USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 82
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The mills at this point were first built more than sixty years ago, and were first burned about forty years ago ; they were at once rebuilt by Luther and Calvin Tarbell, father and uncle of Marshall ; the latter took possession about seventeen years ago and has since conducted a large manufacturing business ; previous to the time last mentioned he was variously interested with others. The last fire occurred January 5, 1878, and caused a loss of about eight thou- sand dollars. The business now comprises the manufacture of lumber, rakes and chair stock. The capacity of the mill is about 600,000 feet of lumber per year ; the rake factory turns out from 3,000 dozen to 4,000 dozen a year, and the manufacture of chair stock consumes 300,000 to 500,000 feet of lumber an- nually.
The Tarbellville cheese factory was established in 1874, by A. W. Dicker- man, S. H. Livingston and Marshall Tarbell; the latter became its owner very soon after its commencement. It uses the milk of 400 cows and manufactures from 80,000 to 100,000 pounds of cheese annually.
Mount Holly is a hamlet near the central part of the town and on the rail- road. The first post-office in the town was established here, in which Darius Green was postmaster in 1825. George Mead had the office several years and in 1871 David Horton took it, continuing until October, 1885, when M. J. Hol- den was appointed.
There was formerly a store kept on the corner opposite Mr. Horton's place of business, which was built by Jonah Ives about 1846. He, with his son-in- law, Mr. Miller, conducted it for a number of years. David Horton has kept a store here since 1871. This point has telephone connection with perhaps more places than any other town in the county, embracing Rutland, Cuttings- ville, Ludlow, Proctor, Cavendish, Chester, Bartonville, Rockingham, Bellows Falls, Keene, N. H., Plainfield, N. H., Windsor, White River Junction and Claremont ; also, Troy, Whitehall, Glens Falls, Fairhaven, Castleton, Centre Rutland, Mechanicsville, Tarbellville, Allard's Mills, East Wallingford, Horton's Mill, Weston, Londonderry, Woodstock, Springfield, Wethersfield and other points.
691
TOWN OF MOUNT HOLLY.
Bowlville is a settlement about two miles west of Mount Holly Station and is also on the railroad; it takes its name from being the location of a factory where wooden bowls, etc., were made. A cheese factory was established here in the spring of 1884, which is owned by George Sherman and operated by Charles F. Guild.
Hortonville is a settlement in the north part of the town, about one and a half miles from Mount Holly railroad station. We have spoken of Aaron Hor- ton being an early settler in the town. He was the father of Andrew Horton and the grandfather of David Horton. David Horton built a mill here about 1848, and some twenty years ago it passed to the possession of his brother, Warren, having been in the mean time owned by Nathaniel Horton, and later by Orville Spencer. It was run by water at first, but steam is now used, and from 300,000 to 400,000 feet of lumber manufactured annually.
Healdville is a small settlement, post-office and railroad station in the east part of the town. There was formerly a steam mill here which was owned by W. B. & J. P. Hoskison, which did a large business ; it was burned in 1872 and not rebuilt. J. P. Hoskison is postmaster.
Besides the manufactories mentioned it should be stated that the first grist- mill in the town was built by Jethro Jackson about the year 1802, at the site of Bowlville. A few years later another was built at Mechanicsville by Abra- ham Jackson, and still later another was built by Captain Joseph Green near Healdville, in the east part of the town. None of these is now in existence. There was formerly a carding-machine in operation in the north part of the town and one at Mechanicsville, both of which were long ago abandoned.
In addition to the present interests there are Daniel C. Allard's mills in the west part of the town about two miles from Mechanicsville. They were erected, or built over, on the site of Greenwood & Parmenter's old mill, which was orig- inaily built by Edward Chilson, of East Wallingford, more than thirty years ago. Mr. Allard rebuilt the mills in 1876, and they embrace the saw-mill and a chair stock manufactory.
Parmenter & Johnson's mills (Frederick Parmenter and Gilbert E. Johnson), are located about half a mile southwest of Mechanicsville. The mill was built by A. W. Dickerman and Windsor Newton. A quantity of chair stock and about 400,000 feet of lumber are made annually.
692
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXXII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MOUNT TABOR.
T HE town of Mount Tabor is situated in the southeast corner of Rutland county, and is bounded on the north by Wallingford and Mount Holly ; on the east by Weston (Windsor county) ; on the south by Peru and Dorset (Bennington county), and on the west by Danby. It was chartered August 28, 1761, by Benning Wentworth, of New Hampshire, under the name of "Har- wick," to Jonathan Willard and sixty others ; it contained 23,040 acres, and the usual reservations were made for the school, ministerial and governor's lots. The town lies principally on the Green Mountains and is generally of a rugged character. The west side includes the valley of Otter Creek, in which are some fertile and comparatively level lands. Otter Creek flows northward along the extreme west part of the town, and " Big Branch " flows northerly and west- erly across the town and empties into Otter Creek at about the center of the west line. Numerous other small streams exist in various parts of the town. A considerable part of the town is still covered with forest.
This town was organized on the 17th of March, 1788, with the following officers : Gideon Tabor, moderator; John Jenkins, town clerk ; John Stafford, John Jenkins and Gideon Baker, selectmen ; Jonathan Wood, treasurer ; Elihu Allen, constable and collector ; Giles Wing and John Stafford, listers ; Beloved Carpenter, Gideon Tabor, Giles Wing, Jonathan Wood, John Stafford and Gid- eon Baker, petit jurors.
At the date of organization there were seventeen freemen in the town, ac- cording to the recorded list, as follows : Elihu Allen, Gideon Tabor, Gideon Baker, Matthew Randall, jr., Giles Wing, Benjamin Cornwell, Beloved Carpen- ter, Jonathan Wood, Stutely Stafford, Edward Corban, John Stafford, Elijah Gary, Jacob Wheeler, jr., Stephen Hill, Palmer Stafford, Samuel Quitman and Daniel Sherman.
Gideon Tabor was elected representative of the town in 1788, according to a certificate which is extant, signed by John Jenkins as town clerk. A second town meeting was held on the 28th of May, 1788, at which it was voted that an estimation be made of the property at once; also a tax of five pounds to be made out and collected in grain, to defray the expenses of laying out roads, purchasing books and paying other necessary expenses.
The name of the town was changed from " Harwick " to Mount Tabor in 1 803, the change being rendered desirable on account of there being a town named Hardwick already in the State, which led to confusion in delivering mail. The town did not have a post-office in its limits until within the past fifteen years ; but depended on Danby and Weston for its mail. A part of Bromley (now
693
TOWN OF MOUNT TABOR.
Peru), two hundred rods wide, east and west, and six miles long, was annexed to Mount Tabor in 1805, and remained thus for twenty years, when it was taken off and annexed to Dorset. On that strip of land lived about fourteen families. About 1814 or 1815 a road was laid out through Mount Tabor from Danby borough to Weston, and about this date several families were located in the east part of the town ; the first of these was Samuel Foster.
The first proprietors' meeting was warned by William Fox, of Wallingford, and held in August, 1805, with William Fox as .moderator, and Gideon Tabor proprietors' clerk. At this meeting it was voted to allot the town and that Jonathan Parker, David Steel and Gideon Tabor should be a committee to su- perintend the allotment. It was also voted to give to David Steel a strip of land five hundred rods wide on the east side of the town for sixteen original proprietors' shares that he owned. The remainder was allotted in 1807. The governor's lot was situated in the southwest corner of the town.
The town, with the exception of Steel's strip and the governor's five hun- dred acre lot, was run out into ninety-six lots - two lots to each proprietor's share, which were designated by ranges and numbers, and first and second division lots. The names of the original grantees of the town are as follows : Jonathan Willard, John Howard, William Buck, Elijah Ferris, John Renold, Thomas Hunter, Nathaniel Marshall, David Hunter, Ezekiel Napp, Enos Ful- ler, Peter Reynold, Samuel Hawley, Abraham Finch, Joseph Crouch, Gabriel Sherwood, James Palmer, Lewis Barton, Daniel Harris, Eli Parsons, Nehemiah Messenger, Sarah Lampson (widow), John Lampson, Daniel Hare, William Hare, Anthony Woolf, James Cutler, Jacob Lomis, John Wentworth, John Chamberlin, Thomas Wentworth, Thomas Martin, John Walbridge, Jonathan Willard, 3d, Samuel Canfield, Eldad Van, Wort, Hezekiah Lomis, William Fin- court, Ebenezer Strong, John Rice, Beriah Lomis, Abraham Utler, Samuel Rose, jr., Judah Aulger, Elisha Smith, David Aulger, Joseph Eames, Ebenezer Eames, Cyrus Aulger, John Aulger, Ebenezer Napp, Richard Fogeson, Rich- ard Truesdell, John Joslyn, Hendrick Minard, Christian Ray, Samuel Willard, Asa Douglas, Richard Wibard, esq., Daniel Warner, esq., James Neven, esq., Charles Foot, John Nelson.1
According to the sketch of this town furnished by Gideon S. Tabor, for the Vermont Historical Magasine, about three thousand acres of the best part of the town, including the governor's lot, in the valley of the Otter Creek, was first settled, and titles obtained by " pitches " and vendue sales for taxes. It was ascertained in 1857, by running the town line between Danby and Mount Tabor, that parties claiming under Danby had crowded into Mount Tabor, ten rods at Danby borough, the center of said line, which takes about sixty acres of land, eight dwellings, the meeting-house and the old banking-house, all treated as being in Danby, and will virtually form Mount Tabor, " and remain
1 The spelling of these names is as it appears on the records.
694
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
so by acquiescence, unless an act of Legislature or a judgment of the court sets it right."
Early Settlements .- Of the pioneers who came into this town and laid the foundations of civilization in the wilderness, a few words are merited. John Sweet came here about the year 1782, and settled on sixty acres of land at the foot of the Green Mountains, on the farm now owned by Martin Foley. He was " a staid and God-fearing man," and died about 1818. He had a large and respectable family, all of whom left the town soon after his decease.
Gideon Baker was in the town at the time of its organization ; was one of its first selectmen and once represented the town in the Legislature. He lived on the farm now owned by J. B. Griffith and occupied by I. G. Sheldon. He and his wife were prominent in the Methodist faith and many early meetings were held at his house. He died in 1824 and his wife in 1823 ; they had a large family, but none of them is living in the town.
Walter Tabor came from Tiverton, R. I., to Danby, with his family about the year 1782 or 1783. He lived there about ten years, when he removed to Mount Tabor and located on the east side of Otter Creek on the farm now owned by John B. Griffith. He became prominent in the town and held sev- eral offices ; he died in 1806, after serving his country in the Revolutionary War. His eldest son, Gideon Tabor, was born 1762, and also served four years in the War of the Revolution, in which capacity his zeal for the cause did much to inspire a patriotic spirit. He came into the town about 1784, married Han- nah Carpenter, daughter of Beloved Carpenter, one of the first settlers, and served as town clerk twenty-eight years; he also represented the town in the Legislature most of the time for thirty years, and died in February, 1824. He had a family of eight children that arrived at years of maturity. Caleb Buffum moved into the town in 1815 and settled on the farm now owned by James Ca- nary and occupied by Amos Wells (this farm was occupied by L. P. Hine, now of Danby from 1854 to 1863). He lived nearly forty years in the place and raised a large family of children. Later in his life he removed to Rutland, where he and his wife both died. He was an energetic and useful man and represented the town in the Legislature several years ; he also held all of the town offices at different periods.
Stephen Hill, whose name appears in connection with the town organiza- tion, lived until his death on the farm in the northwest part where George A. Hadwin now resides. His youngest son, Amos, also lived and died on that place.
Stephen Hill, Gideon Baker and Gideon Tabor were the only men who re- mained in the town from its organization until their death ; and there is not a living representative of those who organized the town now living in it, except of the Tabor family. James Hathaway was a sergeant in the Revolutionary army and long resided in the town ; he died in 1826. Joseph Moulton was in
695
TOWN OF MOUNT TABOR.
both the French and the Revolutionary Wars and died in 1815. In the War of 1812 Edward C. Tabor, Arden Tabor, Gideon Tabor and William Colston took part from this town, the former having been orderly sergeant.
There was a school-house built of logs at an early date on the farm of Gid- eon Tabor, which was the first, or one of the first, in the town. Mr. Tabor taught there in the winter of 1808-09; this was the last session in that house. The town is now divided into four school districts. There is no church in the town, except the one mentioned as standing on the land appropriated by Dan- by. Benjamin Shaw, a Methodist preacher, came into the town at an early date, locating in the east part, and made an effort for several years to secure the ministerial lot ; not succeeding he went away.
The history of this town has been one of peace and general quietude ; the inhabitants have given their attention to their farms and other industries, with- out attempting to distract themselves with the turmoil of the busy centers else- where. When the call for troops was issued to aid in suppressing the great Southern Rebellion, the town responded with the same patriotism that had dis- tinguished it in the early wars. The following list shows the enlistments from the town in Vermont organizations as far as known : -
Volunteers for three years credited previous to the call for 300,000 volun- teers of October 17, 1863. - Joseph Ayres, co. C, 10th regt .; Henry J. Ba- ker, Nathan F. Baker, co. F, 6th regt .; Joseph Buffum, co. H, cav .; Elias E. Cox, co. D, 7th regt .; John Fortier, co. C, 10th regt .; John J. Howard, co. E, 2d s. s .; George A. King, co. F, 6th regt .; Exes Minett, co. E, 2d s. s .; Joseph Minett, co. A, 4th regt .; Eli A. Moers, co. C, 10th regt .; George W. Sheldon, co. C, 1Ith regt .; Isaac A. Sweat, co. D, 7th regt .; Abel B. Tarbell, co. E, 5th regt .; James M. Tarbell, co. E, 2d s. s .; Martin M. Tarbell, co. B, 7th regt .; Thomas J. Tarbell, Henry H. Thompson, Prescott W. Thompson, William A. Thompson, co. E, 2d s. s .; Edwin Thomas, co. C, 6th regt .; Lyman C. Wells, Eli A. Willard, co. E, 2d s. s .; Calvin White, co. B, 9th regt.
Volunteers for three years, Daniel H. Lane, co. I, 17th regt.
Volunteers re-enlisted. - Elias E. Cox, co. D, 7th regt .; Hiram Greeley, co. E, 6th regt .; Martin M. Tarbell, co. D, 7th regt .; Eli A. Willard, co. E, 2d s. s.
Furnished under draft, paid commutation, Asa L. Warner. Entered ser- vice, William A. Thompson, co. I, 4th regt.
The following statistics show the population of the town at the various dates given, and indicate that this is one of the towns of the county which has a larger population now than at any previous time : 1791, 165; 1800, 153; 1810, 209; 1820, 222 ; 1830, 210; 1840, 226; 1850, 308; 1860, 358; 1870, 301 ; 1880, 495.
Following are the names of the present officers of Mount Tabor: T. C. Risdon, clerk ; James G. Johnston, treasurer and overseer of the poor ; D. C.
696
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
Risdon, O. O. Nichols and E. L. Staples, selectmen ; E. Foley, J. Minett and N. E. Nichols, listers ; D. C. Risdon, M. Barrett and B. J. Griffith, school trustees.
Manufacturing, etc. - The first manufacturing in this town was, undoubt- edly the sawing of lumber in the mills that were early built on the streams for the accommodation of the settlers in the building of frame houses and barns to supersede their log structures. The first saw-mill in the town was built by Elisha Lapham, a Danby man, on the site of P. T. Griffith's mill ; this was burned and the second one erected within a few years afterward.
N. E. Nichols's mills, located on " Roaring Branch," were built in 1862 and purchased by him in 1867. They manufacture, besides lumber, cheese-boxes and scoop-shovels, the manufacture of the latter having been begun the pres- ent year.
P. T. Griffith's mill, before mentioned, was erected on the site of a former mill owned by C. H. Congdon, which burned.
What was known as the "Greeley mill," which was built in 1840 on the branch, passed into possession of S. L. Griffith, but is not now running. Griffith & Mc- Intyre's mill (S. L. Griffith and Eugene McIntyre) was built on the Big Branch in 1872, and has a capacity for cutting 20,000 feet of lumber per day. It is run by steam. Mr. Griffith has another steam mill a mile above the " Greeley mill," on the site of an old mill built in 1854 by F. R. Button ; it was burned after coming into Mr. Griffith's hands and he erected the present mill; it has a capacity of 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 feet of lumber per year ; also manufac- tures lath and shingles. It will be seen from these statements that the lumber business is still one of the important industries of the town.
The tanning business has received some attention here. A tannery was built on land owned by H. W. Lincoln a little after 1840, and first operated by Henry G. Lapham and Levi Barrett. They conducted it to about the close of the war, when Hiram Lincoln took it for a year; he then took in John Mat- tocks and they continued it eight or ten years. Mr. Mattocks then had it alone a year or two. The establishment burned a number of years ago.
The Charcoal Business. - This is by far the most important industry in this town and is carried on nowhere else in the county at large, except by the great furnace companies, to anything like the extent that it reaches here. The coal is burned from both hard and soft wood, spruce, poplar, birch, etc. The busi- ness is almost entirely in the hands of S. L. Griffith and the firm of Griffith & Mclntyre, before mentioned. It was begun by Mr. Griffith in 1872, when he built six kilns. So important is the industry and so picturesque its surround- ings that it has been written up and illustrated in one of the popular magazines. At the settlement, which has been given the name of Mill Glen, and where a little gathering of houses has existed since 1854, when Frank Button carried on a saw-mill here, are located eight kilns of the thirty-five owned by the men
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TOWN OF PAWLET.
named (either by Mr. Griffith alone, or by the firm), and more than thirty families have settled down here, members of all of which are employees of Mr. Griffith. Two blacksmith-shops, a wagon-shop, a harness-shop, a shoe-shop, a store, two boarding-houses and a school, are conducted at this point and all substantially under the direction of Mr. Griffith. At what is called " the Sum- mit Job," Mr. Griffith has ten kilns; this is located two miles farther up the mountain. In the vicinity of the Greeley mill he has four kilns, and four near the railroad depot.
At another settlement called the "Black Branch Job," the firm of Griffith & McIntyre have nine kilns, a blacksmith and wagon repair shop, and some twenty tenant houses; another school is located here. These schools are kept up principally by the children of the families engaged in the charcoal business. In the shops all the wagons and sleds, etc., used in the industry are made and kept in order, nothing being purchased outside except raw material.
The product of this industry is enormous and consists of about 1,000,000 bushels annually. For its shipment forty cars are kept which were built for this express purpose. Twenty thousand cords of wood are burned annually, each kiln holding from forty to forty- five cords. The coal goes largely to the Washburn & Moen Wire Company, of Worcester, Mass., and to Senator Will- iam H. Barnum, of Conn. The two men named keep about one hundred horses and eighteen yokes of oxen in service, and employ in all five hundred men.
Mr. Griffith has also a large farm on which he is making a specialty of rais- ing blooded cattle and swine; of the former he has about sixty- five head and of the latter one hundred.
The hamlet called Brooklyn is the only post-office in the town. It is lo- cated on the Rutland and Bennington Railroad, which skirts the western side of the town. Joseph I. Scott was the first postmaster here, and was succeeded by James C. King in about 1875. O. O. Nichols was appointed to the office in the fall of 1885. A grocery is kept here by D. C. Risdon, who began the business in 1880.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PAWLET.
T HIS is the southwestern town in Rutland county, and is bounded on the north by Wells ; on the east by Danby ; on the south by Rupert, and on the west by Hebron and Granville, N. Y. It is six miles square and contains 23,040 acres. It is divided from north to south by a range of mountains,
698
HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
nearly through its center, which range is flanked on the west by another of lesser height; its most prominent mountain is Haystack, and others are South Mountain, North Mountain and Middle Mountain. The principal river is the Pawlet, or Metowee, which rises in Dorset, flows across the corner of Rupert and crosses this town diagonally from southeast to northwest. Its principal tributaries are Flower Brook, which rises in Danby and empties into Pawlet River near the village, and Indian River, which crosses the southwest corner of the town and joins the larger stream in Granville. Wells Brook joins it in the northwest corner of the town.
The soil in the town is varied in its character, and while gravelly loam pre- ponderates, limestone, clay, slate, etc., are found. The entire surface was, of course, originally covered by a luxuriant forest. In early years the raising of grain and stock was the leading industry ; this has since given way to more extended grazing and later to dairying.
Charter and Settlements. - This town was chartered to Jonathan Willard and sixty-seven others by Benning Wentworth, under date of August 26, 1761. The usual reservations were made for a church lot, the propagation of the Gos- pel in foreign parts and for the benefit of the schools of the town. But few of the original grantees ever settled in the town, and the oncoming of the Revo- lution and the long controversy with New York had the effect for a period of delaying settlement. In 1770 there were but nine families in the town. At the close of the Revolution, however, many soldiers who had passed over the region during their service, were so pleased with it that they came in and pur- chased lands ; often of speculators, who stood between the original proprietors and themselves, at immoderate prices.
Captain Jonathan Willard, the principal grantee and settler of Pawlet, was from Roxbury, Mass. Considerable of the earlier part of his life was passed in Colchester, Conn., and later years in Albany and other parts of New York State ; and at the time of his first visit to the New Hampshire Grants (1760) he was engaged in the lumber business at Old Saratoga. He selected three townships of land, and after securing his charter, repaired to Colchester, Conn., and infornied his friends of what he had done. For merely nominal consider- ations (in many instances, it is said, a mug of flip or a new hat), he purchased the rights of those named in the charter, until he owned just two-thirds of the town. The other third he was anxious to have settled, and accordingly in the same year (1761), Simon Burton and William Fairfield came in town. Mr. Burton was voted fifty acres of land on account of his being the first settler ; he was proprietors' clerk in 1769, according to the oldest records in existence here. He lived at North Pawlet to a good old age and died about 1810.
The next year, 1762, Captain Willard came in with nine hired men and several horses ; they cleared several acres and sowed wheat, returning to his home in the fall. He met with some heavy losses and in 1764 or 1765, re-
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