USA > Vermont > Addison County > Salisbury > History of Salisbury, Vermont > Part 11
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Mr. Schoolcraft has published four separate volumes of travels in the West, and several volumes on the natural history, and manners and mental traits of the Indians.
In 1847 he published two volumes of Indian tales and legends, gathered from the Indian wigwams. He has also issued an Indian miscellany under the name Oneota, and made other contributions to American belles lettres.
He owes every thing to his own exertions, and has been diligent, temperate, hopeful, and enterprising from his youth.
He embraced Christianity nearly forty years ago, which, to use his own words, "has cheered him on in every honest endeavor to encounter the combats of life, and has perpetually cast its brilliant beams into the future."
He still resides at Washington, District of Col- umbia.
THOMAS SAWYER Was born in Bolton, Massachusetts, in 1742, and was bred a mill-wright. Being a man of adventurous and fearless spirit, he naturally took a prominent part in the revolutionary movements of the age in which he lived.
He was placed in many important offices in Massa- chusetts during the preliminary battles of the Revolu- tion. In the latter part of 1776 he was stationed for
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a short time at Ticonderoga, and when his time of service had expired at that place he returned to his family in Massachusetts. This journey (a long one at that time) was made in the winter in company with others, and all experienced the most intense suffering from a want of food and clothing.
In making this journey, he passed through a part of Vermont, and being impressed with the opportuni- ties here presented for enterprise and usefulness, he concluded to take up his residence here as soon as possible.
Accordingly, in 1777, he moved his family to Clar- endon, where he built a block-house, bullet proof, the whole being made of solid oak timber. Even the windows were provided with such heavy shutters, that a bullet could not be made to pass through them. This house, or more properly, fort, was a place of common resort for all the neighbors in times of dan- ger.
Mr. Sawyer remained in Clarendon until .1783, when he commenced operations in Salisbury, at the falls (where the village now is), and near Lake Dun- more. Here he erected the first saw-mill, and on the first day of June, 1783, sawed the first log, having in two months erected a dam and a building sufficiently large for a saw-mill and a grist-mill, the latter of which was put in operation in the following winter.
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
As this part of Salisbury was claimed by Leicester at that time, he was the first representative from that town, in the state legislature, and was also one of its first magistrates.
He finally left the state in 1795, and settled with his family in what is now called Manchester, Ontario county, New York, where he died three years after- ward. He was much respected and beloved wherever he was known.
JONATHAN GIBSON was born in Fitchburg, Massa- chusetts, in the year 1775. When a youth, he deter- mined in whatever calling he engaged, to pursue it with energy, industry and economy.
Inheriting little or nothing from his father, he knew that whatever he might possess in the future must come from his own exertions.
Possessed of good health and a strong constitution (which were better than a heritage of money), he chose to seek his fortunes amid the uncultivated hills of Vermont, and came into Salisbury as early as 1798, but did not make a permanent settlement until some years later.
At the time of his settlement, he had no property, but purchased a farm on such liberal terms of pay- ment, that with his great industry and economy, in a few years, he was not only free from debt, but was considered one of the most prosperous farmers in
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32 & 34 John St N.Y .
Cameron & Walsh, Lith.
Jonathan gibson.
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town, and at the time of his death was a man of con- siderable wealth.
Mr. Gibson was always ready to assist in promoting the public good, both by his personal services and his purse. Probably few men in town have done more, in proportion to their ability, to promote the public weal.
He contributed liberally in building three meeting- houses in town, and gave much to support the preach- ing of the gospel in them after they were built; and at four or five different times has made liberal dona- tions to Middlebury College.
He served the town in the capacity of one of the selectmen, seven or eight years, and was its repre- sentative of the General Assembly, in 1815, 1816 and 1817. He also held other responsible town offices for a great number of years.
On the 11th day of March, in the year 1800, he was married to Deborah Alden, of Leicester, with whom he lived until her death, which occurred July 12th, 1822.
He was again married on the 29th of January, 1826, to Esther Spencer, of this town, who still survives him, and lives on his old homestead.
He never had any children, unless by adoption.
In his will he bequeathed a thousand dollars to the Congregational Church in Salisbury, the interest of 17*
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which is to be appropriated annually for the support of the Gospel ministry in that church, forever. He also bequeathed five hundred dollars to the Methodist church in this town, the interest of which is to be ap- plied, yearly, to sustain preaching in that society.
He also bequeathed to the corporation of Middle- bury College five shares (with the accumulated in- terest), in the stock of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad Company-which, at the time of the bequest, was supposed to be good property.
· Mr. Gibson died of a cancer, November 22d, 1851, much respected and loved by a large circle of ac- quaintances and friends.
ISAAC MOORE was a native of this town, and grad- uated at the University of Vermont, in the class of 1814.
From his early childhood he had a great inclina- tion for hunting and fishing, and for the wild adven- tures which the mountains and lakes of his native state afforded him.
When about seventeen years of age, he lost one of his legs by amputation, which became necessary from the effects of a fever sore, contracted by a sudden cold.
This misfortune for a time diverted his attention from his favorite amusements; and being naturally inclined to study, he commenced the usual prepara-
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tion for college, which he pursued with no little zeal, and finally was graduated, holding quite a superior position in his class.
His father, on account of the physical misfortune of his son, did every thing in his power to fit him for a professional life, or for such intellectual calling as his mind might choose. He freely aided him through his college course, and while pursuing the studies of the profession of the law.
After completing his professional studies with Rob- ert B. Bates, Esq., of Middlebury, Vermont, he kept aloof for some time from any particular business, and seemed to be undetermined whether to make use of his education in gaining a livelihood among men, or to run his chance of getting even a poor living in pur- suit of his old, favorite amusements, retired from civ- ilized life, among the rocks, and trees, and waters of the western mountains.
. His decision finally turned in favor of the latter occupation, and he settled down on the border of some obscure lake, among the mountains of north-eastern New York, where he still lives, in a state of celibacy, in a little hut or wigwam, with no company, unless it be his dogs, or some wild animal which he may have caught and tamed .*
* This notice was written in 1850 .- ED.
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Mr. Moore has made occasional visits to his native town, and always excites great curiosity both by the manner of his living and by his appearance. He is usually attended by two or three dogs, one tied to each arm, while the third is allowed to run at large, and walks with a crutch and cane, while his gun is adjusted in a sling across his back.
Little of his classical culture is apparent in his ap- pearance now, nor would one suppose from his looks that he had been fitted to participate in the higher enjoyments of intellectual life.
It may be that we shall yet receive from the pen of Mr. Moore his own history, and the history of the animals among which he has spent his life. It may be that it was his intention to give a new character to the profession of the hunter, and mingle with its adventure the influences of literature and science.
We hope that one or the other of these may be his object, and that we may yet read his story of his own solitude, and follow his mind in its investigations into the nature and habits of the beasts, and fowls, and fish of the mountains among which he has so long found a home.
REV. CYRUS W. HODGES was a native of Leicester, and was left an orphan at an early age. Until he was about fourteen years of age little attention was paid either to his moral or intellectual culture. At
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this time he found a home in the family of Sylvester Kenny of this town, where he was strictly taught in the doctrines of the Puritan church, and sent to the district school. He was found to be an apt scholar and anxious to obtain a thorough education.
When about nineteen years old he was led to cher- ish a hope in the merits of Christ, and united with the Congregational Church in Salisbury.
This gave renewed life to his desire for a thorough education, to prepare himself for the ministry, but not having the means of obtaining a collegiate edu- cation, the prospects of his being able to enter the ministry at one time seemed very doubtful, and the purpose was almost abandoned.
Not long after his union with the church in Salis- bury he became interested in the Baptist system of theology, and through the influence of friends was induced to join the Baptist church in Brandon, Vermont.
At this event, again returned the desire to enter the ministry, and with the advice of others he entered immediately upon the studies of his profession. Speaking of himself at this time, he says : " Although I had commenced a course of study with a view of preparing myself for the great work, I was early im- portuned to assume a place among the heralds of the Cross. Encouraged in this by some injudicious
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advisers, whom I respected and loved as Gospel ministers, I entered upon the active and solemn re- sponsibilities of the sacred work much too soon and with very meagre qualifications."
Mr. Hodges realized great benefit in training his mind by writing out his sermons. In this way, es- pecially, he acquired an accurate knowledge and use of language.
The early part of his ministry seems to have been rather dogmatical, indicating unusually strong desires to build up his own church; but it appears that in riper years he almost entirly lost sight of this pecu- liarity, and entered the field of usefulness on the most liberal and charitable ground toward all Christian de- nominations. He has preached the Gospel nearly twenty years, and has recently published a volume of twenty-two sermons, which are highly approved by all who have read them, for the sound moral instruc- tion which they contain .*
EBENEZER WEEKS, son of Holland and Hannalı Weeks, was born July 16th, 1784, and moved when quite a small boy, with his parents, to this town.
Being of rather a frail constitution, and unequal to
* This notice of Rev. Mr. Hodges seems to be very imper- fect, but the editor has not the facts to make it complete. It is given as it appears in the manuscript of the author.
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the hard labors of clearing the land and preparing it for the purposes of agriculture, he turned his atten- tion to study, to which he had a natural inclination, and entered Middlebury College, in 1808.
He pursued the studies of his classic course with great zeal and success, until suddenly taken away by the hand of death, in the senior year of his college life.
Rev. Levi Parsons, in his memoirs, gives the fol- lowing notice of him :
" February 12th, 1812 .- This day attended the fu- neral of one of my collegiate brothers. Ebenezer Weeks has gone to his long wished-for home. He often gave me pious instruction. I looked to him as to a father, and yet his early departure, so afflictive to an individual, is justly esteemed a public loss. He was an excellent classical scholar, possessed a discrimi- nating mind and sound judgment, and not a few had raised expectations of his future usefulness. But it pleased Him whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, to number this young man among the dead. Only a few months before his class received the honors of col- lege, he was hurried away to the grave by a typhus fever.
"As a swelling in his throat rendered him incapa- ble of speaking, he signified his expectation of a speedy death, by writing on the hand of a friend the word death.
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" Being requested, a short time before he expired, to express by a sign the state of his mind, he stretched forth his pale, trembling hand, and wrote on the hand of his brother the name of Jesus.
"Daniel O. Morton, a class-mate of the deceased, prepared and delivered a eulogy on the character of his deceased friend, in which is justly set forth the traits of his Christian character, and his superior intel- lectual gifts. He says of him, 'That, though young, he was a learned man, and lived agreeable to his own maxim - Vivere bene est vivere pro gloria Dei.' "
SAMUEL MOORE was one of the original grantees of the town, and in 1762 surveyed its north line, begin- ning at the creek, and thence eastward as far as the foot of the mountain, to the north-east corner of home lot, No. 1. At this time he also laid out the two tiers of home lots, as may be seen from the plan of the town, and then returned to his home in Connecticut.
In consequence of the controversy between Salis- bury and Leicester, Mr. Moore did not lay out any part of his share of lands, except what he drew among the home lots, and this he is believed to have lost in the claims under Leicester charter.
After the alteration of the north line of the town, in 1786, he pitched a hundred acres on the northern boundary, where Alonzo Boardman and Turner Board- man now live, and although he never made any per-
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manent settlement here, it is very probable that he commenced clearing his land and paid taxes on it in 1788 and 1789.
Mr. Moore was a man well known for his mathema- tical talent, as well as for his executive force of char- acter. "He was a profound mathematician, and en- gaged much in the instruction of young men in what was called the surveyor's art. He published a treatise on surveying, with a table of logarithms. It was the earliest work on that branch of mathematical science published in this country. It introduced the method of computing contents by calculation entirely, with- out measuring triangles by scale and dividers. It was a valuable treatise, but was early superseded by a more finished one by Rev. Abel Flint, in which much was borrowed from Mr. Moore."
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
CHAPTER XVII.
REVOLUTIONARY TIMES. - DIFFICULTIES OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. - AMOS STORY. - MRS. STORY. - JOSHUA GRAVES.
ALL the original grantees of this town lived in Connecticut, and many of the first settlers here were emigrants from Litchfield county in that state.
Judge Church, in his centennial address, says: "The spirit of emigration, that same Anglo-Saxon temper- ament which brought our ancestors into the country, and which constantly pushes forward to the trial of unknown fortune, began its manifestations before the revolution, and sought its gratification first in Ver- mont. Vermont is the child of Litchfield county. We gave to her her first governor, and three gover_ nors beside; as many as three senators in Congress, and also many of her most efficient founders and carly distinguished citizens. Chittendens, Allens, Galushas, Chipmans, Skinner and others. The atti- tude assumed by Vermont in the early stages of the revolutionary war, in respect to Canada on the north, and the threatening states of New York and New
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Hampshire on either side, was peculiar and delicate, and demanded the most adroit policy to secure her purpose of independence. In her dilemma, her most sagacious men resorted to the councils of her old friends of Litchfield county, and it is said that her final course was shaped, and her designs accom- plished, by the advice of a confidential council, as- sembled at the house of Governor Wolcott, in the village of Litchfield."
The settlers thought of Connecticut with all the as- sociations of home, and felt that whatever came from that source was better adapted to their wants than from any other, and consequently readily adopted the advice and example of those whom they had left. On the other hand, those who remained behind took a lively interest in the welfare of those they had sent out, and did much to encourage them, both in their emigration and in the labors of their final settlement, though it is true that it was many years from the be- ginning of this undertaking before the prospects of settling the new town were very flattering, or even met with much encouragement.
Indeed, it appears both from the early records of the town and from the testimony of aged living witnesses, that the original proprietors experienced great difficulty in getting in settlers. They first of- fered any who would become actual settlers, one hun-
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dred acres of land as a gratuity, but even this offer did not serve as a sufficient inducement. The country was an unbroken wilderness, without roads or the or- dinary means of subsistence ; their provisions, carried on their backs from the old settlements, were neces- sarily scant, the forests were infested with savage beasts and savage Indians, who had at this time be- come more hostile in their habits and dispositions, on account of the war between the English and the French, which had been brought to a close but a short time previous. The war with our mother country, with all its consequent calamities, was still hanging over them, and what was exceedingly dis- couraging to a rapid settlement, the controversy be- tween the early settlers of this state and the govern- ment of New York, rendered their titles doubtful in the eyes of many.
These circumstances combined operated to prevent any considerable settlement being made for a number of years. And after these difficulties were in a mea- sure removed, and people began to take a greater interest in the new settlement, all at once it turned out that Leicester charter, apparently of prior date, was located so as to embrace a large portion of the lands of Salisbury.
In fact, it seems that little or no interest was felt in the settlement by any even among the original
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grantees until the offer in 1774 of a gratuity of two hundred acres to any person, in addition to his ori- ginal share, who would become an actual settler.
At this offer one or two families, though not original proprietors, undertook the somewhat hazardous ex- periment of making for themselves a home in Salis- bury.
The first among them were Joshua Graves and his son Jesse, who came into town early in the spring of 1774. They pitched a hundred acres where Col- umbus Smith now lives, intending to locate in the north-west corner of the town. Here they built a small log-house, cleared up a few acres of land, and sowed it to wheat, and early in September returned to their home in Arlington, where they spent the re- maining part of the season. This was the first clear- ing made for the purpose of agriculture in Salisbury. The following year Mr. Graves again visited his newly made home, to which he finally moved his family in the latter part of the winter of 1775.
Amos Story, a native of Norwich, Connecticut, and his son Solomon, in September, 1774, but a few months after Mr. Graves' commencement, pitched a hundred acres south of and adjoining that of Mr. Graves. Here he also put up a small log-house and commenced clearing his land, with the expectation of raising wheat sufficient to supply bread for his family, 18*
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which he intended to move to his new home the fol- lowing year.
But the ways of Providence are not like our ways, and but a few weeks after he had commenced his clearing he was killed by the fall of a tree. Solomon, his son, who at that time was a lad about fourteen years old, was at work with his father in the woods at the time of the accident, and was compelled to chop the tree quite off in two places (and it was a large sugar maple) before he could roll it off his father, who was already dead underneath it.
As Mr. Graves and his son had previously left the country, Solomon was compelled to go several miles through the wilderness into Middlebury for assistance, where he found Benjamin Smauley, and his two sons Imri and Alfred, who returned with him and took the body of the deceased, and carried it and buried it in the interval land, a few yards from the north bank of Middlebury river. This place of burial was just south of the place where Mr. F. Nash now lives. Whether any coffin was made for the occasion, is a matter of uncertainty. It is not impossible that a rough box was made from boards which may have been floated down the creek for other purposes, from Sutherland's Falls, in Rutland, that being the location of the near- est saw-mill at that early day.
Previous to any locality being agreed upon in Mid-
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dlebury for the burial of the dead, Benjamin Smau- ley lost two children, whose bodies were buried by the side of that of Mr. Story. One of them was An- na, aged twenty years, who perished in the woods, having been lost, and the other Zerah, aged eighteen years, who died of fever.
One or two other persons, not belonging to Mr. Smauley's family were buried in the same place, but whose names are forgotten, and no monument now re- mains to mark their name, or age, or even the exact place of their burial.
As these persons were buried on the curving bank of the river, a portion of which was washed away from year to year by the current of the river, it is very doubtful that any of the bones can now be found.
Soon after the death of Amos Story, his son Solo- mon returned to his friends in Rutland, and carried the sad intelligence of his father's death to his be- reaved mother, and other relatives.
It would seem that the painful circumstances of Mr. Story's death would deter his surviving family from any further effort, at least for several years, to settle a new country, but this event appeared rather to excite in Mrs. Story a still stronger desire to enter upon the hardships of a pioneer of the wilderness, and to clear up and cultivate the land which her husband had selected for their future home.
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These hardships, and the difficulties and troubles following the death of her husband, without doubt, did much in the development of those extraordinary powers of mind which made her character so illustri- ous in succeeding years.
Mrs. Story was a woman of very large stature and masculine appearance, and possessed all that physical strength and hardihood which her looks would indicate. Few men ever possessed so much resolution, firmness and fearlessness as she. Possessed of good health and an iron constitution, she feared neither tory, Indian, or wild beast.
She could use the axe with a skill and power which few of her neighbors, though most of them were stal- wart men, could equal; and in handling the lever, in rolling logs, every one admitted her to be among the foremost and most efficient.
Having such qualifications as these, Mrs. Story, in company with her three boys, Solomon, Ephraim and Samuel, and her two daughters, Hannah and Susanna, moved to their farm in Salisbury in the latter part of the year 1775, and took possession of the log house her husband and son had erected for their reception the year previous.
Here, amid the midnight howls of the wolves, and bears, and panthers, and surrounded with the hostile Indians ready to sacrifice any property or life for the
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gratification of their own wishes, Mrs. Story, accom- panied only by a family of small children, the oldest not yet having arrived to the age of maturity, eagerly and hopefully undertook the work of making for her family a home.
Here she labored with her boys on the farm, taking the lead in the labors of clearing the land, raising grain and other products necessary to sustain her growing family, until the early part of the year 1777.
Soon after it was known by the settlers in this region that war existed between England and her colonies here, it was thought best that the inhabitants, so few in num ber in this vicinity, should either remove to the south- ern part of the state, where the population was more dense, and where they could better protect themselves from the hostility of the Indians, or return to their former homes, which were mostly in Connecticut, and there await the issue of the war. But Mrs. Story, being able to use the musket to good advantage on necessary occasions, as well as the axe and lever, (though it is not probable that she was ever particu- larly distinguished in the use of fire-arms), concluded to remain with her children, and undertake the risks of completing her settlement, even among the dangers of a time of war, and did remain on her farm until most of the settlers had left this part of the country, and then she went no farther south than the northern
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