USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 36
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Town officers: Eugene H. Spaulding, town clerk and treasurer ; F. S Hale, G. C. Waite and W. H. H. Ralph, selectmen ; J. H. Hammond, C. S. Worcester and E. C. Cady, listers; E. M. Shurtleff, superintendent ; F. S. Hale, overseer; W. H. H. Ralph, agent.
CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
0 N the 6th of July, 1761, Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire issued charters for three towns of land lying west of the Connecti- cut River ; and the towns thus brought into existence embraced a strip six miles wide and extending from the river westward across the entire width of the present county of Windsor. The towns thus incorporated were Saltash (now Plymouth), Reading and Windsor, each presumed to be six miles square, and to contain an aggregate of thirty-six square miles with allowances ; but in making subsequent surveys the town of Windsor was made to extend westward six and one-half miles, thus over- lapping the territory supposed to belong to Reading, and occasioning a dispute between the towns concerning the half-mile strip. Although there was an undoubted mistake, susceptible of amicable adjustment, the friends of the Windsor side of the controversy pressed their claims so earnestly that the result was a division of the contested strip, by running a line from the southeast to the northwest corner thereof, each town tak
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TOWN OF READING.
ing half. Hence the irregular form of Reading town. The town is bounded north by Woodstock; east by West Windsor; south by Cav- endish ; and west by Plymouth.
Among the towns of the county Reading occupies a position nearly central, and is about equally distant from the county seat and the village of Windsor, with both of which trading centers it is connected by reason- ably good wagon roads, over which there passes daily mail and passen- ger stages. The character of the land surface generally in Reading is quite hilly, and in some localities mountainous, although there are less of extreme heights found here than in many other towns on the west and north sides of the county.
Associated with the early history of the region of which Reading forms a part, there was at least one thrilling event,-a sad but interesting occur- rence,-the story of which has been told and re-told until it is as famil- iar to every intelligent person of the town as the alphabet itself. We refer to the Indian capture of whites at the old Fort Number Four, the site of Charlestown, New Hampshire. It appears that during the period of the French wars a party of Canadian Indians suddenly appeared at the fort and made captives of eight persons-Captain James Johnson, his wife and three small children, and Peter Labaree, Ebenezer Farns- worth and Mirian Willard, the latter a sister of Mrs. Johnson. This oc- curred August 30, 1754.
Having effected the capture, the Indians and captives at once crossed the Connecticut River on the journey to Canada. On the first day the party reached a point near the base of the Little Ascutney Mountain in the town of Cavendish, or what afterward became that town, where prep- arations were made for passing the night. The prisoners were secured according to the savage idea and not with any regard for the personal comfort of the unfortunates. Added to their mental and physical suf- ferings during that night came a still further affliction to one of the captives, Mrs. Johnson ; for during the early hours of the night she gave birth to a child, a daughter. From these extraordinary events-the capture and birth-the child was named Elizabeth Captive Johnson.
The next morning, after a light and not very refreshing meal, the jour- ney was resumed, the unfortunate mother being allowed the use of a horse upon which to ride, but this only after having been carried by the
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
three white men of the party for a long distance upon a rude litter until they were completely exhausted. And the use of the horse was allowed only in the savages' expectation of obtaining an additional ransom on account of the child. Once the unfortunate woman was threatened to be left in the woods with her babe, but the thought of death in such a wilderness nerved her to continue the journey notwithstanding her in- tense sufferings. The route taken by the Indians took the party across the south part of this town into Saltash and to the Black River ; thence, as is generally understood, up that stream and into the mountains, which being traversed, they made their way to Lake Champlain and Crown Point; thence to Canada and Montreal, where the prisoners were held for ransom.
From here several weeks later Captain Johnson was paroled for two months that he might return to New Hampshire to collect the funds with which to purchase liberty for the captives. After considerable delay the provincial government of New Hampshire voted him one hundred and fifty pounds, with which he at once prepared to return north ; but the rigors of the winter were such as to prevent his reaching Canada until the early part of 1755. Upon his arrival he was charged with having violated his parole, his money was taken from him, and the entire party put in prison. Some eighteen months later Mrs. Johnson with her chil- dren, except the eldest, who was detained in a convent of the Jesuit order in Canada, together with Miss Willard were sent to England, and thence returned to Boston ; but Captain Johnson was kept a prisoner in Canada for some three years.
In after years the spot of their first night's camp was several times visited by some of the former prisoners, and by whom monuments com- memorative of the events were erected. The above narrative records the first known visit of white people to the district now called Reading, but that was an involuntary and forced errand.
Under the authority of the provincial government of New Hampshire the town of Reading was chartered on July 6, 1761, but its first settle- ment was not commenced until the year 1772, when Andrew Spear came to the locality and began an improvement in the northeastern part of the town, east of the hamlet called Reading Center.
The charter by which this town was brought into existence was sub-
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TOWN OF READING.
stantially the same as those by which other towns were created, and needs no full reproduction here ; still, some of the conditions or obliga- tions imposed upon the grantees will be found interesting, and for that reason are herein given, as contained in the charter on file :
I. Every grantee, his heirs or assigns shall plant and cultivate five acres of land within the term of five years, for every fifty acres con- tained in his or her share or proportion of land in said town, and con- tinue to improve and settle the same by additional cultivation, on penalty of the forfeiture of his grant or share in said town, and of its reverting to us, our heirs and successors, to be by us or them regranted to such of our subjects as shall effectually settle and cultivate the same.
II. This section provides for the preservation of all white " and other pine trees, fit for masting our Royal Navy," and prohibits their cutting or destruction under penalty.
III. That before any division of the land be made to and among the grantees, a tract of land, as near the center of the town as the land will admit of, shall be reserved and marked out for town lots, one of which shall be allotted to each grantee, of the contents of one acre.
IV. Yielding and paying therefore to us, our heirs and successors, for the space of ten years, to be computed from the date hereof, (July 6, 1761,) the rent of one ear of Indian corn, only on the 25th day of De- cember, annually, if lawfully demanded, the first payment to be made on the 25th day of December, 1762.
V. Every proprietor, settler or inhabitant shall yield and pay unto us, our heirs and successors, yearly and every year forever from and after the expiration of ten years from the aforesaid 25th day of December, which will be in the year of our Lord 1772, one shilling proclamation money for every one hundred acres he owns, settles or possesses, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser tract of the said land, etc.
The foregoing extracts will serve to acquaint the reader with the char- acter of the provisions and conditions of the charter issued and granted by Governor Wentworth, but in explanation it should be stated that the conditions were not, nor could they be, fulfilled or carried out accord- ing to their strict construction. Governor Wentworth evidently con- templated a lasting continuance of the authority of his province over this territory of land, but the order of the king's Council in 1764 had
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
the effect of substantially terminating the New Hampshire control of the district, and giving it over to the province of New York; therefore the annual payment of the proverbial ear of Indian corn, and the shilling of proclamation money, was not thereafter demanded or received by New Hampshire. And after that "order in council " of 1764 New Hampshire withdrew from the controversy with New York, and left the settlers then on the grants to contend against the authority of the last named province as best they might, or else to acquiesce in it.
The grantees under the charter from New Hampshire were sixty-two in number, but the shares into which the town was divided numbered sixty- eight, the excess in shares being made to provide for donations for purposes usually specified " first events," etc. From the time of the chartering until the organization of the town its affairs were in the hands of the " proprietors," the original grantees, of whose proceedings there appear no valuable records.
But it does not appear that among those grantees there was an ele- ment which was disposed to acknowledge and acquiesce in the authority of New York ; but who they all were, or the extent of their affiliation, cannot now be reliably ascertained. One of the leaders of that element was Simon Stevens, and, if ancient accounts are to be relied upon, he succeeded in making himself exceedingly obnoxious to the friends of the new State-the followers of the famous Green Mountain Boys. In truth evidences are not wanting to show that Stevens was many times guilty of "inimical " conduct, of " Toryism," for all of which he was amenable to the laws laid down by Ethan Allen and his followers. But fortunately for Stevens, he lived in a locality too far from the seat of government of the Green Mountain patriots for that body to visit their vengeance upon his erring head.
This same Stevens succeeded in procuring a grant of Reading's ter- ritory to himself and others, some of whom were of the original grant- ees under Governor Wentworth, but as to who all of them were there is no tangible record to show. Their grant was dated March 6, 1772, but it is understood that no charter was ever granted by New York to them. And Andrew Spear, the acknowledged pioneer of Reading, received his deed from Simon Stevens, which fact is disclosed by the town records ; also, the conveyance recited that the land was situate in
CLARK WARDNER.
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TOWN OF READING.
the county of Cumberland and province of New York. The land was, moreover, the same as belonged to David Nims, a grantee under the charter from New Hampshire. This was hardly an exceptional case, as instances were frequent in which the grantors and grantees named in the early conveyances recognized and acknowledged New York au- thority.
But it would be unfair and incorrect to assume that Andrew Spear was himself allied to the New York cause, simply from the fact of his purchase from the notorious Stevens, for such was hardly the case. From the meager knowledge obtained from records it appears that Mr. Spear represented Reading in the convention at Windsor, in June, 1777, that gave to the new State the name Vermont, instead of New Connecticut, although he does not appear as one of the signers of the revised declaration adopted at that time. He also was the first repre- sentative of the town in the State General Assembly, elected in 1779. The only other resident of Reading during the year 1777 was Barakiah Cady, whose pioneership in the town commenced that same year.
In 1779 the scanty settlement was re-enforced by the arrival of sev- eral families and persons who aspired to residence in the then wilder- ness region, among whom were James Sawyer, John Weld, David Hap- good, Joseph Sawyer, Jedediah Leavens, Seth and John Sawyer, Samuel Gary, Hezekiah Leavens, and possibly others whose names are lost. Nebediah Cady and Benjamin Buck came in 1780, and also, about the same time, Benjamin Sawyer.
These were the pioneers, the very earliest settlers of the town, upon whom fell the burden of labor during the most trying period of its his- tory. Other settlers of course came in from year to year, took their proper lands and at once proceeded to clear and cultivate them. But the early settlement was slow,-exceedingly slow,-as was the case in other localities similarly situated. Land titles were in an unsettled con- dition, and there was but little inducement for the sturdy pioneer to in- vest his small means in lands where there was the possibility of subse- quent eviction. In 1791 the town had acquired a population of 748, and in 1800 the number had increased to 1, 120. The maximum was attained in 1830, there then being, as shown by the census enumeration of that year, a population of 1,603 souls. From that time there has
49
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
been a gradual though continuous decrease, as shown by each succes- sive census until that of 1880 was taken, the town then having but 953 souls within its borders, a number exceeding by only 206 the popula- tion it had in 1791. This is certainly a lamentable situation, but is no marked exception to the losses of people in many other towns of the county and State.
During the Revolutionary war this town was so weak in population and resources that it could hardly be expected to furnish many men or much means for maintaining the military of the State, but according to its ability so the town did perform. The records of the Governor and Council state that in 1781 the town had one man in service, but his name is not given ; and the records of the town for 1782 also disclose the fact that one man was " hired" to enter the service for a period of eight months, but no name is here mentioned. But after the close of the war, when the affairs of the State had become somewhat settled, and her admission to the Union was only a question of time, then the settle- ment increased rapidly, and there came to reside here many who were patriots of the Revolution, and who became prominently identified with the subsequent affairs of the town and county.
For the service during the second war with Great Britain, and known as the War of 1812-15, the town of Reading furnished as many men as any town of its population in the county. And during that service there was the same division of sentiment that existed in other towns of the county, the Peace party and the War party alike having their cham- pions, but the latter was largely in the majority. During and prior to the outbreak of this war nearly every well settled town had its militia organizations, as well as its men "subject to military duty," and at this time the militia officers were called upon to furnish the town's quota of armed men for the service. Fourteen were " drafted " from the two Reading companies, as follows : Josiah Gilson, Willard Holden, Joshua Sawyer, Elijah Chandler, Robert Dunlap, Silas Wetherbee and Samuel Dudley from Captain Aaron Townsend's company ; and Rufus Forbush, Asa Belden, Benjamin and John Grandy, Kendall Boutwell, Abel Gilson, and Amos Lane from Captain Noah Cady's command. These men were in the service at Plattsburgh and in the region of Canada, and were at- tached to Colonel D. W. Dana's Thirty- first Regiment. And of the men
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TOWN OF READING.
who were subject to military duty, and possibly others, who enlisted as residents of the town, during the same war, were Samuel Johnson, David Burnham, John Hackett, Benjamin Nutting, John Hagett, Jos. Wood, John Y. Sawyer, Henry Giddings, Elisha Sawyer and Abial Persons.
The record made by the town of Reading during the war of the Rebel- lion, the war of 1861-65, shows to as good advantage and brings as much credit to the town as that of any other locality of the county, or of the State. A roll of the volunteers who entered the service from Reading will be found by reference to chapter ten of this volume, and therefore need not be copied in this place. And it is a fact that almost every regiment or part of a regiment that was organized and sent from Ver- mont during the course of the war had some Reading volunteers in its ranks. The exceptions to this statement are indeed few.
According to the reports of the adjutant- general of the State, Read- ing is credited with having one hundred and eighteen men in the serv- ice in three years', one year's, and nine months' regiments, and one man in the navy. Besides this there were six volunteers re-enlisted, and six men were credited miscellaneously and not named. In the town, also, ten men were enrolled who furnished substitutes ; nine were furnished under draft and paid commutation, and two procured substitutes. There were enlisted in the town, prior to the President's call of October 17, 1863, for 300,000 volunteers, thirty-seven men ; subsequent to that call, but still for the three years' service, thirty-seven men ; for one year's service, three men ; and for nine months' service, twenty-two men ; navy, one man.
Returning again, and briefly, to the early events of Reading, it is found that the town was organized and officers elected in 1780, the first free- men's meeting being held March 30th of that year. Concerning the sev- eral officers then chosen the records give no account other than the elec- tion of Jedediah Leavens as town clerk. At that time and before, and for some years after as well, the affairs of the town were in the hands of the proprietors, and the organization was a formal act to arrange for local government independent of the proprietors' proceedings.
The town, besides having control over its own civil government, was vested with authority to tax the people for the support and maintenance of a minister of the gospel, and, if need be, to be at the expense of erect-
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
ing a meeting-house. The charter provided, among its reservations of lands, that one whole share be set apart for the " Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; one share for the first settled minister of the Gospel ; one share for the benefit of a school in said town ; and one share for a glebe for the Church of England," etc. The society of the Congregational church was the first religious organization to have a being within this town, and was formed on the 26th of June, 1787. Rev. Nahum Sargeant was the first settled minister, and to him was sur- veyed one right of one hundred and seventy-five acres of land, in May, 1789, and another right of one hundred and twenty-fiveacres in the same month and year. The first right lay on the western side of the town, and the second near the center. The first meeting-house was a log structure. The services of the resident minister were paid by general town tax, a practice that was kept up until 1797.
Of the early residents of the town a majority were Congregationalists, but as new families came to the locality, other societies were organized. The society of the Baptist church was formed December 25, 1788 ; the Reformed Catholic Society December 12, 1796; and another known as the Congregation of the Moral Society in October, 1798. But not all of these societies had a church home; the early meetings were held at such places as best suited the convenience of members, a dwelling house, and occasionally a barn, or perhaps a grove of forest trees, answering their purpose. In fact, the old log church did service as a place for pub- lic worship until the beginning of the present century, although frequent efforts were made by the town to cause the erection of a more substan- tial building for the purpose ; but on account of a wide diversity of opinion among the freemen, or some other interference, the matter was delayed, or if voted for, was reconsidered, and it was not until the year 1801 that a commodious frame church building was erected in Reading. Unfortunately, however, this edifice was destroyed by fire in 1810. After this disaster the town was without a meeting-house until 1816, during which year a brick edifice was erected at Reading Center. But this church was burned in 1860.
The Universalist Society of Reading was brought into existence in 1802, and has remained to the present day, now being the strongest, numerically, of any denomination in the town. The Methodist Society
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TOWN OF READING.
was a later creation, having been formed about 1820, and this too is in existence in the town. These two, with the Calvinistic Baptist Society, comprise the active working religious societies of the town at present. The Union church, at Felchville, was built through the joint efforts of these denominations.
The Reading Centennial Celebration .- This was unquestionably the greatest event in Reading's modern history, and was celebrated with such interesting and impressive ceremonies as the occasion seemed to demand. The exercises in full were published in the Woodstock Post of August 30, 1872, the celebration having taken place two days earlier. From the narrative contained in that paper, written by Gilbert A. Davis, and afterward incorporated in his excellent "History of Reading," many facts of importance relating to the early institutions of the town are gleaned, as well as a synopsis of the events of the celebration itself. And it is well to state here, parenthetically perhaps, that should the readers of this volume desire access to a full, minute and accurate account of the history of this town, their attention is respectfully directed to Mr. Davis's work, which was published in 1874. The order of the exercises at the celebration was as follows :
Address of welcome, by Dr. W. S. Robinson, president of the day ; prayer, by Rev. J. S. Small; historical address, by Gilbert A. Davis, esq .; (from this address, among other things, it is learned that "as early as April 5, 1778, the town"- proprietors would probably be more accu- rate-" voted that Nathaniel Pratt, Asa Wilkin, Samuel Sherwin, John Weld, Elisha Bigelow, Abijah Stone, Solomon Keyes. John Sherwin, Abel Amsden, John Morse, George Clark, and David Hapgood divided the town into (school) districts ";) commemorative address, by Rev. T. J. Sawyer, D. D., of Tuft's College ; dinner and intermission ; histor- ical poem, by Mrs. Frances Baker, of Chester ; recitation of poem, by Stella M. Bryant (less than seven years of age) ; address, by Thomas Curley, student of Tuft's College; poem, "One Hundred Years," written by Minnie S. Davis, of Hartford, Conn., and read by Rev. S. A. Davis ; address, "On the Changes of a Hundred Years," by Hon. John M. Stearns, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; address, by William Watkins, esq., of Towanda, Pa .; address, by Sewall Fullam, of Ludlow; poem, by Honestus Stearns, esq .; address, by Rev. Samuel A. Davis, of Hartford, Conn .;
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
address, by Simeon Ide, of Claremont, N. H .; short addresses, by F. G. Weld, of Greenfield, Wis., John L. Buck, of Lockport, N. Y., Hon. Julius Converse, of Woodstock, ex-Governor Ryland Fletcher, Hon. B. H. Steele, Rev. Horace Herrick.
From the address of Sewall Fullam much valuable information is de- rived relating to the early industries of the town, and some of the early residents as well, from all of which facts it will be unnecessary to pur- sue that subject further in these pages, as being of no particular interest to the people outside of the town, and those that live therein have the facts well before them.
The town of Reading has four villages, or trading centers,-Reading Center, or Reading, Hammondsville, South Reading, and Felchville, of which that last named is the largest and most important. Felchville was named in honor of William Felch, a native of Royalton, Mass., born February 3, 1797, but who came to this county at the age of fourteen years, and to the locality named for him in 1826. He was a generous, public-spirited, and industrious citizen, through whose labors the town was greatly benefited, and to whose energy the village owed its very ex- istence. The work begun by him was carried on by others after he re- tired from active life, and to each one who followed in his footsteps is due a share of credit. But Felchville, like very many other villages in the land, has enjoyed its days of prosperity, and has experienced periods of adversity. Industries have come and gone, some flourished while others were less fortunate; but human judgment is not infallible, and mistakes and disasters should never be counted as intentional wrong.
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