USA > Vermont > Washington County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury, Vermont, 1763-1915 > Part 20
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An early Roman Catholic mission in Waterbury was at- tended at intervals by Reverend Father O'Callaghan of Bur- lington, and also by the missionary priest, Father J. Daley. Also at intervals visits were made by Reverend Hector Drolet, the Oblate Fathers of Burlington, Reverend Z. Druon and Father Duglue, who was stationed at Montpelier. The first church edifice, built by the Roman Catholic Church in Water- bury, was one dedicated to St. Vincent Ferrier in 1857, and stood on a hill to the east of the railroad and a short distance from the station. This building was enlarged ten years later by Father Duglue. Reverend John Gallighan came to take charge in 1869. Eight years later, Father Gallighan pur- chased a residential property on Upper Main Street and the Adventist Church property adjoining. This latter was con- verted by him into a suitable place for Catholic purposes. The house adjoining was turned into the parochial residence, now the home of Father Robert Devoy.
The church was dedicated as St. Andrew's Catholic Church, November 30, 1876, and the church property is valued at $25,000. The interior of the church presents a pleasing aspect. The walls, ceilings and altars are tastefully decorated. The seating capacity is three hundred and fifty. The com-
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municants and Catholic population in Waterbury in 1915 are one hundred and sixty-five families.
The first settled priest in Waterbury was Father Gallighan. He remained here eighteen years. After his departure there was a fifteen-year interval when Waterbury again became a . mission, attended in order by Reverends Brelivette, McConly, Father Donahue now of Northfield, Father Blais in 1895, Father Mclaughlin and Father Maillet, until January, 1903. Those following were: Reverend J. A. Lynch, Reverend J. A. Cahill in 1904-1905; Reverend P. J. Doheny, 1905-1909; Reverend Daniel Coffey 1909-1913. The Right Reverend Monsignor Cloarec, vicar general of the Diocese, now eighty- two years of age, said Mass in Waterbury fifty-seven years ago.
The present resident priest is Reverend Father Robert Devoy. Ordained in Sherbrooke, Province of Quebec, No- vember 29, 1903, Father Devoy became assistant at the Church of Holy Angels in St. Albans. He was born in the diocese of Nicolet, Province of Quebec in 1876, and received his education in Nicolet and St. Laurent's colleges. He completed his theological studies at the Seminary of St. Charles Borromee, and was ordained by Bishop Larocque. He was appointed to his present charge in Waterbury in 1914, and has charge also of the neighboring churches of Moretown and Stowe.
Library facilities in Waterbury are good and are growing better. Mr. A. H. Smith, in a comparatively recent paper, pointed out that, at the time of which he wrote, Burling- ton, with her number of volumes exceeding Waterbury's seven- fold and her population six times as large, had only four and one-half times as large a circulation. This in Waterbury, for the time named, averaged 17,000, or 5,125 more than the average of 12,125 for the five towns of Barton, Fairhaven, Lyndon, Northfield and Randolph. These are next in size to Waterbury, with an average population of 3,220, as against Waterbury's 3,273.
In tracing the library beginnings, locally, it is necessary to go back to the time when the Colby brothers came here in
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1856. George and Edwin A. Colby brought with them some- thing more than a capacity for inspiring their neighbors to industrial effort. The eldest brother, assisted by the younger brothers, his mother and sister, set about planning for a place where the young could derive entertainment of an instructive nature and foster a love for reading and culture. These early efforts resulted in the organization of a so-called lyceum at whose weekly meetings papers were read and momentous questions debated.
These intellectual festivities were varied from time to time by the advent of the "platform lecturer"-an institution now fast passing into a memory. These platform lecturers did not derive their characterization from the fact that they were at any time rash enough to attempt to reconcile political plat- forms with performances, but from their custom of speaking from a platform or rostrum. Naturally the lyceum created a demand for reading and this was met by the organization of an association and the purchase of about five hundred books. The number of accessions was small for the next ten or twelve years and the inevitable reaction against letters followed their sudden renaissance, as has been noted elsewhere. It was neatly put in Hemenway's "Washington County Gazetteer": "But after the novelty of the first few years had worn away, the very inexpensiveness of its advantages seemed to diminish its usefulness, since some estimates value only by cost." The library was kept alive in some way, however, and in 1882 there were several hundred books in charge of Mr. George W. Ken- nedy as assistant librarian.
A new impetus was given the movement in 1887-1888 under the leadership of Reverend Charles M. Sheldon, now a noted Congregational clergyman of Topeka, Kansas. We are en- abled to give something of the details of organization through the courtesy of Mr. A. H. Smith, from whose paper the follow- ing is an extract:
A corporation was formed under the Laws of Vermont to be known as the Waterbury Public Library Association. The capital stock was to be one thousand dollars, to be divided into one thousand shares at one dollar each. None of the subscription to the stock was to be valid unless five hundred shares were sold before May 1, 1888. The first four subscribers
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to this stock were Mr. Sheldon, G. W. Randall, C. C. Warren and Doctor Henry Janes. The necessary amount of stock was subscribed for and the first meeting of the association was called for June 22, 1888. The organi- zation was completed and the real management of the association placed in the hands of seven trustees to be elected by the shareholders. These trustees were W. P. Dillingham, C. E. Richardson, L. H. Elliott, Mr. Sheldon, Mrs. Henry Janes, Mrs. Mary Atherton and Mrs. W. P. Dilling- ' ham. At the next meeting held July 9, it was voted to receive the books of the Waterbury Library Association (those bought under the leadership of Mr. Colby) and to issue to each member of that association one share of the stock of the Waterbury Public Library Association, and the secretary was directed to issue said stock to a list of the shareholders. Thus these books, which had been stored for several years in the office of George W. Kennedy, were turned over to the present association and became a part of their stock. The association obtained the room, now occupied by Mr. Douglass as a barber shop, for the library. Miss Etta Straw was appointed librarian, and the library was formally opened to the public November 24, 1888. The first report of the circulation of the library was in 1900, when the records state that 1,000 books had been taken out during the year. During 1912 over 20,000 were taken out, showing the increased interest and usefulness of the library. In 1904 it was voted by the association to lend the books of the association to the town of Waterbury, if said town would vote to maintain a Free Public Library. An article containing this offer was placed in the warning for the town meeting and was passed over by the voters. The association then offered to receive and care for the books owned by the town (which had been secured by state aid) and this offer was accepted. The association also voted, in 1907, "That we extend to all legal residents of the town of Waterbury the free use of all books contained in the library, provided that said town shall furnish and maintain a suitable room for said books and furnish a librarian to care for same." This was accepted and the present room secured. The munificent endow- ment from the Horace S. Fales Estate became available at this time and the future prosperity of the association seemed assured. For twenty years it had been resolutely maintained by an earnest band of book lovers. They had given of their time and their talents without price. Funds for new books and current expenses had been raised in various ways-lectures, entertainments, ice cream sales, and soliciting. Many of the original founders had passed away and their places had been filled by new recruits. The history of our library is similar to that of thousands of others scattered all over our country. Nearly every library in our state has grown up in this same way. Scarcely one of them had a home ten years ago; very few had an assured income with which to purchase books.
In response to a request for information from Reverend Charles M. Sheldon, a letter was received from him from which an interesting excerpt is given:
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I think that I can truly say that in some ways the town of Waterbury at that (1887-1888) time was an ideal town in its social and educational life. We organized, the first winter, a reading club, composed of all the young people in the town. We read through aloud Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities," with historical research work connected, and at the end of the year the interest was so great that we established the Waterbury Reading Room and Library. It was that same winter that the people kindly allowed me the great privilege of boarding about in their homes. I would go home with a family after the Sunday morning service and take dinner with them; go back to my room in the hotel; go back and take the supper meal with the family; go to church and return with the family after service for a Sunday evening visit. During the week usually I took dinner and supper every day with this family, visiting with the members between meals. In this way I had the great privilege of seeing, in the family life, nearly fifty differ- ent homes in Waterbury. I can never repay the great kindness and cour- tesies shown me during that time. It was an insight into the home life of the town, rarely permitted to any one outside of the family. I can truly say that my experience revealed a remarkable condition of social and educational life among the people.
I have been asked to say a word about the old "sprinkling cart," which ran up and down the Waterbury streets one summer season, laying the dust. I do not remember myself where I found the cart or who was its driver, but I do remember the amount of time I spent trying to get water down from the spring at the lower end of the street and conveying it into a tank in the upper story of a barn. I spent much valuable time doing this, which should have been used in the work of the pastorate, but I was determined to make that sprinkling cart do its work if I spent the last cent I had. I do not remember now how much it cost, but I am sure it was far more than it was worth. I feel far more repaid by the establishment of a library which, I am told, is still in existence.
My memory of my Waterbury pastorate is grateful as I recall the num- berless kind things done for me while I was there. I can never return these many kindnesses and can only express in this brief article my appre- ciation of them, as I understand now, better than I could then, what it all meant.
The library now has about 5,000 volumes, covering well- selected fiction, works of travel, biography, history, economics, sociological subjects, standard reference and the better weekly and monthly periodicals. The library needs new accessions of late critical treatises on American History, Constitutional and International Law and Government-subjects constantly being investigated at such crucial periods as this. With its present facilities, the library's affairs are efficiently adminis- tered and the books well chosen. The officers and trustees are:
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president, Willis B. Clark; secretary, A. H. Smith; treasurer, C. C. Graves; Doctor W. L. Wasson, Mark H. Moody, Mrs. George S. Bidwell and Miss Margaret O'Neill. The muni- ficent gift of a home for the library, in the will of the late Doc- tor Henry Janes, has been mentioned elsewhere.
Doctor Horace Fales' name was inseparably connected with village and town annals from 1848, when he came to Waterbury, until his death, September 15, 1882. He was born in Sharon, Vermont, February 16, 1823; was graduated at Woodstock Medical College in 1848. He had received a pre- liminary academic education at the Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire. Immediately prior to his medical course, he studied under the preceptorship of Doctor Reuben Spalding, his uncle, in Brattleboro. He sustained himself through his medical course without outside assistance. In 1851 he was married to Miss Henrietta Sheple, daughter of David Sheple. The Fales home, as has been pointed out be- fore, was on that tract of land on Upper Main Street, in the easterly part of the village, where Ezra and Azaph Butler first made their pitch in 1785; the property passed succes- sively to Richard Holden, Judge Dan Carpenter and General John Peck. It then passed from General Peck's personal representative to David G. Sheple, Doctor Fales' father-in- law, thence to Doctor and Mrs. Fales. The present building, occupied as the Hospital Annex, was built by Doctor Fales to replace his burned residence.
Doctor Horace and Mrs. Henrietta (Sheple) Fales were so much a part of Waterbury that when they died childless the town was left bereft indeed. It is recalled that Doc- tor Fales' practice was a large and exacting one. His min- istrations as physician were in request from Middlesex, Moretown, the Duxburys, Stowe and Bolton. He is described by Miss M. Morrissey, for a long time a member of the Fales household, as being about six feet in height, of about two hun- dred pounds in weight, having jutting eyebrows overshadow- ing piercing eyes. His forehead was high and massive. He wore the customary closely cropped beard of the physician. He was quick and of decisive manner, but not abrupt or
DR. HORACE FALES
FRANKLIN SYLVESTER HEARY
MRS. HORACE FALES
DR. HENRY JANES
MARK C. CANERDY
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PERIOD 1900-1915
thoughtless in demeanor. His voice was pleasant and sooth- ing in a sick room. It is said that his very presence there charged the atmosphere with healing.
He was an enthusiastic farmer and gave much of his spare attention to his magnificent farms on the meadows, which are now the Vermont State Hospital property. He was always interested in horses and cattle and was never so happy as when he was busying himself about their care and keep. Many patients in so large a territory as was covered by Doctor Fales' practice were unable to pay, at all times, even his mod- erate fees. With cheerfulness and good will he stood as ready to respond to the calls of such as to those of his more well-to-do patients. Doctor Fales' professional work and his farm left him little time for recreation; an occasional visit to Saratoga, Messina, New York, and Philadelphia, represented about the extent of Doctor and Mrs. Fales' wanderings from Waterbury.
Though absorbed in his practice and farm, Doctor Fales still found time to give to public service. He served as select- man for several terms and in other public capacities. The household consisted at different times, aside from Doctor and Mrs. Fales, of young Doctor D. W. Lovejoy, a cousin of Doctor Fales, and a medical student under his preceptorship; two nephews and one niece of Mrs. Fales who were cared for in the Fales home, and Miss M. Morrissey.
Mrs. Henrietta Fales (née Sheple) was born November 7, 1823, and died in 1906. Mrs. Fales is well remembered as a woman of remarkable strength of character. Her home and the care of the members of her household held for her ample interest and occupation. Keenly alive to the growing needs of Waterbury along cultural and educational lines, she made provision in her last will and testament for a trust fund to be known as the Horace Fales Fund "for aiding in the mainte- nance of a public library in the village of Waterbury in loving memory of my deceased husband who had a home there during the major portion of his business life and whose intimate social and professional relations with its people produced an interest in and affection for the place which it is my wish to commem- orate."
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The trust fund was in Mrs. Fales' residuary estate and the income was to be paid over to the trustees, for the time being, of the Waterbury Public Library Association, to be used in the purchase of books and periodicals. Upon the failure of the association to open its rooms for a period of two months for the distribution and exchange of books, as often as once in each calendar week, the income shall cease and the principal of the trust remaining in the hands of the trustee, or his successor, shall go to the incorporated village of Waterbury "for the ex- press purpose of establishing and helping to maintain a public library in said village under the authority and provisions of the statute law of Vermont in such case made and provided." The estimated value of the fund was found to be $15,000. By a codicil, Mrs. Fales released Honorable William P. Dilling- ham as trustee of this fund and substituted in his place and stead Mr. George W. Morse who in turn was succeeded by the Waterbury Savings Bank and Trust Company.
Mark Carter Canerdy's place in the town's chronicles is one earned by a long life of industry and useful public service. Born in Duxbury June 4, 1828, the son of John and Hannah Canerdy, he, with the eight other children, passed his child- hood at his father's home near the Bolton Falls, the present site of the electric plant of the Consolidated Company. In 1851 he married Louisa M. Corse of Duxbury, a daughter of Eben and Corina (Huntley) Corse. There were no children. Mrs. Canerdy died in 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Canerdy started housekeeping at what was afterwards known as the John Preston place. They moved into the village from there, and of their forty years' residence here they spent thirty years in their Main Street home.
Mr. Canerdy was extensively engaged in dealing in live stock and was one of the pioneer drovers of this vicinity, often- times driving large herds to the Boston market, an enterprise attended with great labor and risk. He was chosen selectman by his fellow townsmen and, during his term, succeeded in reducing the indebtedness of the town, thereby calling atten- tion to his ability as a financier. While engaged in this work he was asked by the stockholders of the Waterbury National
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WATERBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDING Gift of the late Dr. Henry Janes
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PERIOD 1900-1915
Bank to act as a director; he accordingly became a member of the board in 1899. In 1904 he became the vice-president of the bank and continued in that office until his death, Septem- ber 20, 1910. It was during his connection with the bank that Mr. Canerdy's firm friendship for young business men was often shown in a practical and substantial way. Many a young man of the community has profited by his advice and assistance financially. Such a man naturally became influen- tial and the depositary of his neighbor's perplexities and aspira- tions, in spite of himself; but he was ever ready with a kindly word and helpful hand.
Like many another modest benefactor, Mr. Canerdy chose to continue to render service to his townspeople after his death. This he accomplished by his last will and testament, dated December 20, 1905, under which he devised and bequeathed to the Congregational Church, located in Waterbury Village, and the Waterbury Public Library, share and share alike, the residuary part of his estate, subject to a life estate of its use and income to Emma A. Manning, who had acted as house- keeper in the Canerdy home after Mrs. Canerdy's death. Emma Manning died October 24, 1912, and the share of the residue of the estate in the hands of the trustee for the Public Library Association was found to be $10,000.
It would be beyond the scope of this attempt to do more than outline the educational work done in the town. We have seen how the matter of education lay very near to the hearts of the early settlers and how difficult it was to make provision for the housing of the schools. As early as November 3, 1801, the Legislature passed an act creating the "Corporation of the Chittenden County Grammar School," and naming Benjamin Wait, Richard Holding (Holden?), John Cray, Styles Sher- man, John Peck, David Austin, Asaph Allen and William Utley as trustees; the act contained a proviso that the town should "build and finish a good and sufficient house of the value of $700 within two years." It has been noted elsewhere how far short the town fell of carrying out this proviso. As time went on, the two original school districts were subdivided into new districts, these being added as occasion required.
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The action of the Legislature in 1801 erecting the Corpora- tion of the Chittenden County Grammar School had been preceded by action at the March meeting of the town in 1791 warned "to see if the town would take any measures for the promotion of schools." A committee, consisting of John Craig, Reuben Wells and Caleb Munson, was appointed to set apart the two school districts of the town. Waterbury River was made the dividing line between the two. For a long time each district worked out its own salvation as best it might. The subdivision of the districts was made neces- sary, of course, by the scattered condition of the town's population.
About the year 1872, the town was in receipt of a small income arising from public land rentals, interest on the general government surplus money and the state school tax, amount- ing in all to less than $1,200. This was parcelled out among the districts and was made to go as far as possible. The main or village district had a graded school for the support of which a 50-cent tax on the dollar of the grand list was voted. This school was the first to be housed comfortably. The old school- house, standing near the Dillingham homestead on Main Street, was moved away by its purchaser, James Hattie, to a site on what is now known as Elm Street in the autumn of 1900.
The present beautiful and commodious school building is the outcome of a resolution offered by William P. Dillingham at the March meeting of 1898, authorizing the school directors to purchase a site and erect a school building thereon, in the village of Waterbury, at an expense not to exceed $20,000, and to sell the old school building and site. The selectmen were also authorized to borrow a sum not in excess of $20,000.
By the education code, passed at the legislative session of 1915, a town is made to constitute a school district having a board of three directors, and the matter of appointing and regulating the tenure of school superintendents rests with the State Board of Education.
The Waterbury High School has gradually been develop- ing its courses of study to meet the increasing demands of pres- ent day life. The University of Vermont has had a control-
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PERIOD 1900-1915
ling influence upon secondary education in this state and, when that institution joined the Association of Colleges of New England, many Vermont high schools found their facili- ties inadequate for the new requirements. In 1908, one teacher was added to the high school faculty and, with the introduction of new subjects, an effort was made to gain the certificate privilege for the school. The splendid results ob- tained by the class of 1911 in college entrance examinations won for the Waterbury High School the approval of the New England College Entrance Certificate Board. Since then our students have entered college without examination.
However, the majority of boys and girls must finish their education in the public schools and they have a right to de- mand courses of study which will fit them for their chosen occupations. With such a purpose in view, the college pre- paratory course was more closely defined and, in 1914, a com- mercial course was successfully instituted. A further im- provement will be made in 1915 by the establishment of a course in agriculture, under the supervision of a special teacher. Thus, the Waterbury High School, with a staff of four instruct- ors, is doing a work which will compare favorably with that of other similar schools.
The number of students has gradually increased. In 1907, the enrollment was forty and, in 1914, seventy. During the past eight years, the High School has graduated fifty-seven students, seventeen boys and forty girls. Of these students, twenty-four entered college, seven qualified by examinations as teachers, two pursued normal teacher training courses, three became nurses, five entered business college, two studied music and art, and eleven took up miscellaneous work, such as business and housekeeping. The school has lost, by the removal of families to other towns, a number of students who have entered college after work done in the Waterbury High School. Furthermore, a number of students who were not graduated, have used their preparation for teaching, business and other pursuits.
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