacob Wood, Jonathan Brewster, Benjamin Haskins, Jonathan Haynes, Increase Rudd, Edmund Big- elow, esq., Thomas Morgan, Jonathan Frisbie, Benjamin Coy, Timothy Smith, Francis Perkins, Samuel Stoddard, Benjamin Butler, Nathan Record, Jonathan Mehurin, Richard Haskins, Joseph Rockwell, Jesse Hubbard, Gideon Miner, William Frisbie, Azor Perry, Thomas French, Gideon Buel, Jonathan Griswold, Levi Skinner, Wait Rathbon, Gamaliel Waldo, James McClure, Phineas Clough, Nathan Walton, Silas Mallary, Nathan Colegrove, James Smith, Ashur Blunt, Luther Filmore, Nathan Ford, Ephraim Carr, Rufus Clark, Baruk Rudd, Na- thaniel Wood, Nathaniel Wood, jr., Nehemiah Hazen, Enos Clark, Theophilus Clark, Solomon Rockwell, Orson Brewster, Lewis Miner, Edward Corbin, Thomas Davison, Bela Caswell, Stephen Richardson, Joel Frisbie, Joel Miner, Jacob Burnam, Roswell Clark, David Tracy, Ansel Shepardson, Reuben Loomis, Joseph Chub, Joseph Bateman, John Burnam, esq., William Downey, Jonathan Davison, Samuel Tracy, Jonas Clark, Nathan Colgrove, jr., Moses Leach, Dyar Matson, Gideon Miner, jr., Joseph Spaulding, jr., Caleb White, Russel Barber, Amasa Mehurin, Abel Hubbard, Ezra Clark, Augustus Fris- bie, Johnson Rudd, Ebenezer Wood, Ebenezer Bateman, Fitch Loomis, John Burnam, 3d, Mosley Wood, Alexander Murray, Jacob Harrington, Calvin Col- grove, Ambrose Record, Samuel Northrop, Obadiah Williams, David Griswold.
The foregoing list does not contain the names of all the males over twenty- one years of age in the town in 1801. Jospeh Spaulding, Asa Gardner, Jonas Clark, jr., Zenas Frisbie, Philemon Frisbie, Elisha Clark, George and Eli Oat- man, and a few others were then inhabitants of the town, and over twenty-one years of age. There may have been other names omitted.
Some of the persons named on this roll were children of the first settlers and came in with their parents after the first roll was recorded. Among such
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
was Joel Frisbie, brother of William and Jonathan, who came in 1786. He bought out Francis Perkins on the Lewis place and died there about 1811. He was an estimable citizen and had a family of six children. Barker Frisbie, youngest son of Joel, studied law with General Jonas Clark; was admitted to practice in 1814, and continued his profession here until he died, February, 1821 ; he left no family.
Rufus Butts was a useful member of the community. He was born in Wells and came to Middletown before he reached his majority. He possessed great natural mechanical genius, and made many early farm implements. He removed to Cambridge, Vt., and died there.
Bela Caswell came to Middletown from Mansfield, Mass., in 1786, when he was nearly fifty years old. He then had four sons and six daughters, three of whom had preceded him to this town. He settled where Deacon Sears now lives and there died November 22, 1826, at the age of eighty-nine. His fam- ily were remarkable for their longevity. Of the numerous descendants of the family, Mrs. Calvin Leonard is the only one living in this town.
Jesse Caswell was a prominent citizen and exerted a marked influence in the Congregational Church for many years. He had three sons and two daugh- ters. Menira, the oldest son, died in Castleton ; Jesse, the second, became a minister, entered into missionary labor and died in Siam in 1848. Enoch, the youngest son, was also a minister and died at Bennington in 1863. One of the daughters married Russel Barber, who came here soon after the town was organized, and was one of the useful men of the community. He died in 1830, at the age of sixty-two, leaving a large family.
Moses Leach, whose name appears on the last quoted roll, was one of the pioneers, and settled on the farm now occupied by Edwin R. Buxton. He died many years ago.
Reuben Loomis came in early and settled on the first farm north of the vil- lage, now occupied by Mr. Cairnes. He died September 24, 1808. His son, Fitch Loomis, lived on the homestead until his death in January, 1847, at the age of seventy-four. The latter left five children, most or all of whom are dead.
Ezekiel Perry, a brother of Azor Perry, before alluded to, came here before 1790, from Bennington county, having taken part in the battle of Bennington. His family comprised eleven children, none of whom are now living here.
George Oatman's name does not appear on the roll of 1785, but he was an early settler here, having come from Arlington in 1785, doubtless soon after the roll was made. He located on what has been known as the " Oatman farm," now owned and occupied by Amos Buxton. He was a strong man and had fought in the Revolutionary War. His three sons were Eli, Eliakim and Lyman, all of whom are dead. He died about 1836. Two of the children of Eli live in Poultney and one in Milwaukee; the two in Poultney being Mrs.
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
Deane and Mrs. Bannister. Eli Oatman was a prominent and useful citizen ; held the office of selectman many successive years, and other town offices ; was one of the founders of the Methodist Church. He died May 30, 1851, at the age of seventy-four. His children were Ira, Orlin, Joel, Calista, Emily, Lu- cien, Cyril, Ellen, Mary, Jane and Demis. Of these we need only note Joel, who studied medicine with Dr. Eliakim Paul, graduated at Castleton in 1832 and became a prominent physician of New York city. The other children are either all deceased or removed to other parts of the country.
Dyer Leffingwell was the first hatter in the town, his shop standing on the site of the dwelling next east of that now occupied by Edway Mehurin. He died after a useful life in 1821. His large family moved away from the town, except Harvey, who is still living here and is, perhaps, the oldest man in the town.
The Clark families have, perhaps, had more to do with making the history of this town than those of any other name. Briefly it may be stated that the Middletown Clarks are descended from Theopholus, one of the two sons of Thomas, who came to Massachusetts colony some time previous to the year 1700. Theopholus had six sons - Nathaniel, Benjamin, Adam, Theopholus, Jonas and Stephen. Nathaniel had seven sons and three daughters ; five of the sons removed to Middletown from Canterbury, Vt., soon after this town was organized. They were Asa, Elisha, Rufus, Roswell and Ezra Clark Eli- sha and Rufus came as early as 1785 or 1786; the others later. They all re- mained for many years among the substantial business men of the town and aided in laying the foundation of society here upon correct, moral and religious principles. They were all members of the Congregational Church. Ezra was a physician and practiced here until 1819, when he removed to Ohio. Elisha was deacon of the church some twenty years and was one of the first victims of the epidemic which prevailed here in 1813, dying at the age of fifty-seven. Asa died in Tinmouth about 1823. Roswell removed to Castleton about 1818 and died there in 1825, aged sixty-three. Rufus died in East Poultney about 1837 and Dr. Ezra Clark died in Ohio about 1828. There are no representa- tives of this branch of the family in this State at the present time, as far as known to us.
Jonas Clark, one of the six sons of Theopholus Clark, came to Middletown in 1790; his sons Enos and Theopholus (twins) had preceded him about two years. Jonas had three sons - the two above named and Jonas Clark, jr., long known as "General " Clark. The senior Jonas was a peaceful, quiet citizen, a member of the Baptist Church, and died September 23, 1813, aged seventy years. The three sons were all men of unusually marked character. Theoph- olus died comparatively young, leaving seven children, among whom were Si- mon and Milton Clark, who removed many years ago to other localities. Enos was a man of vigorous intellect and followed his trade of a mason ; he died in
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
Middletown at the age of fifty-one, leaving a family of four sons, Barton, Cul- ver, Ashley and Orson, and two daughters. Of the sons Orson became the most conspicuous in public life. He studied law with his uncle, Jonas Clark, and was admitted to the Rutland bar in 1828. He practiced in Middletown until his death, September 20, 1848. He represented his town in 1836-37, and was town clerk from 1836 to 1842 inclusive ; was one of the senators from the county in 1840-41. His sons are Albert, now in Cincinnati, and Warren, living in Whitehall, N. Y.
General Jonas Clark, the third son of Jonas, sr., furnished a striking exam- ple of untiring industry and indomitable perseverance. His school education consisted in merely learning to read ; his father was poor and his son learned the mason's trade, but occupied his evenings and leisure in persistent study, until he had mastered the law and was admitted to the bar soon after he was thirty years old. He soon acquired a large practice ; held the office of State's attorney for Rutland county for sixteen years; was assessor and collector of government taxes in 1819; a justice of the peace forty years and represented his town eighteen years ; was Democratic candidate for governor in 1849, and several times the candidate of his party for Congress in this district; was a member of three constitutional conventions, and held high rank as a lawyer. General Clark died in Middletown February 21, 1854, aged seventy-nine years. He had three sons, Merritt, Horace and Charles; the latter died when but a few years old. Hon. Merritt Clark graduated at Middlebury College in 1823 and studied law with his father two years ; his health failing, he engaged in mer- cantile business with his brother Horace, opening a store in Middletown in 1825 ; this he continued until 1841, when he was elected cashier of the bank of Poultney, to which town he removed. They first began business in Middle- town in the building now occupied as a store and forming part of the Valley Hotel structure; in 1832 they built the brick store now occupied by Dyer Leffingwell. Merritt Clark represented Middletown in the Legislature three years ; was a senator for Rutland county in 1863-64, and represented Poult- ney in 1865-66. In 1850 he was Democratic candidate for Congress in this district. He has now retired from active business. His two sons are Henry and Edward, the former a well known citizen of Rutland and the latter of Poultney.
Horace Clark spent his life in Middletown and died February 23, 1852, aged forty-seven ; he was connected with the building of the Rutland and Wash- ington Railroad from Eagle Bridge to Rutland, and on the organization of the company was elected its superintendent. To this enterprise he gave an enor- mous amount of mental and physical labor, and lived only to see it completed. His son Charles is teller in the Baxter Bank, Rutland, and Jonas is connected with the Rutland Marble Company.
Perhaps the most prosperous period in the existence of Middletown was
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
between the years 1800 and 1811. The population had increased from one thousand sixty-six, the number at the census of 1800, to one thousand two hundred and seven, the number when the census of 1810 was taken. This was the largest population the town ever had, and unquestionably it had at that time a larger population than any other town in the county in proportion to its amount of territory, and it also at that time had the largest business interests in proportion to its size of any other town in the county.
Poultney River rises in Tinmouth and runs a westerly course through the center of the town from east to west, furnishing excellent mill privileges. The Miners were located on this stream, in the east part of the town, and John Burnam on the west part; and in the village there were on this stream, and the small stream running down from the hills at the north part of the town, and running into the river at the village, two tanneries, clothiers' works and carding- machine, distillery and other machinery, and all in active operation - and all were conducted by enterprising and competent business men. Burnam, as we have before seen, had a very extensive business for those times, and so had the Miners. There were in the town at the time (1810) four grist-mills, three saw- mills, two or three forges, two distilleries, two or three clothiers' establishments, besides other mills before named, and all were apparently doing business to their utmost capacity. In the village were several mechanics' shops, two tav- erns, two stores, one kept by a Scotchman by the name of William Semple ; the other by James Ives; all was alive with the hum of business. The town had become a central place for this part of Rutland county. Many of the people from the adjoining towns of Poultney, Ira, Tinmouth and Wells, came here for their mechanical work, to the mills, and for other business purposes. But this then active, thriving little place received a check by the freshet which occurred in July, 1811, from which it never fully recovered. Its numerous mills, factories and machinery, with the exception of what have since been known as Gray's mills, were all swept away. In that remarkable freshet the streams rose so rapidly that little could be saved. Burnam's mills in the west part of the town, as before mentioned, consisting of a grist and saw-mill (he had at this time two grist-mills), an oil-mill, foundry, forge, clothier's works and carding-machine, distillery, some mechanics' shops and other buildings attached were all carried away, with several hundred bushels of grain, a quantity of lum- ber, and much other property. The stream rose so suddenly that but little, was saved. Miner's mills, in the east part of the town had just been under- going thorough repairs under the superintendence of Henry Gray, who lost his tools and clothing. Orson Brewster had a tannery, and his brother Jonathan a clothier's establishment, located near where A. W. Gray & Sons' horse-power manufactory now stands, which shared the same fate. A few rods above the bridge, in the east part of the village, was a distillery owned by James Ives, and above that a tannery. The hides in this tannery were in great part saved,
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TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
and the distillery building was not carried away, but the hogs in the yard, to the number of one hundred or more, went down the stream, and were scattered along from Middletown to Poultney, wherever they happened to be driven ashore ; some came out alive, but most of them were drowned. Two dwelling-houses - one called the Corbin house, the other the Eldridge house - in the east part of the village, and on opposite sides of the stream running down from the north part of the town, were also carried away ; and besides this destruction of mills, machinery, dwelling-houses and other property, great in- jury was done to the lands on those streams.
The great event of the day was the rescue of fourteen persons from the "Corbin house " just before it was swept away ; this house stood within a few rods of the road leading east from the village, on the site of the new house on the east side of the stream at that point. In it were the family of Mr. Corbin, including his mother, seventy years old, and Israel, son of Russel Barber, and several children who had gone there to escape from the rain. The Eldridge house, standing on the east side of the stream on the opposite side of the road from where the school-house stands, was swept away first, when Mr. Corbin called the attention of the people in the village to the danger his house was in. When they arrived at the scene the dwelling was surrounded by water and the current on the west side, between the house and the village was seventy feet wide and so rapid that it was impossible to ford it. The inmates of the house, who might at any moment have been swept to their death, were finally saved and chiefly through the activity and heroism of Joseph Fox. The liberty pole was brought with the bell-rope from the Baptist Church ; the pole was thrown across the torrent, the end of it lying on some stones that had been washed against the house, considerable of its length being submerged ; the rope was tied around Mr. Fox's body and he made the perilous crossing on the pole. The end of it was then raised higher and placed against the house ; the rope also fastened to the house at a proper height to serve as a hand-rail, the shore end being lashed to a support at a corresponding height. Thus a bridge was formed over which the fourteen persons crossed in safety. 1 Many other thrill- ing incidents occurred on that day which we cannot detail further. A man named Orrin Cleaveland was drowned. The disastrous effects of the flood were greater in this town than in most others, on account of the number of its in- dustries and the character of the beds of the streams ; and the town never fully recovered from the losses. Many were thrown out of employment and forced to seek it elsewhere. At the census of 1820 the population had fallen to one thousand and thirty-nine, a loss of one hundred and sixty-eight. The place, however, remained one of considerable business activity for many years after this event.
1 It appears that some question afterward arose as to who was most entitled to the credit of saving these persons, as related ; but after thorough investigation on the part of Judge Frisbie and others, it is the conclusion that while many aided to the best of their ability in the work, to Mr. Fox belongs the chief credit for crossing and arranging the pole and the rope.
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