USA > Vermont > Washington County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury, Vermont, 1763-1915 > Part 3
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After clearing the ground and putting in a planting of corn, they returned to their former home in Weathersfield where
20
HISTORY OF WATERBURY, VERMONT
Ezra Butler was married, in June of that year, to Miss Try- phena Diggins. The newly married pair came to Waterbury shortly after the wedding, making the trip and carrying necessary household utensils on horseback. It is easy to understand what uncertainties attended the slipshod methods of conveyancing in those early days; defective land titles were the rule rather than the exception, as the unfortunate James Marsh had found, and as Ezra Butler discovered with reference to his original selection. Mr. Butler's brother, Asaph, having settled for himself in Richmond, was no longer able to assist in the selection, clearing and improving a new home site. This time Mr. Butler picked out a plot situated on the right- hand side of the main road near the present residence of Mr. George Wells, at the base of the hill, on what is now the Burlington road.
Here to his log cabin he brought his wife and, with his meager effects, took possession in September, 1786. This last property remained his home for the rest of his life and somprised a tract including that afterwards owned by the ctate for the purposes of a Reform School, as well as the land on which Doctor Henry Janes lived and died. The whole tract was divided after Ezra Butler's death, the portion farthest northwesterly going to Russell Butler and that nearest the village to Mrs. Henry F. Janes.
The first framed house built in Waterbury was erected by Ezra Butler; the building still stands with its steep roof and central chimney designed to furnish open fireplaces for four rooms, a few rods to the southeast of Mr. Butler's first home- site. For many years it was occupied by Mr. Russell Butler, afterwards by Deacon Parker, and now by George Wells. Here was born Polly Butler, the first white child in Waterbury, October 23, 1788. The tale of the days of the first three years of Mr. Butler's residence in his new home was nearly identical with that of the Marsh family; there were the same insistent problems of subsistence; there was the same monotonous round of toil and hardship; there were the same dangers of isolation, but with all these there was the exultation of a strong man who has tangible evidence of his prowess in accomplished facts.
EZRA BUTLER FRAME HOUSE
21
PERIOD 1763-1800
The next important date in order is the year 1790, when a warrant was issued to Ezra Butler to convoke a meeting of freemen to perfect the town organization of Waterbury, at which he was chosen as town clerk in March, 1790. Mean- while, Vermont had undergone certain vital governmental changes. The Revolution had ended in 1783, the year of Marsh's advent to Waterbury. Approximately, the period of state incubation was from 1776 to 1791; the new common- wealth had passed successively through the travail of a decla- ration of independence, the adoption of a constitution, the election of state officers and the long-desired adjustment of the rival claims of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York, to Green Mountain territory. Nationally, the Articles of Confederation of the thirteen original states had been replaced by the Constitution of 1789, and the Federal Congress declared finally on the 18th of February, 1791, that on the 4th of March, next ensuing, Vermont should be admitted "as a new and entire member of the United States of America." Thomas Chittenden had served as governor since 1778, first as chief executive of the independent state, and after 1791 continuing as the head of the new member of the Federal family of states until his resignation in 1797. The civic birth of Waterbury, then, occurred in 1790, the year before Vermont's admission to the Union, and during Governor Chittenden's administration. Up to and including the year 1799, the name of Ezra Butler appears successively in the town records in one or another official capacity, and always in connection with some local movement for growth and improvement.
The town started its municipal life with Richard Holden, Caleb Munson and E. Butler as the first selectmen, Munson serving as treasurer, Elias Marsh, son of James Marsh, as constable, and Phineas Waters, first highway surveyor and fence viewer. At a point near where Stowe Street crosses the railway the first school building was located. The daughters of Mr. Reuben Wells were teachers in a private school at or about this time. It was not until after the new century was ushered in that any attempt to build a county
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY, VERMONT
grammar school was made. This attempt proved abortive in the end for the town declined to finish the work already undertaken and carried forward in the building by private subscription. Apparently this official precedent must have had undue weight for many years afterwards as to adequate housing for the town's schools.
At the March meeting of the town in 1793 it was voted that "Swine may Run at large Being well Yolked and . Wringed," but this piece of municipal legislation suffered the fate of other ill-considered measures, for at the town meeting in 1794 it was voted that "Swine shall not Run at large." A peculiarly tough Gordian knot was required to be summarily cut at the town meeting, March Ist, 1796, in which the office of constable was involved. It was voted: "We will set up at Vendue the Office of Constable-and it was struck off to Robert Parcher who Bid three Shillings and Six pence for the Office-and procured Richard Holden for his Bondsman who was accepted by the Town"; but local patriotism triumphed temporarily for we read in the record of March 4, 1799: "Voted that we Set up the Office of Con- stable at Vendue and John Peck offered to serve as Constable without any compensation from the town and at the same time procure Good Bonds." John got the job and a new era of civic virtue began. But this era proved short-lived, for at the meeting on the 10th day of March, 1800, it was again voted: "That we set up the Office of first constable at Vendue and it is struck off to Isaac Woolson who is to receive Ninety five cents for his services and procure Good Bonds." Ephraim was joined unto his idols. Conservatism held sway in the councils of the town fathers, as witnesseth the following from the minutes of town meeting of September, 1802: "Voted not to grant to Doctr Daniel Bliss the priveledge of seting up a Pest House or Houses the insuing season for the enoculation of the small Pock." To make assurance doubly sure, at the town meeting of January, 1803, it was voted: "Not to intro- duce the small Pox into this town by inoculation."
Education was not overlooked. At the March meeting of 1803 it was voted "to raise two Cents on the Dollar on the
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PERIOD 1763-1800
Grand List of 1800 for the support of schools payable in good Wheat and six Shillings per Bushel, Rye at four & Ind Corn at three shillings the Bus1." Also "that the sum of Money received for the support of Schools be Apportioned on the Schollors from four to Eighteen years old." These excerpts from the town records are given as tending to illuminate the conditions of that trying first decade of town government. It must be remembered that the town builders were more intent upon carrying out their practical object than upon the niceties of system and cut-and-dried methods. They realized that they were confronted by a solemn duty and were looked to for results, which they undertook to accomplish without any unnecessary red tape or ceremony. They realized that there would still be plenty of time for that sort of thing after the town had emerged from its swaddling clothes.
The town was first represented in the General Assembly by Daniel Bliss in 1792. Though the government of the state approximated very closely to a true democracy, the arbitrary designations of republicans and federalists as then applied to the two great political parties, convey no distinctive signifi- cance today. The legislative power was reposed in the House of Representatives but each bill passed by the House was required to be submitted to the Governor and the Council of twelve persons for their action. If this checking body opposed any measure in its executive capacity, its passage was sus- pended until the next legislative session and the people in this way, expressed by a modified sort of referendum their approval or disapproval.
Seemingly there was no representative for Waterbury in 1793, but the line appears to have remained unbroken from the year 1794, when Ezra Butler was first chosen. Mr. Butler was reelected for each successive session to and including 1807, except the years 1798 and 1805, when George Kennan, of whom more anon, was the choice of the freemen of Waterbury. The last decade of the eighteenth century witnessed the town's growth from fifteen families and a population of about ninety-three to six hundred forty-four souls. A thrifty and
24
HISTORY OF WATERBURY, VERMONT
permanent air was given the growing town by the rapid estab- lishment of the homes of constantly arriving settlers.
Caleb Munson, the third settler came here from Torrington, Connecticut, in 1788 and made his selection of a tract on the large meadow above the town, through which the railroad passes and a part of which is now owned by Emerson L. John- son.
Richard Holden, who afterward was sent in 1793 as a dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention, planted his household gods on the spot where the State Hospital Nurses' Annex now stands, known in early days as the Peck, Sheple or Doctor Fales place. The interval or property now occupied by A. M. Brigham was the home site of Amos Waters in 1788. The next place west of this at the mouth of the Waterbury River, on the east side, was the home of Doctor Daniel Bliss, the first physician and first representative of the town (1792), and afterwards became the shop site of Seth Chandler, the first blacksmith, who was killed there by a falling tree.
The widow of the unfortunate James Marsh was married to Mr. Phillip Bartlett. They occupied a house on the property known as the Henry farm, taking its name from Sylvester Henry, an early settler, the grandfather of Mrs. Albert Spen- cer, and, after his death, owned by Sylvester Henry, his son, the father of Franklin S. Henry, who was the donor of the Soldiers' Monument. Elias Marsh, a son of James Marsh, had married and established his home where Miss Electa Corse's residence was afterwards built, now occupied by Mrs. Thad- deus B. Crossett. In the year 1796, Deacon Asaph Allen and Mr. David Austin, coming from Massachusetts and Connecti- cut, took up residence, the one near the Center on what is now Mark H. Moody's farm; the other on the place now occupied by B. G. Webster, on Blush Hill.
Deacon Asaph Allen's life was reflective of the stern, vigorous, sturdy stock and the grim conditions from which he sprung. Born in the famous old fort at Deerfield, Massachusetts, October 25, 1751,-a circumstance in itself that might speak volumes-he went with his father's family to Bernardstown, Massachusetts. Here he became a deacon of the Orthodox
25
PERIOD 1763-1800
Congregational Church. It was not long before his service was required in the militia. He also served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, for which service he received a pension from the government. His marriage to Persis Sheldon oc- curred in 1773 or 1774 in Bernardstown. Coming to Water- bury in 1796, he settled on the place described one-half mile east of Waterbury Center Village. After an upright, honor- able life he died March 19, 1840. His wife survived him nearly twelve years and died at the advanced age of ninety-four years and ten months. Nine children were born of the marriage: Roxana, born August 16, 1777; Zebulon in 1779; Sophia, December 10, 1781; Eliakim, February 24, 1785; Asaph in 1788; Horace, August 15, 1792 ; Charles S., February 24, 1795; Persis, born in Waterbury, July 2, 1797, and Seba, born in Waterbury, August 16, 1801. Of these Roxana (Allen), George and Eliakim who married Deborah Godfrey May 1, 1808, made their homes in Waterbury. Eliakim continued the conduct of the farm near the Center until the year 1846 when he came to live in the Village. Mr. Allen was town represen- tative in the Legislature and was a member of the Methodist Church for over fifty years. Mrs. Deborah Allen died Octo- ber 19, 1857. Eliakim Allen was married for the second time to Achsah Kingsbury of Stowe, who was born in 1803. By his first marriage there were seven daughters. Of these Har- riet Allen, Julia, Pamelia, Aurelia and Alma were married in Waterbury, the first to Elymas Newcomb; Julia to True B. Colby, a farmer; Pamelia to Lucius Marshall; Aurelia twice, to George Calkins and Charles Hicks, and Alma to Storrs Clough.
Horace Allen, one of the sons of Deacon Asaph Allen, was a farmer near Waterbury, and married Polly Field. He died in Waterbury Center, leaving one son, Charles S., who died in the United States' service in the Mexican War. Charles S. Allen, another son of Asaph Allen, married Nancy Hale. Three daughters were Cornelia (Mrs. Cornelius Eddy of the Center), Romelia (Mrs. O. W. Stearns), and Persis (Mrs. C. F. Clough), all of the town of Waterbury.
Prominent among the citizens of Waterbury at this time 3
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY, VERMONT
was General John Peck, an uncle of Governor Asahel Peck. General Peck came directly from Calais, though a native of Massachusetts. He soon fell into the stride of affairs and was chosen town representative in 1811 and 1818. He also served as chief judge of the County Court and as high sheriff. He was a particularly active candidate for Congress on the general ticket nominated by the legislative caucus, but was defeated through the efforts of Mr. Van Ness who afterwards became Governor. General Peck held office under the Federal Government as assessor of Federal taxes and later was chosen as a member of the state council in 1826, and died soon after the adjournment of the session in December of that year. General Peck was held in wide esteem for his store of common sense, quick in- telligence, affability, dignity and public spirit. His part as brigadier-general in command of the Vermont Militia at the Battle of Plattsburgh, September. II, 1814, is noticed else- where. The parcel of land on which Ezra and Asaph Butler first made their pitch, which they afterwards relinquished, passed in due course to Richard Holden, then to Judge Dan Carpenter, and then to General John Peck; under General Peck's occupancy and ownership, the place by additions and improvements came to be the show place of the town. The property was sold by Peck's administrator to D. G. Sheple, thence it passed to Sheple's son-in-law, Doctor Horace Fales. This old colonial residence was on the south side of Main Street, the second from the present site of the Roman Catholic Church, easterly. It was burned while occupied by Doctor and Mrs. Horace Fales. Doctor Fales afterwards built the brick house, known as the Hospital Annex, on the site.
Massachusetts continued to furnish new settlers for Water- bury. In March, 1790, Jason Cady of Sheldon, Massachusetts, built a home near the arch bridge on South Main Street, lead- ing to Duxbury. About the year 1788, one John Craig began a clearing on the meadow above the Winooski Falls and put up a small dwelling house. Craig removed to Ohio after a few years and the property passed to Joseph Palmer, then of rather more than local fame as a bridge builder. Mr. Palmer added to the tract by purchase and on his death it was divided into
27
PERIOD 1763-1800
parcels which included the farms afterwards known by the names of Davis, Remington and Randall-the Randall farm now being conducted by Doctor W. L. Wasson. Another early settler, who afterwards became prominent in the town history as a public official and town representative, was George Ken- nan, the great-grandfather of the widely known American traveler, lecturer and writer on Russia and Siberia, of that name. Mr. Kennan's home was on the site of the old Elisha Moody place, now occupied by Richard N. Demeritt. Isaac Wilson occupied a piece of ground near the present site of the Waterbury Inn.
Attracted by the outlook, Stiles Sherman and his brother- in-law, Jonathan Wright, came to the town in 1788 and were, respectively, the fourth and fifth settlers in the order of arrival. Imbued with the true pioneer spirit Sherman and Wright lived, worked and died at advanced years on the sites where they first settled. Both were public spirited, enterprising, substantial citizens. Mr. Sherman dispensed hospitality as. Boniface in Waterbury's first tavern and endeared himself to the community for his unselfish, generous and thoughtful care of those ill and in need. Mr. Wright's home, at what is now known as Colbyville, was on the property recently sold by Warner L. Moody to C. C. Abbott, and was probably the first settled away from the river valley, although Mr. Parker's pamphlet admits the possibility of an earlier pitch on the hill "near the residence of George Stearns," while Mr. Sherman's. selection was the site of the present town farm, to which he brought his family in 1789. Mr. Wright's cabin was situated on the stream above the Oliver C. Rood place; this was the birthplace of Tilman Wright, the first male child born in Waterbury. The Wright property was sold to James Green by the administrator of Tilman Wright and remains to this day in the Green family. Oliver C. Rood came to Waterbury in the full flush of strong manhood and set his brawn and brain at work in road making, bridge building, clearing and house raising; he built the grist mill which was afterwards rebuilt by W. W. Wells.
The first settler on Loomis Hill was Silas Loomis who, born
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY, VERMONT
in Torrington, Connecticut, April 12, 1771, came to Water- bury about the year 1796; the following year he selected a place for a home on the hill named for him two miles from the Center. Here he cleared a home site in the forest, built a substantial log cabin and returned to his former Connecticut home for his wife, two children and personal effects. He is said to have announced his determination to live, die and be buried in his new home. Mr. Loomis, though never a large ยท or robust man, was a hard worker and soon added to his hold- ings until his original home place comprised four hundred acres. An interesting description of the man is given in Child's Washington County Gazetteer :
He was small in stature, never weighed one hundred and twenty-five pounds, very light complexion, large, lustrous, dark hazel eyes and bright red hair, which he never had cut but wore it in a queue to the close of his life. He dressed in homespun garments in winter, made by the deft hands of his competent wife, and linen in summer. His stockings were long, reaching above the knee, and over all he wore a long frock. He was scru- pulously neat, and his farm, barns, sheds and tools were kept in perfect order. He was opposed to buying and maintained that farmers should raise their own provisions and clothing. He despised fraud, deception and dishonesty. . He had a mind of his own and never endorsed an opinion because some one else had. At the call of his county in the War of 1812 he hastened to its defense. He died March 2, 1853, aged eighty-two years.
Kneeland Flat was first occupied by Richard Kneeland (known as "Little Dick"). Born in Westford, Massachusetts, April 1, 1778, he married Katherine Knights of Claremont, New Hampshire, and came to Waterbury in 1803. His occu- pation was that of a house joiner and builder and farmer. He carried on farming operations on the property formerly owned by John Parker in 1813. He died in February, 1868. Mr. Kneeland served as justice of the peace, presiding as trial justice in many cases, and by virtue of his office he became known as the "marrying justice." He was wonderfully well informed on matters pertaining to ancient and Biblical history and naturally was something of a controversialist. He was wont to emphasize his somewhat dogmatic statements by adding the word "faithful" in much the same way as the locu-
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PERIOD 1763-1800
tion "honestly" is used. His boast was that he alone in the community knew how to draft plans and specifications for winding stairways. The sons of Mr. and Mrs. Kneeland were: Willard H., who died at the age of ninety-one; William, who married Dorothy Jackman, and settled on the old farm until it was sold in 1853; Henry, a Waitsfield farmer, and Doctor Lucius Kneeland, who went to Florida and died at the age of thirty years. The daughters were: Ortensia, who died at the age of fifty-one years; Martha (Kneeland) Parker, who died at the age of forty years; Mary A. (Kneeland) Whitney, who died at the age of seventy-three years; Catherine, who died at the age of twenty-one years, and Adaline (Kneeland) Wade of Colbyville.
Mention has already been made of the old Governor Butler place. This tract of between two hundred and three hundred acres included one hundred and thirty acres which was for- merly the farm of the State Reform School. The first framed house, a photograph of which is in this book, stands on the seven-acre homestead plot. The larger part of the tract be- longs to the Doctor Henry Janes estate. Mr. Russell Butler, son of Governor Butler, formerly owned a parcel of four acres at the mouth of Thatcher's Branch, the site of the surveyors' camp built in 1782. Mr. Russell Butler, was the youngest member of the family. He was born February 17, 1807, in Waterbury, and made his native place his home. After a col- lege preparatory course at the Montpelier Academy he entered the University of Vermont in 1825. Ill health precluded his finishing the course and he left the university at the end of Sophomore year. Mr. Russell Butler imbibed a great love for books and was remarkably familiar with literature and bibliography. Unlike his father, he avoided political life. Indeed, he is said to have peremptorily declined to permit his name to come before the public for political preferment, either by way of an elective or appointive office. Though personally averse to holding office he was, nevertheless, an ardent student of government, a protagonist for the cause of the public welfare, and a champion of educational and religious training. Mr. Butler's influence in the community was such as might be
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY, VERMONT
looked for from a man of unquestioned purity of life, morals and motives. He died, February 7, 1883. His wife, Elizabeth M., was born in 1815 and died in 1844.
Stephen Guptil (whose name appears in the town records spelled Guptail) owned the farm that afterwards came into the possession of Jared George, whose barn did duty at times for many years as a meeting house for religious services, dating back to 1798. Another well-tilled farm was known as the Eddy place. It was owned by David Adams, William Eddy and Harvey Eddy, in succession, and was situated with its meadow land on the branch below the property first located by Deacon Asaph Allen in 1796. The Allen place, in turn, passed into the possession of Eliakim Allen and was by him transferred to parties out of the family. Most of the upland farms had their beginnings at a later date than those men- tioned. These included the old Silas Loomis place, the Clough place on Indian Hill, the Raymond Huse place on Alder Brook below the falls, and others.
In 1791 Joshua Hill started his farm in the south part and, as it was on the main traveled thoroughfare or hill road running north, his farm house served as a wayside tavern. Another tavern situated near the southern boundary of the town on this road was opened and kept for some years by George Kennan. The upland farms were particularly well adapted to stock raising and dairying, and nearly all had thriving maple orchards, from the sap of which the far-famed Washington County maple sugar and syrup were produced. On land in Waterbury Center, near the chapel, James Bryant settled in 1793; Stephen Jones followed him four years later on a lot of land adjacent on the north; George Scagel took up his residence on a Center plot in 1794, and spent his life there. Mr. Jones and Mr. Scagel were prominent members of the Methodist Church.
As to those residents of Waterbury who had seen service in the War of the Revolution, next to nothing is obtainable con- cerning the dates of enlistment, terms of service, actions par- ticipated in, and the like. There are buried in the Waterbury Cemetery the following Revolutionary soldiers: Captain
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PALISADES
3I
PERIOD 1763-1800
Thomas Jones, Aaron Wilder, Ezra Butler, Zachariah Bassett, Moses Nelson, David Towne, John Hudson, D. Sloan, Benja- min Conant, Paul Dillingham, Asaph Allen, Isaac Marshall, Thomas Eddy, Alphas Sheldon, Joseph Hubbard, Stephen Jones, Asa Poland, George Kennan.
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