USA > Vermont > Addison County > Salisbury > History of Salisbury, Vermont > Part 15
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torn asunder, and many who were worthy members, expelled therefrom or ortherwise severely dealt with, because they were masons, yet nothing more was done in this town, than to exclude them from the jury boxes, and from all important town offices.
This party, in the course of a few years, exhausted itself in its own efforts, and suffered suicide for want of opposition.
Since the anti-masonic times, our people have kept an intelligent watch of the various shifts in politics, and have faithfully told their political sentiments from year to year at the ballot-box, but have left to others to fight the noisy and angry battles.
At the annual March meeting of 1825, there was an attempt made, both in Salisbury and Leicester, to unite and form one town, and to make Salisbury vil- lage a common centre ; but the remembrances of the old land controversy came up so vividly in the minds of many of the old settlers, who at that time were yet living, and the prejudices of the voters in each town were soon so much excited, that the application to unite in one body, was negatived by a strong vote in both.
Political interests are temporary, and change with the changing condition of our country, but the local interests of this town must, in great measure, ever re- main the same, and always conflict, more or less, with
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each other, so long as the boundaries of the town re- main where they now are. Salisbury has had her share, with other towns, in ecclesiastical, political and conventional difficulties. In settling new countries like this, roads are laid out and houses built which, as the country advances in improvement, are altered or moved for public convenience. Public houses are often erected at a considerable expense, which are useful only for a limited time, and are afterward pulled down at a loss to the owners. Public centres are es- tablished which often prove to be of only temporary use, and are given up or moved as required by the changing public convenience. All these changes are attended with their legitimate inconveniences and troubles. Salisbury has experienced them, and felt the strifes and conflicts to which they have given rise among her people. There was a time when it was thought the location of the Rutland and Burlington railroad, which runs through the western part of the town, would be the cause of some local jealousies, but it is pretty well agreed now by those in the east part of the town, that they enjoy most of the practical ad- vantage of the railroad, while they avoid its incon- veniences, and those living nearer the railroad are convinced that its inconveniences are more than com- pensated by their proximity to it-so all are, happily, well satisfied.
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Here we will close this short chapter, and after- ward go back and glean over the field we have passed, and gather such good grain as may have fallen by the way. It is pleasant, at this late day, to save all we can, when so much that is valuable is lost forever.
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CHAPTER XXII.
MEANS OF LIVING .- FURNITURE .- DRESS .- SOCIAL CUS- TOMS .- PERSONAL HABITS .- THE FIRST DANCE .- DAVID SHELTUS.
BELIEVING that posterity should be acquainted with the hardships, privations and sufferings of their an- cestry in settling a new and forest country, and should be familiar with the examples of industry and perse- verance here set before them, we add another chapter touching upon the circumstances in which the settle- ment of the town was commenced. The early settlers started from their native state, usually, in companies of two or more, each being provided with a knapsack of provisions, a gun, for the double purpose of defence and for securing game for food, a camp-kettle, and perhaps a few other cooking utensils, an axe and a knife-the whole being swung across their backs and shoulders, they commenced the journey of two hun- dred miles or more, on foot.
Much of this tedious journey was performed through a dense wilderness, where marked trees were their only guide, with perhaps an occasional monument or
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river described in their chart. On arriving at their forest-covered lands, the beginning was, to build a log house, the covering and floors of which they made of bark. Their beds were of evergreen boughs, laid in one corner of their scanty rooms. Chips were their plates, and the bark of large trees furnished them with tables .*
Thus begun and furnished, their axes were indus- triously and dextrously used in clearing the land, to prepare it for the reception of the wheat (which they carried a great distance on their shoulders), in antici- pation of the crop of the following year.
This being done, the settlers usually returned to their families to spend the winter, and in the latter part of the winter or following spring, again moved back with their whole family, to make a permanent
* As a saw-mill was erected at Sutherland's falls, in Rut- land, about the year 1773, those living near Otter creek, in Salisbury and in other towns, could obtain boards (which were floated down the creek), for such purposes as making doors and tables. The first table, and the only one used in the fam- ily of Holland Weeks for several years after his settlement in Salisbury, was made of the crotch of a tree, hewed tolerably smooth on one side, and rough sticks, for legs, inserted on the other, while two wide boards were nailed across the top, to complete the whole.
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settlement. Some brought beds and bedsteads with them, others made use of the plant commonly called cat-tail for bedding, but bedsteads were oftenest made by boring holes into four upright posts and inserting sharpened rails, the whole being bound together with bark twisted into a rope. Hops were also sometimes used for beds, and were considered very healthful.
Previous to the erection of mills, the settlers made their flour by pounding and sifting their grain. "This in some instances was done by burning out the top of a large stump for a mortar, and by hanging a huge pestle at the smaller and elevated end of a long, stout, elastic pole, like a well sweep. This pole, resting in the centre in the crotch of a tree, or something of that character, and fastened down at its lower end, would, by its elastic power, raise the pestle. The chief busi- ness of the operator was to apply a force that would bring down the pestle efficiently upon the grain."
Many of the oldest inhabitants will remember Graves' pestle. It was a bombshell that had been picked up during the war.
Household furniture was usually of the coarsest kind, though in some instances, chairs, cases of draw- ers, tables and table furniture, were brought with the emigrants, but nearly every family, even if they had a few chairs, used benches made of slabs. Some brought pewter platters, plates, basins, cups and spoons
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with them, while others used wooden trenchers, trays, and even wooden spoons.
Trays of all sizes, varying in capacity from a pint to several gallons, were in use, and were generally made of poplar. We have often been both a witness and a participator in the custom of setting the large six-quart dish in the centre of the table, while half a dozen or more children stood around it, each with a spoon, partaking of his homely but healthful repast of samp and milk.
Poplar trays were the only vessels used for "set- ting" milk in this town, for many years after the settlement commenced, and when made with skill and finish, as they usually were, and kept clean, they were an ornament to the kitchen and milkroom.
The good housewives and daughters, took great pride in the care of their wooden and pewter ware, and in the general order of the house. The clean, whitened floor, the cot in one corner, and the dresser in another; the open cupboard on which were dis- played the shining pewter, and the poplar dishes of ivory whiteness, all arranged upon their edges, to rep- resent the phases of the moon ; the spinning-wheel, the loom, and the Bible lying upon the shelf by the window-all these bespoke the industry and domestic care of the mother, and formed a suggestive picture of the happy simplicity of the times.
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The first improvement in making tables, was made about the year 1790, when they commenced turning them of black cherry. Table legs were turned by means of a spring-pole, similar to the one already described for pounding grain, though much smaller. To the end of this pole was attached a strong line or cord (usually of raw hide), which passed down around the stick of timber to be turned, and thence down to a treddle below, so that the operator, by the pressure of his foot, could give the stick a rotary motion, which would be reversed by the elasticity of the pole, when the pressure of the foot was removed, thus leaving the stick ready for another chip of the chisel. Posts and rounds for making chairs, and even bed-posts, were turned in lathes of this kind as late as 1808.
The settlers exercised much ingenuity in making furniture, tools, and the various articles of household convenience. They illustrated the truth of the max- im, that "necessity is the mother of invention." Col. Sawyer's family did all their baking, for more than a year, in an oven built upon a stump. The foundation of the oven was a large, flat stone, well embedded in mortar, made of clay and sand, spread upon the top of the stump. Its upper part was made of the same kind of mortar, fashioned in the proper shape and size, over a mound of chips laid upon the stone. The whole being thoroughly dried, and the
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chips afterward burnt out, left a very convenient and comely oven. Cooking-stoves were first introduced in 1818, and sixty dollars each was paid for the two first stoves of this character, exclusive of pipe.
Horses, cattle, and sheep, were allowed to run at large in the woods, and all soon learned to come home at night, where, near the dwellings of their owners, they might be protected from the attacks of wild beasts. The horse wore a bell, as did also the lead- ing cow and the old ewe, each bell having a different tone to indicate the whereabouts of the different ani- mals.
Most of the early settlers had a strong belief in the moon's influence on vegetation, and were governed by her phases in all their farming movements. The moon determined the time of butchering cattle and hogs, of cutting timber, pruning trees, sowing seed, and performed other important offices. Flaxseed, by their rule, must needs be sown when the moon was in the wane, and, if possible, at the time it was nearest the shape of a flaxseed ; and if sowing could not be accomplished in April, a delay of the full term of four weeks, until the decline of the moon of May, neces- sarily took place.
Calves were weaned according to the lunar rule, otherwise it was supposed both they and the cows would nearly kill themselves in lowing. All animals
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designed for the meat-barrel were butchered during the increase of the moon, otherwise the meat would surely "shrink in the pot." Somepretended to deter- mine, by their lunar science, their future prosperity or misfortunes, and taught their children many foolish su- perstitions in connection with it.
But the great intellectual improvements of the last half century have taught the farmer to prepare his land in the best season, and to sow his seed when his land was best prepared to receive it, to butcher his meat when in a proper condition, and to learn from the moon the lessons she was designed to teach, rather than make her the means of inculcating pernicious and superstitious notions, to which the mind of those days was especially inclined.
: Although most of those notions have been forgotten or are preserved only as curiosities of the past, yet few who were born and received their first impres- sions before the commencement of the present cen- tury, can entirely rid themselves of them, or at least will stop before the new moon and ask themselves over which shoulder they saw it first.
All the clothes for men, women and children, were manufactured in their own houses. Flannels were often colored in a decoction of the butternut bark, and of that of other trees by way of variety, but dyeing was mainly confined to indigo blue. The blue-dye
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tub stood in every one's chimney corner, and was always some one's favorite seat. Home-made linen called linseywoolsey was worn by females in warm weather. The women wore petticoats and short gowns (we use the names of their own time,) and high- heeled shoes.
Young men and boys wore flannel and tow frocks and trowsers, and checkered shirts. The boys and a great many of the men went barefooted during the summer season, and usually boys went without hats during the warm weather, until they were ten or twelve years old, and even then, one hat often suf- ficed for two boys, the one wearing it until he lost it, and it was found by the other, who wore it in turn, until it was lost again.
The settlers, both men and women, allowed their hair to grow to quite an extravagant length, and to hang down their backs in a queue, braided and firmly wound with black silk ribbon. Those who had but little hair, added an artificial queue to supply the de- ficiency, and on many public occasions the men were seen with heads quite white with the powdering of wheat flour.
The old Connecticut fashions of dress were sus- tained in Salisbury for a long time, probably longer than in the state from which they were brought. The men wore short breeches, long stockings, garters,
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and shoe and knee buckles. Cocked hats were worn by all Congregational ministers as late as 1798; in- deed they were sometimes seen, together with the powdered wig, as late as 1813.
In 1798 a cloth-dresser established his business in town, after which the females began to appear, on public occasions in clothes more nicely colored and dressed, and men to wear fulled cloth, so far as each could afford the expense of fulling and dressing.
The dresses of the settlers would be a great curi- osity to the present generation-quilted petticoats, short gowns, high-heeled shoes, scarlet cloaks, quilted hoods, muffs nearly as large as a barrel, tippets which passing around the neck, crossed the breast and tied behind-and all manufactured of home-made cloth from native sheep, or of furs home-caught and home- dressed. There was great emulation among the fe- males to outdo their neighbors in carding, spinning and weaving. To be able to work well was fashiona- ble, then. A sufficient quantity of wool and flax was usually raised to afford constant employment at the distaff, wheel and loom.
A great profit was annually realized from the fe- male labor, for by it not only were their own families clothed, but the surplus cloths always found a ready sale. So much dependence was placed upon female industry, that the prosperity of each family was in
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great measure estimated by the quantity and quality of their domestic manufactured cloths.
As the settlement of the country advanced, new in- ventions sprang into existence. One of the first of these, of great use in domestic life, was the wool- carding machine. Artemas Nixon brought one of these machines into Middlebury, in 1807, and carded wool for eight cents per pound. This was considered a great curiosity, as well as a valuable invention ; and nearly every one went to see it, and give it more or less patronage. This caused some dissatisfaction among some of the older people (as inventions always do), who gave expression to fears that if the hand- cards were laid aside, female industry would decline, and many imaginary disasters follow. But indolence has never been a characteristic of New England wo- men ; and though one invention has followed another in rapid succession, to relieve them in their various toils, no material change can be noticed in their hab- its of industry. The time they were once compelled to devote to hard and slavish manual labor, is now directed to the higher calling of self-culture and in- struction of the youth, cultivating in themselves and others those better tastes and thoughts which mark the state of a higher civilization.
The first great gathering of young people for a dance or ball in Salisbury, was on the occasion of the
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marriage of Henry Kelar and Patty Story, October 9th, 1794. It took place at the house of Holland Weeks, this being the only house in town of suitable dimensions to accommodate so large a party. Invita- tions were sent to Brandon, Middlebury and Cornwall, to make up the company, which numbered about fifty. Society at that time had not the exclusiveness of the present day ; the country was so sparsely settled, and all families were so dependent on each other, that none were rejected, unless notoriously bad.
Dancing was an amusement to which most of the people gave their approval, and was considered equal, if not superior to any other amusement for the refine- ment of the manners of the youth.
But they had many other recreations, which they entered into with great zeal, especially those of an active kind and requiring muscular strength in their participation. On occasions of public gatherings, ex- cept Sundays, after the business of the day was done, the men and boys indulged in sports and games. The game of ball, wrestling and jumping, were very popu- lar sources of amusement.
The leading men of the town did not hesitate to en- ter the wrestling ring and show their strength and skill in the presence of the crowd who stood about them.
Many excelled in feats of strength of which many
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instances might be given, but time and space will hardly allow them to be inserted in this work.
These games and sports were always conducted in the utmost good-humor, until the advent, about the year 1800, of two or three very quarrelsome men. To be defeated in any of these amusements was to them a cause of war. To fight was their sport. It was their custom to create disorder on every public occasion, and even the civil authority failed to re- strain them. But there happened to be a man in town named David Sheltus, who effected for these men what the law and moral suasion had failed to do, and his name should be chronicled as one of our most useful citizens. Although he was a coarse, homespun, full- blooded Dutchman, he was a peace- maker.
Being a man of large stature and prodigious strength, he concluded, with the assent of the civil authority, to take the responsibility of preserving peace on public occasions, upon his own shoulders.
He soon had an opportunity to administer his first lesson, for on the next public day he found one of these men commencing a " free fight " in a tavern in the village. Sheltus, without any apparent excite- ment, walked up to the offender, and taking him by the collar with one hand, and by that part of his trowsers called the seat, with the other, threw him
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headlong through the bar-room door, several feet into the street, and at the same time publicly de- clared that there should be no more quarreling or fighting in this town as long as he lived in it.
This precedent was of great use in preserving order for a long time, for at the approach of every public day, the civil authority would give Sheltus notice (for he lived in a retired place) so that he was , always in attendance, and his presence alone com- manded perfect obedience and good order. So closely did he watch these men that they concluded that Salisbury was not the best field for the exercise of their peculiar talent, and in the course of a few years, all left town for parts unknown.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
WILD ANIMALS .- WALK WITH THE WOLVES .- ENCOUNTER WITH A PANTHER .- AMOS AND THE BEAR .- FIGHT WITH THE INDIANS .- MILITARY MATTERS.
AT the the time the settlement of Salisbury began, wolves were very numerous throughout all these re- gions, and were a great terror both to the traveler and to the inhabitants. They have been known to follow a traveler, in companies of a dozen or more, for a whole day, in order to attack him by night. It was supposed by some, that they had acquired a relish for human blood during the war between the French and English, which had closed but a short time before; but undoubtedly this appetite is natural; and the in- conveniences which the settlers suffered from it were in no way enhanced by a previous gratification of it.
These beasts, without doubt, did more injury in the destruction of domestic animals, than all other wild beasts together. With the exception of an occasional loss by the bear, the wolverine, the lynx and the wild cat, the great numbers of sheep, and other small
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domestic animals which were lost, were taken by the wolves.
Those of the settlers who kept any small animals, kept them in yards, at night, which were generally very near, and often adjoining their houses, and were enclosed by a very high and close fence. Sheep, hogs, and calves, were always kept in yards, at night.
Captain Stephen Goodrich, one of the first settlers in Middlebury, when an officer in the American rev- olution, had occasion to travel through this part of the country, on foot of course, unaccompanied, except by his little dog. At that time, most of the settlers had been driven away by the Indians, and their houses burnt down, which rendered it difficult to find places of protection for the night.
Mr. Goodrich having no guide except marked trees, his progress was necessarily slow; and in one in- stance he found himself overtaken by night, far from . the place of any settlement. Soon after sundown, he heard the howl of a wolf, which was following upon his track. This howl was soon answered by an- other, in a different direction, and this again by an- other, until five were known to be joined in the pursuit.
Mr. Goodrich hastened on as fast as possible, with some hope of escaping an attack by reaching some house before dark ; but he was so delayed by the ob-
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scurity of the way, and by his little dog, which, through fear, kept so close to his master as to inter- fere with his footsteps, that darkness came on while he was yet in the woods, and quite a great distance from any settlement. In the meantime the wolves, thirsting and yelping for his blood, had arrived with- in a few dozen yards distant, in the rear, when it was found necessary to use every means to keep them at bay. In the first instance he fired at them, knowing nothing of the execution of his shot, it being so dark ; and although the discharge of his gun seemed to frighten, and scatter them for a time, they soon organ- ized and followed on as before. Not having time to reload his gun, and not daring to turn and face the en- emy, Mr. Goodrich next tried the experiment of flash- ing powder in the pan of his gun, whenever the wolves approached him, which he found to be a very successful experiment ; for the wolf is frightened at a sudden and bright light. By a repetition of this, he at last reached the place of his destination, after spending several hours in the greatest anxiety and fear.
The panther, though seldom seen, was considered the most dangerous animal that infested this coun- try. Two, only, have been met in this town, which were known of a certainty to be panthers. One of these was found by Mr. Samuel Holman and two
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companions, about 1785, when on an excursion among the hills east of Lake Dunmore. These men discov- ered this panther lying upon a flat rock on the side of the mountain, apparently asleep, and, very natu- rally, undertook to wake him by a volley of bullets from their guns. After firing several charges with- out any effect, they approached the spot where the animal lay, and found that he had been killed in a conflict with some other animal-probably by one of his own species.
The other panther was seen by the writer in Dec- ember, 1809. The circumstances were as follows : At a barn standing in the meadow some distance from our house, was kept our young stock and a breeding mare. Wishing to go away from home one evening, I concluded to ride, and started to catch this horse, but finding the night very dark, I returned and took a lantern. When about equi-distant from the house and barn, I met about half of the young cattle on a rapid walk, as if they had just stopped running, and a little farther on, I observed that a yearling had hid himself behind a log heap in a thicket of flags. The horse not being with them I went on to the barn-yard, and found that the remainder of the cattle had passed out in the opposite direction. I then commenced cal- ling them, when suddenly my attention was arrested by some animal about midway in the eastern part of
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