USA > Vermont > Addison County > Salisbury > History of Salisbury, Vermont > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
4
224
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
part of Rutland, and that only to spend the winter seasons, for it is believed she returned to her farm oc- casionally, and continued the work of clearing her land, and raised some crops nearly if not every year during the war.
Mrs. Story was a woman of profound integrity. What she said might always be relied upon as truth. The writer lived a neighbor to her from his infancy to the time of her death, and can vouch for the scrupu- lousness she always manifested for the truth of her stories, (of which she used to tell a great many), con- cerning the times of the American revolution.
She has frequently remarked, that she was the first white woman who was known to have passed a night in Salisbury or Middlebury. That first night was the one succeeding her arrival from Rutland, and was passed at the hut of Mr. Smauley, when she made her first visit to the grave of her deceased husband.
She was a true whig of the times of the revolution, and participated greatly in the spirit of her party ; and her position in this new country gave her oppor- tunities to show that she was not a friend to the gov- ernment of the United States in name only, but was ready to make sacrifices for it. Indeed, her house was an asylum for all her country's friends. She worked zealously against the royalists, and earned for herself quite an illustrious name as a heroine.
225
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
The following incident took place early in the spring of 1776, after most of the settlers had left the country, and is given very nearly in her own words :
"The snow had melted away from the mountains, and the creek had become so swollen as to overflow all the low lands in its vicinity, when a party of In- dians came from the north, seeking booty, pillaging all the houses they could find, and afterward burning them, together with barns, farming tools, and other things of value. The first intimation we had of the presence of these Indians, was the discovery of them pillaging Mr. Graves' house, which stood about sev- enty rods from ours.
As Mr. Graves left his farm in September of the year previous, and had not returned, the Indians probably found nothing of value, so they set fire to his house and came over to ours, not, however, until we had secured our most valuable articles of household goods, and safely deposited them in our canoe, which lay at the waters edge, but a few steps from our door. Unobserved by the Indians, we shoved off our boat, and were soon fairly out of their reach in the deep water of the swamp. Even if the Indians did see us they were unable to follow, as they had no canoes having left them in Canada or at Lake Champlain, not expecting to need them on this inland excursion.
We stationed ourselves back in the swamp, at a
226
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
considerable distance from the house, where we could observe their movements and make sure the hour and direction of their departure. Here we saw Mr. Graves's house and our own burn down at the hand of our cruel foes. When the houses were burnt so nearly down that there was no longer hope of saving them, the Indians departed to the north, and we re_ traced our course, and soon landed in safety all our moveable treasure. The spot on which so recently stood our rude but comfortable house was now made desolate; but our spirits were not crushed. If the smoking ruins of our dwelling suggested too plainly the dangers of our situation and disheartened us, the hope arose that, as the Indians had made so little in
this excursion, they might not visit this region for booty any more. So we immediately made arrange- ments for building a new house, and by cutting and laying up small trees, such as we could handle with- out a team, it was not long before we had quite a comfortable dwelling, made of poles instead of logs, on the spot where the former one had stood. This was the house Samuel Pierce moved into when he settled in this town in 1787."
As this account is corroborated by other facts, no doubt can be entertained of its entire truth.
Rev. Dr. Merrill, in his historical account of Mid- dlebury, gives an account as follows :
227
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
"Major John Chipman, of Middlebury, built a frame for a barn early in the spring of 1776, and left it without any covering.' Now the fact was, that this party of Indians who had burned Mr. Graves's and Mrs. Story's houses, after they had pillaged Mr. Smauley and burnt his house, " undertook to burn Mr. Chipman's barn frame, but the timber was so green and moist with sap, they were unable to fire it, so they tried to cut it down with their tomahawks, but the barn refused to fall, and the consequence was that the owner, when he returned seven years after- ward, found it standing, exhibiting the scars of the hatchet, as it does even to this day, which resulted from the encounter. This was the first frame barn in Middlebury, and is the most northerly of three stand- ing on Mr. Jonathan Seeley's farm, and may exhibit to the passenger the far-famed date of 1776, and as a remembrancer of the evils and calamities of war." .
The fact that most of the early settlers had at this time left the country, some to fight the battles of the revolution, and others for the better security of their persons and property, rendered the condition of those who remained on their lands extremely hazardous, particularly on account of the hostility of the Indians; but Mrs. Story could not be induced to leave. By her persevering and indomitable spirit she appeared determined to overcome every obstacle which might
19
228
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
prevent her from clearing and cultivating her farm. And, in order to render herself and family more se- cure from the attacks of the enemy, especially in the night, she hit upon the following expedient :
" We dug a cavern in the bank of the creek, where we could retire for the night, cooking and taking our meals at the house, and laboring on the farm in the day time. This cavern or cave we made by digging horizontally into the bank of the creek, concealing the dirt we removed, under the water. The passage at the mouth of the cave was sufficient only to admit our canoe, so that all must lie prostrate in passing either in or out. This passage was dug so low and so deep that the canoe could float into the cave quite out of sight. The place where we slept was higher ground, and was an excavation by the side of and above the passage- way for the canoe, and of sufficient size to accommo- date the whole family. We took the precaution to cut and stick down bushes at the mouth of the cave, both when we were in and out of it, so that the place of entrance would appear like the rest of the bank, and thus prevent discovery. The fact that the banks of Otter creek were sought at this time by the traveler and adventurer as a more safe guide than marked trees or uncertain footpaths, rendered this precaution the more necessary."
Mrs. Story used to relate an incident connected
229
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
with this subterraneous retreat, which seems to be of some importance, as it corroborates the truth of other facts in connection with this remarkable woman. It was as follows:
A woman by the name of had been made captive by the Indians, but was so far advanced in pregnancy that she was unable to keep up with her captors on their journey, and so, loitering behind, was at last left to find her way back to her friends the best way she could. This woman found an asylum at the house of Mrs. Story, and by her was protected and cared for during her confinement.
The time, place, or circumstances of the birth of the child cannot be related at this late day ; but it is certain that the child was born, and gave Mrs. Story's family great anxiety and trouble, on account of its crying when they were in the cave, as this might lead to a discovery of their nightly abode. In fact, their fears were shortly realized, under the fol- lowing circumstances.
Very early one morning, before the inmates of the cave had taken their departure, Ezekiel Jenny, well known to Mrs. Story as a tory, was passing by on foot, on the bank of the creek, when his attention was arrested by the crying of a child. At this unex- pected sound he stopped and listened, and finally waited until Mrs. Story pushed her canoe, with its
A
230
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
precious freight, into the creek, from its retreat hith- erto so obscure and safe.
When the party in the canoe landed at their usual place, sixty or seventy rods below, Jenny interrro- gated Mrs. Story concerning some of the movements of the whigs, to whom she gave evasive and dissatis- factory answers. This exasperated Jenny, "and," to use her own language, "he threatened to shoot me upon the spot; but to all his threats I bid defiance, and told him I had no fears of being shot by so consum- mate a coward as he; and finally he passed along down the creek, and I lost no time in notifying Foot and Bentley that tories were within our borders; and immediately all the whigs who could be raised were set upon their track, and overtook them the same day in Monkton, and that night captured every one of them, to the number of about twenty, and delivered them up to our authorities at Ticonderoga."
It is not probable that Mrs. Story followed these tories in person, but only notified others of their presence, and helped spread the alarm.
The account given by Dr. Merrill in his historical notice of Middlebury, of the pursuit of a band of tories about this time, corresponds so nearly with the . foregoing account, that no doubt can be entertained of its truth, and that both narrations are an account of the same facts.
231
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
As Dr. Merrill received his information directly from the lips of certain ones who were actors in this affair, and since it adds another item of proof of the character of the people of whom we write, and of the age and circumstances in which they lived, it is thought proper to copy Dr. Merrill's short account of the matter, which is in the following words :
"It was ascertained that several individuals had passed through this neighborhood toward Canada, under circumstances that led to the conclusion that they were tories, and proceeding to join the enemy. Daniel Foot, Samuel Bently, and other enterprising individuals, concluded, if possible, to make a capture of them. They accordingly hurried on to the north, their number increasing as they advanced, till it amounted to about a dozen. By their scouts they found the enemy were encamping for the night in a forest in Monkton. Waiting till they were all sound asleep, they burst upon them suddenly from every quarter, shouting and making pretensions of great numbers, and took every one of them, fourteen in number. They marched them back to Daniel Foot's the next day. After spending the night they hastened them over, and gave them up to our garrison at Ticon- deroga."
There have been a great many idle and fanciful rumors circulated in regard to Mrs. Story's cave. It 19*
A
232
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
was not used after its discovery by Jenny, and before that for no very great length of time. In fact, it was designed only for a temporary retreat, for the better security of its occupants, while they secured their crops, and probably was in existence only one year, for there was nothing to support its top except the roots of trees standing about it, and without much doubt the whole fell in at the next overflow of the creek after it was made.
The place where the excavation was made, has never been disturbed by the plow, and no freshet has here materially changed the bank of the creek, so that the remains of the cave are yet visible, and quite clearly show every important feature as described by Mrs. Story.
It should be added that great sagacity and judg- ment were exercised, not only in making this cave, and using it when once made, but also in the selec- tion of the location of it, for it was located on the west side of the creek, where there was little or no travel, and where (since the log house in which most of their work was done, was on the east side) no trail would be made by their frequent entrance. It was also located at a bend in the creek, where those who navigated its waters would invariably near the oppo- site shore to save distance, and as the shore at this place is bold, nearly to a perpindicular, the dirt taken
233
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
out in the excavation, settled down beneath the water entirely out of sight.
In the latter part of December, 1776, or early in 1777, Mrs. Story and her family returned to Rutland and lived on the place now called the Simeon Chafy farm, in the north part of the town, near the line of Pittsford. Here she spent most of her winters, while nearly every summer season during the war found her at work on her farm in Salisbury.
In 1792, her sons having arrived at the age of man- hood, and her daughters being both settled in mar- riage, she was married to Benjamin Smauley, his wife having died a short time previous. They settled on the farm where Paul Pratt now lives, and there re- mained until about 1805, when Mr. Smauley, from advanced age and infirmity, found it necessary to give up business and spend the remainder of his days with his son Imri, on the farm on which he first settled, in the southerly part of Middlebury.
He died in 1808, and although he had been one of the most extensive landowners and grantees in several townships in Addison county, his estate was found to be insolvent, and his widow, who had borne so great and noble a part in bringing improvements and civil- ization into the wilderness here, was thrown upon the town as one of its paupers. She afterward sustained herself several years without being any charge to the
234
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
town, and finally, in the year 1812, was married to Captain Stephen Goodrich, one of the first settlers in Middlebury, and lived comfortably and happily with him, on a farm in the northern part of this town, near Amos Goodrich's, until her decease, which occurred April 5th, 1817. She was seventy-five years of age, and was buried in the graveyard of District No. 1, in Middlebury.
After the commencement of the revolutionary war, Joshua Graves moved back as far as Rutland, but re- mained there but a short time before he and his boys returned to their farm in Salisbury again (this was in the summer of 1776), and built another house in the place of the one destroyed by the Indians, harvested their wheat which had been sown the year before, prepared their land and sowed another crop, and in September, returned again to their family in Rut- land.
Mr. Graves, not regarding this hazardous experi- ment of settling a new country in time of war, moved his family again to his farm, early in the spring of 1777, with the intention of making a permant settle- ment. Ile planted corn on the interval land near Ot- er creek, and while hocing it one day, sometime in the month of June of that year (we have the story from the mouth of Jesse Graves), he and his boys suddenly discovered a large party of Indians coming
235
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
upon them from the north. It would have been an easy matter to conceal themselves, if they had had a minute's notice of the approach of the enemy, but being occupied in their work, and their sight being intercepted by the woods on the north, before they were aware of it, the Indians were close upon them, some approaching by land, but the greater number by bark canoes in the creek. There was a boy at work with them, about fourteen years old, who started to run, but Mr. Graves ordered him to stop, as the sav- ages would be more apt to shoot him while endeavor- ing to make his escape.
The Indians soon came up and ordered them all, Joshua Graves, Jesse Graves and the boy, to give up their work and go along with them. So they all went on together up the creek, and stopped over night on the farm now called the Kelsey place. Here the In- dians found a pair of oxen, and butchered one, of them to provide their evening and morning meal. From this place they passed up the creek and made a halt at the house of Jeremiah Parker, who then lived on the farm now owned by Ebenezer Jenny. On looking over Mr. Parker's house, the Indians found a quantity of maple sugar, about two hundred pounds, which they took out of doors, aud, having assembled around it, held what they called a pow-wow.
The party being large, numbering about two hun-
236
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
1
dred and fifty, the sugar was nearly exhausted in eat- ing and wasting, before the journey was resumed. Nothing was taken from Mr. Parker except the sugar, and his house was left without having suffered any damage. There was, however, another lot of sugar, of about the same quantity with that destroyed, in the house, but which was passed by undiscovered.
Having regaled themselves at Mr. Parker's expense, the Indians made a captive of him, and all set out for the south, no one of the captives knowing for what they were taken, or where they were going. They soon arrived at Neshobe, (Brandon), where they were placed under the care of an Indian guard, and con- ducted to Lake Champlain, near Ticonderoga, where they, together with a part of the guard, were placed on board a British vessel and taken to Montreal.
Here the Indians demanded of the chief officer of the British forces at that place, the bounty for "rebel heads ;" but the officers, after examining the case, found that these men had been taken by the Indians while in the quiet and peaceable prosecution of their labors as farmers, and decided that the prisoners ought to be allowed to return to their homes. This decision caused a good deal of murmuring on the part of the Indians, who thought they ought at least to be permitted to take the scalps of their captives as a reward for their trouble.
237
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
The prisoners, being released, were allowed to find their way back to their families the best way they could, which they did after a long and tedious jour- ney, having been absent about three weeks.
These Indians treated their prisoners well while they had charge of them, imposing no burdensome tasks upon them, and allowing them the same rations with themselves, which consisted of one tablespoonful, daily, of pounded parched corn.
This was all the food the prisoners or the Indians had, with the exception of what they so unceremoni- ously took just as they started, until they were placed on board the vessel, when the officers in the British command gave them a more generous diet.
So far as these men traveled with this party of Indians, they could discover no indication that this excursion was made for the sake of booty or mischief ; the Indians burnt no houses, nor did they maliciously destroy any property nor steal or pillage anything, except what they wanted to eat.
After learning the character and disposition of the red men of Vermont, the Messrs. Graves concluded that settling a new country in time of war, was too hazardous an undertaking for them, and determined, as soon as practicable, to leave the country until the war was over.
They returned to Rutland early in September of
1
238
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
that year, having first made a cache in the ground, in which they deposited their pewter ware, which consisted of platters, plates, basins, spoons, and a variety of other domestic utensils, of which they had a good supply, and also a few farming tools.
But on their return, in 1783, after the war, the place of their improvements had become so changed, it being overgrown with brush and briers, that they were unable to find any of their things thus deposited, nor could any of the family determine exactly where the cache was made. It is not improbable that it was discovered and robbed, and the place afterwards gradually filled up, and overgrown with brushwood.
239
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PROGRESS AFTER THE PEACE .- GRIST MILL .- FIRST BIRTH .- FIRST DEATH .- BURYING GROUND .- SCAR- CITY OF FOOD .- EARLY ROADS .- MILITARY SALUTE. - PAINTER. - FIRST REPRESENTATIVE. - GILBERT EVERTS.
WITH the exception of the families of Messrs. Graves and Story, it is believed that no one under- took to make any permanent settlement in Salisbury until after the close of the war.
Joshua Graves had a very numerous family, con- sisting of nine children, some of whom were married, and formed quite a colony by themselves. The names of these children were Simeon, Asa, Jesse, Chauncey, Millissent, Philla, Mamra, Sarah, and Barney. All of these were here as early as 1783 or 1784. After this time the town began to have some prospect of a permanent settlement, and the people in Connecticut, who had previously had an interest here, began to feel encouraged.
About this time also came Col. Thomas Sawyer,
20
240
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
and as before noticed, started a grist mill near Salis- bury village, a thing of no little importance at this carly day. This mill was the only one of the kind, the only mill at which grain could be ground, in a very extensive region of country about it ; and as there were no roads leading to it for quite a long time, the people were compelled to carry their grain to it on their shoulders, except when the waters of Otter creek and Leicester river could be made available for that purpose.
This mill was patronized by many quite distant towns. Bridport, Addison, Weybridge and other towns equally as distant in other directions, came here to get their grain ground. The people in the western towns brought their grain to the bank of the creek, and then placed it in boats, which afforded quite an easy means of conveyance, through the wa- ters of the creek and Leicester river, to within about eighty rods of the mill. From this point they were compelled to carry their grists to and from the mill, on their backs.
In 1784, Daniel Foot erected a grist-mill in Mid- dlebury, which went into operation in the latter part of November or first of December of the following year. After this time, Sawyer's mill lost the patron- age of Middlebury and its adjacent towns.
The first child born in Salisbury was Joshua Graves.
241
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
This was the second child of Chauncey Graves, he hav- ing had one child, Lucy, a little more than a year old, when he moved into town. This boy was born July 9th, 1785, when his father lived on the sand knoll, a little northerly of the place now occupied by William Thomas. This place is marked by a few apple trees which Chauncey Graves set out at the very commence- ment of his settlement. Mr. Graves made a very pleasant place for his home on this hill, and sur- rounded it with such conveniences as were attain- able in those days. Among other things he had a very excellent well, which is now filled up, on ac- count of its being no longer needed in that locality.
Joshua Graves, the son, was a grandson of Joshua Graves, the first settler in town. He married Phoebe Beach, who was the late wife of the late Richard Whitney.
In addition to the names of those who were settlers in 1783, already noticed, mention might be made of Samuel Kendall and William Kendall, and among those who came in 1784, were Elisha White, Widow Holdman and family, Eleazer Claghorn, Abe Watrous, Josiah Farnham, William Pratt, Joel Newton and Widow Flagg and family.
The first death which occurred in town, except that of Amos Story already noticed, was that of Mrs. Joel Newton, who died May 2d, 1785.
242
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
It must be remarked, however, that Samuel Smith, who owned and lived on the farm near the creek, now known as the Deacon Kelsey farm, died of fever, April 18th, 1776. At the time of his death, his farm was claimed as lying within the limits of Leicester, but by the terms of the compromise of 1796, it fell to Salisbury. As the land composing his farm was ac- tually embraced within the claims of both towns, and as it finally was decided to belong to Salisbury, perhaps Mr. Smith's death may be considered the first which took place in town.
Mr. Smith was quite a remarkable man, and was well suited for the time and place in which he lived. He was well known for his great physical strength, and was said by his neighbors to possess the strength and endurance of at least three ordinary men. As an illustration of his muscular power, it is told of him, that he once carried two bushels of salt on his shoul- ders, from Ticonderoga to his farm here on the creek, his journey being necessarily nearly if not all the way through the woods.
He died at the age of about forty years, and was buried by the side of the road, on the farm on which he had lived.
In 1787, occurred the death of another person ; it was that of Ruth Latimore, aged about nineteen years. She was buried by the side of the road, a
243
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
little north of Loyal Kelsey's dwelling house. In 1790, Sam Atis, a negro who had long been an in- mate of Holland Weeks' family, died, and was buried on Mr. Weeks' farm. Two elm trees sprung up over his grave, one at his head and the other at his feet, which have since grown to a great size, and form a more permanent monument than was given to most of the white people who died about that time.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.