USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > Ryegate > History of Ryegate, Vermont, from its settlement by the Scotch-American company of farmers to present time; > Part 24
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In early days, and down to the time when girls began to go to Low- ell and other places to work in the mills, the only occupations open to women were teaching, sewing, domestic service, and the care of the sick, all very poorly paid. We have already noted the wages paid to teachers. Tailoresses and seamstresses were a little better paid, often, however, in farm produce, or home made cloth.
Housekeepers of our day must sigh for those days when the best possible domestic help could be had for seventy-five cents a week, and this, as old account books show, was the common price seventy years ago. In special cases a dollar a week was paid, and, not infrequently domestic service continued for years. There was an instance in Haver- hill where a woman was the trusted and beloved housekeeper in one family for thirty-five years, and the tie which bound her to the household was as strong as that which bound its members to each other.
The cash expenses of a family in fair health in those days were so small, that almost all the money whichi came in was clear gain. At the sixtieth wedding anniversary of Nathaniel Roy and wife of Barnet about thirty-five years ago, it was stated that the family, although well-to-do and hospitable, had not in all those years, bought a pound of sugar or
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HISTORY OF RYEGATE, VERMONT.
meat or flour. Thefarm had produced all that the household required, and this was a common case. Mr. Miller mentions a family in this town in which the cash expenditures did not average more than twenty-five dol- lars a year during thirty years. All was produced or obtained by barter.
These things are within the memory of many not yet old. But such have been the changes, and so many are yet to come, that sixty years hence it will be hard to conceive conditions like those we have described.
Ryegate as it then was, constituted a self-supporting community, and if the town had been surrounded by a wall or turned into an island and put out to sea, its inhabitants would have got along about as well as before.
But after all is said that can be said, we live in better days. Our houses are better built, we are better clothed, our roads are better, and although we may not have a greater plenty of food, we have a greater variety of it, and we draw upon distant states and foreign countries to supply our tables.
Communication, then slow and tedious, is instantaneous. In those days a journey to Boston and back required almost a week, and a trial of endurance. We breakfast in Ryegate, dine in Boston, and are home before sun set. The standard of living is higher ; the facilities for reading and education are incomparably better; our opportunities are vastly greater. And when we have concluded these comparisons, and congratu- lated ourselves upon all these changes, most of them for the better, some personal questions arise which are not easy to answer or to evade.
It is the testimony of all whose memories extend through many years that there is at the present time nothing like the sociability which people had in earlier days-that families do not visit as people did then, that there is not the interest felt in neighborhood affairs, and that in time of sickness or trouble people do not help each other as they used to do, but call in strangers who for hire perform those offices which were once rendered by the kindness of neighbors and friends. That this is true cannot be denied, but the cause lies in the changed conditions of society, and we do not believe that hearts are less warm or sympathetic because people are no longer dependent upon personal meetings to learn of each other's welfare, or because they hire a trained nurse in sickness, rather than depend upon the good offices of neighbors and kindred.
Two institutions,-writing schools and singing schools-which, in other years had a large share in the social life of the young people, seem to have passed away, and there is little on record concerning either, but Mr. Goodwin remembered both as being held at the Corner as long ago as 1827. Writing schools were serious and practical in their nature, and
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their attendance was limited, but the witchery of the singing school drew the young people from far and near. The entertainment there provided was innocent of harm, practical and uplifting. Many thus received their first impressions of music. In these gatherings pleasure and instruction were about equally mingled; where acquaintances were made, friend- ships formed, and around which gather the happiest memories.
The psalmody of those days in Ryegate gave little encouragement to elaborateness in church music, but there were some fine performers upon stringed and wind instruments. Seventy years ago, according to Dr. Currier, there still remained several skilled manipulators of the bag- pipes, and there have been some fine performers on the cornet and the violin. Gen. Whitelaw, according to old letters, was a creditable per- former upon the latter instrument, and the fame of Willie Brock, son of Dea. Andrew Brock, has come down to our day.
"When Willie fiddled, sir, folk had to dance whether they liked or no, they couldna help themselves." There must have been something mar- velous in his playing if we may judge from the accounts of old people, and his fame was by no means local, as he was often called upon to fur- nish music at assemblies as far away as Plymouth and Littleton. After him Robert Henderson and others were well known.
Balls and dances were discountenanced by the more serious portion of the community, yet such there were, and the old taverns usually had a large room which was set apart for such gatherings.
1
CHAPTER XXI.
PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER MATTERS.
PHYSICIANS .- THIE INSANE .- LAWYERS .- MERCHANTS AT THE CORNER .- AT SOUTH RYEGATE .- THE OLD MILITIA .- MASONRY .- AN HISTORIC FAKE.
T HE first physician to attend a case in Ryegate was Dr. Gideon Smith of Newbury, as there is an item in the Company's book to to that effect, March 10, 1774. There was no educated physician here till Dr. Perry came, at least for any length of time, although there were one or two who claimed some acquaintance with the healing art, and practised to a small extent, but the town was dependent upon its neighbors for medical service. Dr. Samuel White settled in Newbury as a physician in 1773, and continued in practice till near his death, Jan. 25, 1848, in his 98th year. Dr. White was for many years the principal physician in this region, and had a large number of patients in Ryegate. He lived most of the time, after 1806, on Jefferson Hill, and is buried there. He was a surgeon in the revolutionary war, and had twelve chil- dren, none of whom ever married, and the family is extinct. Two of his account books which are owned by Mrs. Z. A. Richardson of St. Johns- bury, begin in 1773, and end in 1782. These give us some idea of the state of medical science during the early days of Ryegate's settlement. His charge for a visit in this town was from three to five shillings, medi- cine being extra. In these two books about one hundred and forty remedial agents are mentioned. Physic stands first, same sort being used over fifteen hundred times. Bleeding was common. Scarcely a dozen surgical operations are mentioned, and these were simple fractures of arms or legs. The oldest people in town remember Dr. White very well. He was a very genial man, inspiring confidence. Some one has said that "more people were cured by their faith in Dr. White's skill than by the skill itself !"
Mr. Goodwin said that a Dr. Franklin, the same who is mentioned as a schoolmaster on p. 159, was in practice in this town about 1829, but went away and became eminent in the profession.
Dr. Perry began practice about 1825, and since that date there has always been an educated physician in Ryegate. Dr. Darling and son
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have been in practice here since 1861. Several doctors from other towns had many patients in Ryegate, among them Dr. John McNab, at MeIn- does and Wells River, Dr. Nelson at Barnet, and his son Dr. James R. Nelson at Wells River.
It would be interesting if we had the space, to say somewhat of the changes in the study and practice of medicine in the past century. In early days there were no medical colleges where the science was taught, or hospitals where the student might acquire experience. A young can- didate for medical practice "studied " with a physician ; that is, he read his books, took care of his horse, rode about with him on his rounds, and gradually became intrusted with his simpler cases. It was not till about 1795 that the first medical school in this part of the country was established in connection with Dartmouth College, by Dr. Nathan Smith. For several years Dr. Smith was the entire faculty and a very capable one too, one of the most eminent physicians of his time. He was once sent for to conduct a very difficult surgical operation in Barnet, which he performed successfully in the presence of several physicians. After the operation the father of the boy who had been treated, asked the amount of the fee. Dr. Smith said "Mr. - I want you to tell me, as nearly as you can, how much you are worth." The reply was given. "Then sir, I shall charge you fifty dollars."* A biography of Dr. Smith was pub- lished several years ago.
Ryegate seems to have been remarkably free from epidemics of all kinds, and when the spotted fever raged with great virulence in 1815, Mr. Mason says that there were only a few scattered cases here. But in other towns, especially in Warren, N. H., its visitation was severe, whole neighborhoods were almost depopulated, and entire families dis- appeared. In Bradford there were six deaths in one day. Nothing could check the disease, and people who were well in the morning died before night. It seemed finally to die out of its own accord. Dr. Wellman of Piermont, called to attend a patient in Warren, was himself taken sick and died before morning.
The beneficent progress of medical science is shown in the alleviated condition of the insane, and those who were born mentally or physically defective. The condition of the hopelessly insane was terrible, as there were then no asylums for treatment or safe keeping. Mr. Miller mien- tions the case of a man in Ryegate of a family now extinct here, who became violently insane, and was confined for several years in an out- building, where he was secured like a wild beast by a chain around his
* This anecdote was related to the editor many years ago by a person who was present.
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HISTORY OF RYEGATE, VERMONT.
body. A similar case occurred in Topsham. In Piermont a son of the Dr. Wellman whom we have just mentioned, was brought home from Boston a raving maniac. He was confined for more than twenty terrible years in a strong cage constructed in one of the chambers of his mother's house. About an hour before his death his reason returned to him. "He remembered only in the vaguest possible manner the long span of dark- ness through which he had passed, with the trouble he had caused and begged his mother to forgive."
The condition of those who were blind or deaf from birth, or who lost the sense of sight or that of hearing at an early age was pitiable. Until about the middle of the century there were no schools where either could be taught, and acquire training which made them self-supporting.
Physicians of the olden time, when the country was new, made their rounds on foot or horseback and in winter on snow shoes. Their labors were arduous, their pay was small, but in general, they were very supe- rior men, their influence was wide and enduring.
The records in this volume show that several natives of Ryegate became physicians, and each, it is believed, practised with a fair degree of success.
The town has not been a fertile field for lawyers, and with the excep- tion of Mr. Dunnett, whose practice began here, it is not believed that any one, regularly admitted to the bar ever was settled in the profession in Ryegate. In early years there was more litigation than now, and a better field for lawyers. When one consults the formidable list of law- yers in Haverhill, Bath and Peacham a century ago, and for many years before and after, the wonder grows how so many could have got a living -much more how many of them became wealthy. The disputes over land titles, now long settled, were a fruitful source of revenue for the legal profession, and in many cases when the ownership of land was the sub- ject of litigation, the successful litigant found himself obliged to turn the property over to his lawyer in payment of his fees. It also seems that people went to law on less provocation than they do now. Mr. Miller mentions a case in which two men, one of them living in Ryegate, got into a dispute about a pound a tea and each spent several hundred dol- lars before the case was decided. There were men who were never happy unless they were in law with some one and seldom failed to have a case in court. Rev. David Sutherland says that when he came to Bath in 1804, Esq. Buck held a justice court at the village every Monday and was seldom without cases to try. Strong drink was at the bottom of the trouble in many cases. There is about one law suit now where there were five eighty years ago.
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Mr. Mason says that John Cameron started the first store in Rye- gate although neither he or Mr. Miller mention the year, but the town had been settled nearly forty years before a store was opened. Mr. Mason says that Alexander McDonald brought a small stock of goods and sold them at his house, where James R. Hunter now lives, the year before Cameron opened his store, which was where Mr. Thompson re- sides at the Corner. Mr. Cameron, who was usually called Judge Cam- eron, carried on a very extensive business along several lines, being a drover, an occupation in early days very important, requiring great sagacity, energy and capital. Capt. Wm. Page in 1879 told Mr. Miller that in 1817 Nutter and Wiggin opened a store at the Corner, which they conducted for some time. Mr. Nutter married a daughter of An- drew Brock and the store was in the Red Tavern.
Alexander Harvey was first a clerk for Mattocks & Newell of Peacham, and was sent by them to open a branch store at Ryegate Corner, in which he succeeded so well that he bought the goods and went into busi- ness on his own account, in 1818 or 1819, keeping a general country store, buying stock and produce, making frequent trips to Boston. He built the "old Corner Store" about 1818, Mr. Miller believed, but Mr. Goodwin thought it to have been built in 1816. The old store, one of the landmarks of Caledonia County, has thus been in constant mercantile use for nearly a century, and is almost unchanged without and within. The desk and counters are the original ones and this long low room has held several generations of Ryegate customers. In early days rum was sold as freely as anything else and "liquor enough was sold there to float a ship."
Mr. Harvey continued in business till January, 1835, when he sold to George Cowles. Mr. Cowles conducted the store alone till January, 1838, when he took his brother James into partnership, and the firm continued in business till October, 1844, when James retired, and removed from Ryegate. In 1865, Alexander Cochran bought Mr. Cowles out, and carried on business in the old store till 1889, when he sold out to John A. McLam, the present proprietor.
Mr. Mason says that in 1832 Pease & Bailey kept store in the Peters building, and, later, about 1837, John Morrill, and after him William Morrill kept store in the brick house.
The Morrills were merchants, inn-keepers, owned the stage line between Haverhill, N. H., and Stanstead, and were mail contractors. Andrew J. Morrill's name should be added to the list of postmasters at the Corner, as he held the office in 1841 and before. A receipted bill owned by Alfred Morrill of Benton, N. H., shows that the amount due
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HISTORY OF RYEGATE, VERMONT.
from the office was $13.5834 for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 1840. The Morrills kept store at one time in a house which stood where Wm. Mc- Canna now lives and which was burned in the fire of 1899. The post office was in that house.
This seems to conclude the list of merchants at the Corner in early days. In 1894 J. R. W. Beattie erected a two story building on the lot next south of the Reformed Presbyterian Meeting house, and fitted up a store in modern style, in which he conducted a successful business. On Aug. 16, 1899, the store took fire and was burned, the church also being destroyed. Since that date the Old Corner Store has held the entire mer- cantile business at the Corner, and the merchant who first occupied that building would find modern business methods as strange as the faces which he would see therc now. The merchant of a century ago, and for long afterwards, was a trader, and was called such in general speech. Very little money was in circulation and he took his pay in farm produce, lumber, shingles or whatever the farmer had to spare. "All was fish that came to his net." If his credit was good the customer was allowed to run up a bill, which was balanced by a promissory note, by labor or by a "head or two of fat cattle." The latter were collected from time to time,
and driven to market, as the merchant was often a cattle buyer as well. The "back room," cellar, and all available storage room were filled with the articles taken in trade, waiting to be sent to market. The butter brought in by a score of farmer's wives was worked over and packed in tubs for market. Upon his skill in disposing of the produce collected in the way of trade the prosperity of the merchant depended. If he was shrewd in bargains with his customers at home, and fortunate in his sales "down country," he grew rich. There were some traders with a genius for "swapping," and a keen eye for the best end of a bargain. His temptation was to attempt to carry too many lines of business, leaving too much to others. Mr. Goodwin said that Judge Cameron left the management of his store in charge of his clerk, while he pursued his other schemes, financial and political, a division of interests which brought about his ultimate failure. But others by assiduity, by an hon- esty and a kindness which won public confidence, laid the foundation of the modest fortunes of those days.
The principal merchants in this part of the country kept teams con- stantly on the road between here and Boston, to bring the lighter and most valuable goods, while the heavier merchandise was brought to Wells River by boat. But the Ryegate merchants never carried on such extensive business as some in Danville and Peacham.
The names of all who have been in trade at South Ryegate cannot be
OLD STORE AT RYEGATE. BUILT ABOUT 1818.
Lowe.
PART OF GEN. WHITELAW'S HOUSE 15x30, STANDING ON HERMON MILLER'S FARM UNTIL 1909.
NEW YORK
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PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER MATTERS.
recalled, but those who were in business for some time appear to have been as follows: The first store was opened by Charles Stuart about 1848, and was conducted by him till he went west in 1853. The second merchant in the place seems to have been Archibald Renfrew, from Nov. 1851 to Feb. 1853, when he sold to West Darling and Calvin Clark, who conducted business a few months. Mr. Stuart sold his store to John Peach and James White. Robert Nelson bought out Peach & White in the fall of 1855, and a year later, sold to George L. Hall. Mr. White who had been in business alone, and was postmaster, sold a half interest in his store to Mr. Hall, and they were in company till 1868, after which the latter continued in trade till 1886.
The opening of the "Swamp Road," in 1860, from South Ryegate to the Lime Kiln neighborhood in Newbury, brought more trade to the place. About 1863 Dr. John B. Darling opened a store at the corner of the road leading to Jefferson Hill, where he with his sons carried on an extensive business for many years. They bought also the Wilson store at West Newbury, a Mr. Adams who had been a clerk in the store of A. T. Stewart in New York City being their manager, at that place. This store was burned Feb. 21, 1888.
In 1891, William Terry, who had been engaged in peddling goods nearly twenty years, and resided just over the Newbury line, formed a partnership with Wm. T. George and A. T. Gay, under the firm name of Terry, George & Gay, who bought the stock of goods of J. B. Darling & Son, continuing business at the Darling stand for three years, when Mr. Gay sold his interest to_the ... partners, and the firm became Terry & George. About seven years later Mr. Terry bought out the interest of Mr. George, conducting the business under his own name, Charles E. F. Miller owning a half interest, being a silent partner, this association continuing about six and a half years. In the meantime M. H. Gibson had erected the brick block, and put in a large stock of goods, while Mr. Terry, whose sons had grown up with him in the old Darling store de- sired larger quarters for his trade and the firm bought out Mr. Gibson's stock of goods and moved into the new store in June, 1906. They had been nearly sixteen years in the Darling store, and being the only general merchant in the place, their business during the last year amounted to above $36,000. When the firm moved into the brick block, Mr. Terry feeling the need of change, sold his interest to his son, B. L. Terry, retain- ing the stove and farm machinery part of the business. Mr. Miller is still a silent partner in this concern.
Sly and Darling were also merchants in the village in its early days. The opening of the railroad and the development of the granite busi-
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HISTORY OF RYEGATE, VERMONT.
ness attracted other merchants, and R. F. Carter set up a store and also a hotel in connection with the Ryegate Granite Works.
In 1892 Mr. Pringle Gibson, who had sold his farm near the Corner, erected a large building near the depot, and opened a general store, later taking his son into partnership, the firm name being P. Gibson & Son. They were succeeded by Harry W. Hibbard, who carried on the business along the same lines until burned out in the fire of 1898.
In 1902 Martin H. Gibson erected the present brick block in the "burned district," which contains the store of B. L. Terry and the post- office.
After the Terrys left the Darling building it was repaired, and A. T. Gay conducted a store there for some time, and was succeeded by Mr. Simpson. A Mr. Doten was in South Ryegate for some years in the watch, clock and fancy goods business and Mr. A. T. Gay conducted a similar one till burned out in the fire of 1898.
A. F. Mulliken operated a store for the sale of hardware in connec- tion with his establishment at Wells River.
On the morning of Oct. 20, 1898, fire broke out in the livery stable of Charles Oakley which destroyed all the buildings between the railroad and the main street, from the depot to the road leading across the river. The general store of H. W. Hibbard, the stores of A. F. Mulliken and A. T. Gay, were burned together with the post office, a dwelling house occu- pied by Thos. McGuckin, and a stable owned by the Ryegate Granite Works. The loss, about $30,000, was a severe blow to the place.
During the civil war, under the stimulus of an inflated currency, prices rose rapidly, and it was many years after its close that they resumed their normal rate. Flour sold at $20 per barrel, print cloth could hardly be had at any price, wool brought $1.00 a pound, butter fifty cents and most other articles in proportion.
We have not the space to enter into any detailed account of the weather here in Ryegate during the period of its history, but a few prom- inent occasions may be mentioned, which were landmarks in people's memories as long as they lived.
In the year 1788 it rained every day from the 27th of June till the 26th of August, and much hay and grain rotted on the ground. The following spring was late and cold, and it was not till the end of May that cattle got their living at pasture. But the rest of the year was fine and the season fruitful.
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The history of Haverhill, Mass., says that the winter of 1779-'80, was remarkably long and cold, and for forty successive days, including the entire month of March, the snow did not thaw on the south sides of houses, as far south as that place. President Dwight, in relating the journey which we have mentioned in the opening sentence to this volume, says that on the 17th of February, 1802, a snow storm began which lasted a week, and it was estimated that more than four feet fell. On the other hand there were periods of remarkably warm weather in winter. In the month of December, 1794, the ground froze only once, and people kept on with their plowing and other fall work till after Christmas. The seasons from 1812 to 1816 were very cold and the times were hard, the second war with England occurring during that period. The year 1816 was long known as the "cold year" and the "famine year." The season was early and warm, and people hoped that brighter days had come. But the summer was very cold, there was frost in every month, and Moosilauke was white twice in July and three times in August. "On the 5th of June some masons who were building a brick house at Bath Upper Village were compelled to abandon their work until the 10th, as the mortar froze in the open air." The corn was entirely destroyed in that year-only a few saved enough for seed by building fires in their corn fields. Even the wheat did not fill, and had it not been for the re- markably heavy crop of oats many must have perished. Thousands of people subsisted on oatmeal who had never tasted it before; and the mill at Boltonville had to run night and day to grind the oats which were brought to it from every quarter, and then it was that people blessed the Scotch for having invented oatmeal. Money was very scarce and provi- sions were dear. There was much suffering from hunger, and even the well-to-do were hard pressed. Potatoes were an entire failure. Mrs. Eleanor Knight of Newbury, who could in 1908, remember that time very well, said that there were people who boiled potato tops and other greens for food, and would go long distances to get even them. "Chil- dren would talk about being good, for perhaps they would die when winter came, and would have nothing to eat." On the 15th of June about a foot of snow fell. On the 28th of August there was a frost which destroyed all vegetation, and the leaves on the trees. The next year was somewhat more genial but five inches of snow fell in Ryegate on the 15th of May, and on the 16th of June there was a hard frost which froze potatoes to the ground.
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