USA > Vermont > Addison County > Salisbury > History of Salisbury, Vermont > Part 14
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In the meantime the matters of difficulty between the church and some of the leading men of the so- ciety were constantly increasing. Proposals had been made by Mr. Claghorn and others for cutting out or modifying some of the articles of faith in the church, but without effect.
And just about this time, the church brought charges and allegations against Holland Weeks, for
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immoral conduct, and held a kind of trial of him, but being unable to sustain their allegations by proof, he was acquitted.
Not satisfied with this attempt, they presented spe- cific charges against Daniel Saxton, Christopher John- son, Eleazer Claghorn, William Copeland and Henry Kelar, not only for immoral conduct on the part of some, but especially for opposition to the church and for helping forward schismatic meetings, on the part of all.
A council of clergy was called several times in the space of a year or two, but their advice did but little toward effecting reconciliation and harmony.
An occurrence took place about the middle of May, 1804, which operated, for a short time, to allay this excitement, and was expected for some time to be the cause of bringing the two parties together.
One Sunday morning, after the people had assem- bled at Mr. Saxton's barn for worship, it was ascer- tained that a missionary from Connecticut had met with the church, at the school-house but a few rods distant, and was to preach there that day.
Wishing for the benefits of this opportunity to hear preaching themselves, the society delegated Mr. Sax- ton to go over and invite the missionary and the church to come and hold the meeting in the barn, where all the people could be better accommodated
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with room and seats. This request was so reasonable, that it could not be met with a denial, and the church and society once more mingled together in the wor- ship of God. This experiment worked so well, that the church and society concluded that, even though remaining separate bodies, they might unite in hiring the same minister, and both worship under the same roof.
But the church was small, and poor, and could do but little toward paying the minister's salary, or de- fraying the expenses of building the new meeting- house ; and more, it was difficult to please the society with a minister who would preach doctrines which would suit the church ; and finally it was found that the strength of both parties combined would be insuf- ficient to support a minister for a whole year-and even if it had been, their difficulties had become so fixed, and the prejudices of the people so deeply rooted against the church, that no minister could have been obtained who would have been pious enough and wise enough to control both parties, so the idea of a coa- lition was abandoned.
In the early part of the summer of 1804, Abiel Jones, both physician and clergyman, a man of much worth and learning came this way, looking for a place in which he might locate as a physician, and preach the Gospel at the same time. This was considered
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by the whole people as an instance of providential care, for by it the town could be supplied with preach- ing, let prejudices operate as they might. The ser- vices of Mr. Jones were therefore secured for a year, with the understanding that he should continue longer if all parties were pleased.
He continued in the office three or four years, and performed its duties well. He preached practical ser- mons, and dwelt much on the practical duties of the christian life. He used language adapted to the understanding of his hearers, and gave expressions to sentiments free from doctrinal and controversial objections, and at the close of his short but useful ministry here, during which many were led into the ways of the better life, he removed with his family to the state of Ohio.
Notwithstanding Mr. Jones' great prudence and wisdom, he was not the means of reconciling the church and society ; and about the time he left, the old prejudices began to revive again, and some, be- coming dissatisfied with so unpleasant a state of af- fairs, threatened to leave town. For this reason, among others, in 1807 Mr. Claghorn sold out his property here, and in the following year moved to Middlebury, where he made application for admis- sion into the church of that town. But the church in Salisbury had appointed a committee to prevent,
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if possible, his admission there. This committee made their allegations against Mr. Claghorn in wri- ting, and Dr. Merrill, pastor of the church in Mid- dlebury, notified the church here that Mr. Clag- horn's case would be heard, if required, at a church meeting on December 2d, 1808. But this appears to have been the end of the matter, for Mr. Claghorn was received as a member in Middlebury, and lived many years in that town, and adorned his profession by living a goodly life, and finally died a hopeful Christian.
Henry Kelar also sold his farm here about this time, and went to Middlebury and united with the church in that town, and many others were much dis- satisfied, and showed a strong desire to sell out and leave the place.
During this struggle for the ascendancy in religi- ous matters, which lasted about six years, the privi- leges of the ordinances of the church were very limited. Many neglected to come to the Lord's table, and many neglected the baptism of their chil- dren. The eyes of the people appeared to be more upon the success of their respective parties than upon the duties which a healthy religious sentiment and a true faith would enjoin.
Many different schemes of reconciliation were sug- gested from time to time, and new doctrines advoca-
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ted, by adopting which, it was supposed all might be pleased, but all efforts of the kind were unavailing until the year 1810.
During this year, although the people had not the ministrations of any regular minister, one of the most remarkable periods of religious interest occurred, - which the town has ever seen, and while the attention of the people was called suddenly and marvelously to the present danger of their souls, and made to think of mercy and forgiveness, they forgot their old strifes, or looked back upon them in sorrow, and came to- gether in one harmonious body. Among the results of this revival was that vote recorded in a previous chapter. " that no old matters of difficulty should be any longer brought up in objection to one another," and a slight modification of the language of the arti- cles of faith.
This long and tedious contention being at last brought to a close, a way was opened for the settle- ment of a minister, as soon as one could be obtained, and accordingly, in October of 1811, Rev. Rufus Pumroy was installed the first pastor of the church.
Matters went on very pleasantly and profitably, and the church appeared, in all respects, to be doing remarkably well under the instructions of its pastor, until about the year 1815, when a difficulty, arising principally from geographical position, sprung up 22*
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between the village, on the one hand, and the nor- thern, middle and western parts of the town, on the other. The glass factory at Lake Dunmore had gone into successful operation about two years before, and the village was rapidly increasing in inhabitants and supposed wealth. -
In addition to this, several persons who were mem- bers and officers of the Leicester Congregational Church, and who in fact, with their families, consti- tuted a majority of that church, had moved into the village, and were making preparations for moving their church with them. It had already holden seve- ral meetings in the village, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper been administered there.
All these things conspiring to the advantage of the village, gave it the idea of so much importance, that the people living there signified to the church of Salis- bury their desire and intention of withdrawing from it and uniting with that of Leicester, which was then being so happily established among them .*
It happened that at this time, quite a considerable amount of Mr. Pumroy's salary, though due was un- paid, and it had been stipulated, at the time of his settlement, that in case of any such failure in pay-
* It must be remembered that the Salisbury church, at this time was holding its meetings at the centre of the town.
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ment, he should be permitted . to preach in other places to make up the deficiency. Now but compar- atively few of the people at the village had obligated themselves to support the preaching at the centre of the town, and concluded that it would be better, or at least, more convenient, for them to secure preaching at the village for as great a part of the year as pos- sible, and made a proposal to Mr. Pumroy to come there and preach, in making up the deficiency in his salary.
This proposal Mr. Pumroy unfortunately accepted, without advising with any member of the church or society of his particular charge.
Soon after this new move, church discipline was in- stituted against several members living in the village for absenting themselves from the worship of their own church and for neglecting its ordinances, but the matter was adjusted by an agreement entered into with the derelict members, during the session of a council of ministers and delegates, holden at the vil- lage, January 24th, 1816.
At the session of this council, the church was ac- tually divided, and two Congregational societies were in existence in town for a long time, which assembled at different places of worship.
By the conditions of the agreement, both were to contribute to the support of the minister, in the pro-
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portion of two to one, that occupying the meeting- house paying the greater share; and in case either society failed to pay its proportion, the other was per- mitted to engage the services of the minister in making up the deficiency.
But it was soon found that it was impracticable to undertake to support two societies in a town of so few inhabitants, and long since both were again coal- esced in one.
The step which Mr. Pumroy took, in leaving his own charge and going to preach at the village, un- doubtedly detracted much from his influence, and consequently from his usefulness, and was the princi- pal cause of his dismission. He soon became sensi- ble that the duties of his office could be performed with greater good in some other place, and called an ex parte council to give him dismission, the members of which arrived in town, before any notice of his in- tentions had been given to the church or society, and consequently were obliged to adjourn to another day.
Mr. Pumroy supposed he was entitled to the whole of the right of land given by the charter to the first settled minister, but it was shown on the trial before the consociation, that there was an agreement, though not in writing, between him and his people, made at the time of his settlement, that if he ceased to be
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their minister within ten years, he should be entitled to only one tenth part of this right for each year of his labor, and as his services had continued only five years, by the decision of the consociation, he could justly claim no more than half the land. In compli- ance with this decision, Mr. Pumroy deeded back the other half of his right, or, to use his own words, "gave the church and society one half of his right of land, as a donation," and his connection with this church and people was dissolved.
This half thus deeded back, was again deeded to Rev. Joseph Cheney, at the time he undertook the care of the church in 1819.
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CHAPTER XX.
GAMALIEL PAINTER .- E. JONES .- WALTER SHELDON .- JOHN DYER.
GAMALIEL PAINTER Was born in New Haven, Conn., May 22d, 1742, and moved into this country in 1773. He pitched two hundred acres of land, embracing the farm now occupied by William F. Goodrich. In the autumn of 1787, he moved to Middlebury Falls, and took a prominent part in every movement which might favor the town and county in which he lived, until his death, which occurred in 1819.
Mr. Painter filled many public offices, and always performed his duties with great wisdom and effici- ency.
He was liberal in his opinions, and generous to all his neighbors. He had the foresight to see that to build up the town of his adoption, he must sell lots to emigrants at a reasonable rate, rather than retard or stop its growth by a narrow avarice. He was a liberal supporter of all public benevolent and chari- table institutions.
He was one of the original trustees of Middlebury
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College, and always took an active interest in the suc- cess of that institution ; superintended the erection of the new stone building, and gave much toward de- fraying the expense of it, and finally, in his will, made a bequest to the college, amounting to about thirteen thousand dollars.
EPAPH. JONES was a native of Hartford, Connecti- cut, and moved into this country in 1803, first settling in Middlebury, where he successfully carried on the business of a merchant for several years. During his residence in Middlebury, he introduced a new kind of sheep, which at that time was considered a great improvement on what was known as the native breed.
This new breed of sheep was well known by the peculiar reddish color of the lambs, a color retained by them several months after their birth. The Me- rino sheep being introduced soon after, the Jones sheep had no great success, though indications of their blood were often seen in Addison county, as late as 1840. In 1809, Mr. Jones moved into Salisbury and settled on the western shore of Lake Dunmore, where he commenced the work of building the glass factory. Here he took an active part in the glass-making busi- ness, until it was brought to a close at the termina- tion of the war of 1812. In 1818 he left the town
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and located in Providence, where he died, leaving no children.
It was during Mr. Jones' residence at Lake Dun- more, that an incident occurred which brought into notice the circumstances through which the lake ob- tained its present name.
One of Mr. Jones' hired men, while chopping wood on the western shore of the lake, struck his axe into a thick, heavy bottle which lay imbedded in the crotch of a tree. This fact excited a good deal of cu- riosity at the time, though it was apparent to all that the bottle must have been deposited there by some person at quite an early day, for the wood had grown over and around it so as to conceal it entirely from the sight.
The mystery of the time and circumstances of its being placed there might have remained unsolved to this day, had not the fact of its being found been told, one day, in the presence of Henry Wiswool, of Whi- ting, Vermont, who said he knew all about the mat- ter, and that Lord Dunmore placed the bottle in the tree, and that he was present and saw him do it.
Mr. Wiswool always had the reputation of being a man in whose word implicit reliance could be placed, and we do not think there is any reasonable doubt of the truth of his story.
The Earl of Dunmore was appointed colonial gov-
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ernor of New York in 1770, and served in that ca- pacity that year and in 1771. It was after he had left this office, and yet while the lands of Vermont were claimed by New York, that he, in company with a small party of gentlemen from Albany, New York, made an excursion through this part of the state, to see the character of the land, and to gratify a general curiosity. Having arrived at Sutherland's falls, they engaged the services of two Indians, who took them down Otter creek as far as Leicester, where they stop- ped and pitehed their tent for the night on a rise of ground near Jeremiah Parker's house, where Ebene- zer Jenny now lives.
Lord Dunmore here learned from Mr. Parker some- thing of the beauty of the lake which has since borne his name, and of its surrounding scenery, and of the opportunities there afforded for fishing and other sports, and determined to visit it on the following day. Henry Wiswool, who at that time was living at Mr. Parker's, offered his services as guide, which were gladly accepted, and on the following morning the party, taking their boats, went out of the creek and up Leicester river to the present site of Salisbury village, and from there on foot over the hills, to the lake.
Here, on the western shore of the lake, they took their refreshments, among which, as might have been
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expected, especially in those days, was a bottle of some kind of liquor or wine. After some time spent in the survey of the lake and its environs, it was sug- gested that the remainder of the contents of the bot- tle should be appropriated in giving a name to the lake, and that it should take the name of Lord Dun- more, and that he should perform the proper ceremo- nies. To this he assented, and then wading into the lake a few steps, poured the libation into the water, and proclaimed that, "Ever after, this body of water shall be called Lake Dunmore, in honor of the Earl of Dunmore."
This ceremony being done, the governor ordered the two Indians to bend down a small tree standing near, which they split at the point of union of its two main branches, which spread in opposite directions near its top, while he inserted the bottle between, and bound it fast, that it might not be thrown out of its place when the tree sprang back to its original po- sition.
Undoubtedly this tree was the one Mr. Jones' man cut, forty years afterward, and the bottle on which he dulled his axe, was the one placed there by the Earl of Dunmore in 1773.
WALTER SHELDON, son of Moses Sheldon, was a na- tive of Salisbury, Connecticut, and came into this town with his father, in 1810.
32 & 34 John St N.Y.
Cameron & Walsh, Lith.
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At an early age he manifested a great desire for in- tellectual pursuits, and gave promise of more than ordinary ability. On account of a want of pecuniary means, he was finally compelled to forego a classical education, and pursue only those studies afforded by ordinary schools. By industry, and perseverance, he acquired a very good education, and finally entered upon the studies of the law, in the office of Hon. Ho- ratio Seymour, of Middlebury, Vermont, and was ad- mitted to the bar of Addison county in 1811.
He was subsequently compelled to leave the pro- fession he had chosen, principally, as the author is in- formed, on account of the injurious effects of seden- tary habits upon his health, and at last entered the army. He received a lieutenant's commission in the United States army, and served in that capacity in the war of 1812. While in the army he also received the appointment of paymaster, and fulfilled its duties for a long time.
About the close of the war, his health became so much impaired as to be past recovery, and he died in 1816, of consumption.
He was a man of quick perception and good judg- ment, and possessed talents and good common sense, in more than ordinary measure.
JOHN DYER was born in Shrewsbury, Vermont, October 28th, 1802, and moved into Salisbury in the
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spring of 1834, and settled on a farm in the south- western part of the town. His business was that of an agriculturist, which he always carried on in a thorough and systematic manner, and consequently with profit. All the evidences of a good and thrifty farmer, good buildings, fences and stock, were to be seen about his premises.
He was a good business man, and prudent in all his undertakings. Not being easily led into any visionary scheme, he acted from common sense and sound judg- ment, and whatever he undertook he did well. These qualifications rendered him a fit person for town offices, many of which he held during his residence here.
On the 25th of March, 1823, he was married to Elizabeth T. Morton, with whom he lived until his death.
Mr. Dyer had five children, three of whom died of a malignant fever, in the winter of 1849 and 1850. The oldest of these, William E., taught the school in district, No. 1, four or five winters in succession, and was again teaching the same school when he was com- pelled to leave it by the sickness with which he died. He was an excellent teacher, and when he died was mourned by a large circle of pupils and friends. He spared no pains in the instruction of those under his charge, and though strict in his discipline, he seldom
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gave offence. The truth is, it is because he was so faithful that he taught his pupils so much.
Mr. Dyer held the office of one of the selectmen several years, and was justice of the peace nearly every year of his residence in town, and from time to time filled other town offices with ability and prompt- ness. In the years 1851 and 1852, he was sent to the General Assembly, and performed his duties on seve- ral important committees with credit both to himself and the town.
He was a man respected throughout all the com- mnnity in which he lived. He was frank, kind and hospitable. Being sociable in his nature, and of ge- nial domestic habits, he was much attached to all his family, and they, in turn, to him. Feeling the im- portance of a good practical education, he brought up his children to make active executive men ; and fi- nally, much lamented, died of the typhus fever, after a short sickness, on the 11th day of October, 1853.
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CHAPTER XXI.
POLITICAL PARTIES .- GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS.
SINCE the year 1816, differences, arising from geo- graphical position, have mingled with every interest in town.
It is true, ecclesiastical councils are no longer re- quired to settle local questions-indeed, religious con- troversy is now known only in history, but other questions, arising from difference of position, have arisen from time to time, and caused some excite- ment and ill feeling.
Every question is now settled by the ballot box, and ever since the year 1816, the ballot box has been the sure index of the various local feelings of the people in town.
Local prejudices increased in strength as the popu- lation increased, from 1816 to 1828, when it was found that the village and its vicinity had gained the ascendancy. The people in the northern and western parts of the town, struggled hard against it, but they were at last compelled, as early as 1828, to yield
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every important office and public interest to the vil- lage influence. ;
This difference of local interest was, for a great many years, the chief cause of excitement in strug- gles for the different town offices ; and the qualifica- tions of a candidate were, by no means, of a political character, his locality was a matter of primary con- sideration, his generosity was next thought of, and last and least his politics. Of late years these prejudices have not existed to so great an extent, or perhaps, more properly, have been of a different kind. The locality and politics of the candidate have not been considered of so much importance as the general character and style of the man.
Of course, the first politics found in Salisbury, was that of the revolutionary times, when the two great parties were Whigs and Tories. Only one tory was known to settle here, and he had no great sympathy with the party to which he nominally belonged.
The first change of political names was to that of Federalist and Democrat. The former favored the election of John Adams to the Presidency of the United States, in 1799, while the latter wished to place Thomas Jefferson in that office. These parties excited a good deal of interest in this town, which seemed to increase until the battle of Plattsburgh, when party differences were lost sight of in their combined interest in their country's welfare.
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From about 1808 to 1813, these parties were very nearly equally divided here, and gave rise to some exciting scenes at our elections, but since the latter period, politics has had comparatively little to do in the election of our town officers or representatives to the legislature.
It is true, that during the latter part of Madison's administration, the whole of that of Munroe, and a part of that of the younger Adams, the town experi- enced some seasons of more than ordinary enthusi- asm in political matters, and manifested much more party zeal than has been seen here for many years past, but they were, by no means, equal to those which went before.
To follow the subsequent doings of the different political parties, with their changes of names, would be useless, and foreign to the object of this chapter, for the town took little interest in them ; but about 1829 a political party arose in this state, and soon in- creased to an overwhelming majority, which styled itself " anti-masonic," in the frenzy of which our peo- ple had some participation. For four or five years following 1829, the masonic test was pretty thoroughly tried in our meetings, political, religious and social- but not to that extravagant degree which was seen in some of our neighboring towns. Although many of the churches in the country at that time were nearly
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