History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 58

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1260

USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 58

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Newton, Solon D., was born in Barnard, April 8, 1832. His grandfather, Timothy, was born in Hardwick, Mass., and married there Abigail Earl, and had seven children. One son, Timothy, moved from Massachusetts and was the first settler on Locust Creek. He was captured by the Indians and taken to Montreal; he escaped from his captivity

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

and returned to his home. They took from his wife at the time of his capture a string of gold beads. He died on the farm in Barnard now owned and occupied by his grand- son, Solon D. His wife died in Barnard in 1855. Earl Newton, born in Barnard, March 1, 1787, married Myra M. Dean, February 27, 1813. They had nine children, viz .: Josiah C .. Diantha, Earl, James M., William H., Myra M., Robert D., Joseph B. and So- lon D. Earl died in Barnard. October 19, 1865, and h s wife January 30, 1861. Solon D. married Mary E., daughter of Oramel and Emeline (Paige) Davis. She was born in Barnard, October 7, 1832. They have four children, viz .: Lydia, born May 25, 1858, died July 14, 1863; Will M., born July 30, 1864, a member of the senior class in the Metnodist Seminary at Montpelier, Vt .; Ada, born August 8, 1868, a teacher in Mont- pelier ; and Jennie G., born July 5, 1871, living at home. Solon D. owns and occupies the old Newton homestead on Locust Creek in Barnard.

Rand, Reuben B., was born in Bridgewater, May 5, 1813. Benjamin, his father, born January 16, 1775, in Westminster, Vt., married, first, Cynthia Robinson, July 15, 1802, and had two children, viz .: Sylvester and Philander. Benjamin married, second, Sarah Robinson, cousin of his first wife; she was born September 3, 1780. They had nine children, viz .: Eli B., Bradford L., Reuben B., Reuben B., second, Cynthia A., Stillman H., Caroline J., Alvinza B., and a daughter born November 17, 1822, died an infant. Reu- ben B. married February 11, 1838, Harriet R., daughter of Alfred and Bersha (Stevens) Amidon. Mrs. Rand was born in Randolph, Vt., November 22, 1815. They had nine children, viz .: Preston A., born December 20, 1838, overseer in a cotton-mill at Oakdale, Mass., married Roberta Sawyer, and they have one child; Rosina A., born November 20, 1840, wife of A. O. Spaulding, a farmer living in Barnard, and they have one child ; Benjamin A., born February 14, 1843, volunteered as private August 20, 1861, in Com- pany E, Fourth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, discharged September 8, 1862, was sub- sequently drafted and a private in Company H, Sixth Regiment Vermont Infantry, received his discharge August 2, 1865, and died from a disease contracted in the army, June 1, 1867 ; Alfred E., born December 3, 1844, married Emma Whipple, has seven children, and is a farmer living in Royalton ; Winfield Scott, born August 14, 1846, mar- ried Rachel Burnham, has one son, and is a farmer; Dora H., wife of Silas Howard, a farmer of Royalton, and they have seven children; Alonzo A., born June 3, 1852, mar- ried Alice Prouty, has two children, and is overseer for a lumber dealer ; Frank, born December 1, 1854, married Amelia L. Adams, lives with the father at the homestead farm, which he carries on with his father; Andrew B., born May 25, 1858, married Ellen Davis, died February 14, 1890, and left one son, Guy. Benjamin Rand died in Morristown, April 26, 1843, and his widow, Sarah, died there September 8, 1875, aged ninety-five years. After his marriage Reuben B. lived in Morristown till 1840, then moved to Barnard, and has owned and occupied the place where he uow lives since 1857.

Stiles, Frank II., was born in Waterford, Caledonia county, Vt., January 8, 1841, the seventh in a family of eight children of Mark and Lancy (Powers) Stiles. Of these eight children, two died in infancy. The others were Augusta, Fanny, Almeda, Phila, Frank H., and Hattie M. Lancy Powers Stiles died in Waterford, Vt., in 1845. Mark mar- ried, second, Mrs. Betsey Sias, nee Nichols, and by this union there were five children, viz : Waldo, Marcus, Curtis, Eveline, and Edwin C. Mark Stiles died in Barnet in November, 1872. Frank H. enlisted as private in Company D, Fourth Vermont Infantry, Septem- ber 2, 1861, and was mustered out July 28, 1865. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, on which account he receives a pension. He married, September 27, 1866, Mary E., daughter of John W. and Diantha (Newell) Harding, who was born May 1, 1841. They have six children, as follows: Mabel M., wife of William Perkins, a farmer living in Royalton ; Winnie A .; Grace E .; Myrtie M., wife of Clarence White, living in Barnard, they have one child, Albert; Hattie V., living at home; and Mark W., also liv- ing at home. Mr. Stiles has lived in Royalton from 1866 to 1887, when he moved to the Harding place in Barnard owned by his wife's parents.

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TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.

Thayer, Salmon C., was born in West Randolph, July 26, 1816, the youngest of nine children of Isaac and Abigail (Lampson) Thayer. His father was born in Braintree, Mass., October 26, 1763. At the age of seventeen he enlisted as a soldier in the Revo- lutionary war and served three years. Soon after the close of the Revolution he moved from Massachusetts and settled in West Randolph, Vt. He was a blacksmith by trade, but followed farming chiefly. lie died in West Randolph, September 5, 1850; his wife died there July 17, 1842. Their children were Eliphalet S., Joel B., Zeba G., Civilla L., Elvira E., Isaac, jr., Isaac C., William H. H., and Salmon C. The latter married Julia A., daughter of David and Sarah (Page) Lewis; she was born October 18, 1816. in Barnard. Their three children are Adelbert F., born Jannary 10, 1848, living at home; a twin sister of Adelbert F., who died in infancy ; and Etta E., born August 11, 1851, wife of Albert N. Culver, living in West Randolph, Vt. Mr. Thayer settled in Barnard village March 1, 1845, and lived there till 1866. In 1867 he purchased of his brother, Will- iam H. II., the old David Lewis farm in Barnard, and has lived there since. Mr. Thayer has served as town clerk of Barnard fifteen years, and represented the town in the Legis- lature in 1870 and 1871.

CHAPTER XXVII.

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.

A T the time of taking the first census of Vermont, in 1791, the town of Stockbridge was found to have a less number of inhabitants than any other of the county towns ; but at the last census there were no less than eight towns that showed a less number than this. This tends to prove and establish the fact that Stockbridge possessed resources which, when fully developed, gave the town an advantage over many others, and that a residence once effected generally became permanent, and there was a less desire on the part of its people to emigrate to other States.

And it is a fact, a singular one perhaps, that no town in this county, situated and conditioned as is Stockbridge, has been improved and developed throughout so great an extent of its territory, and that not- withstanding the fact that it is counted among the more mountainous of the county's sub-divisions. If close proximity and ready access to the county seat count for anything in promoting the welfare of a town, then Stockbridge is at special disadvantage, as the towering heights of De- lectable Mountain, as it is named, compel the traveler to pass south through Sherburne, in Rutland county, or north through Bethel and Royalton, each way around the mountain, in order to reach the shire town, making a journey of at least twenty five miles by the nearest

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

route. To be sure there are at least two routes of travel over the De- lectable Mountain, but they are long, slow and tedious roads, and their passage is attended with much inconvenience and fatigue. Geographi- cally, Stockbridge occupies a position in the northwestern part of Wind- sor county, its south and west boundaries being the lines of Rutland county towns. On the north it is bounded by Bethel and a small part of Rochester, and on the east by Barnard, all being in this county. In general the surface of the land is hilly and mountainous, but along its water-courses are fertile bottom lands, well adapted for agricultural pur- suits, while the uplands afford excellent pasturage for sheep and cattle. About in the center of the town stands Sable Mountain, being among the highest of the vicinity, while to the southward are others of perhaps less prominence and note.

Stockbridge is drained by several streams, the largest of which are the White River, Tweed River and Stony Brook. The White River has its headwaters in the Green Mountains, and thence flowing south and east enters Stockbridge near its northeast corner, thence it courses southeast- erly to the center part of the town, and then bends almost abruptly northward and eastward, and leaves the town at its northeast corner. Tweed River also has its source in the mountains, and enters Stock- bridge about two miles south from where the White River enters, and thence flows east by north to a point near Stockbridge village, where it unites with the larger river. Stony Brook is a stream also of consider- able size, drains the whole eastern part of the town, and empties into the White River nearly a mile south of Gaysville. Fletcher Brook is a tributary of Stony Brook, and is as large, perhaps, as any of the rivulets in the town. Taken altogether the natural drainage system of Stock- bridge is the equal of that of any other town of the county; and the magnitude of the streams is such as to afford water-power privileges not inferior to any in the region. The most striking of the natural features of the town is observed at the hamlet of Gaysville, at a point that has been designated the Great Narrows, where the waters of White River are forced through an exceedingly narrow channel, not more than a few feet in width, thus affording one of the most excellent water-powers of the State ; and the privilege has been utilized, too, by the enterprise of Daniel and Jeremiah Gay, from which the village received its name.

589

TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.

The town of Stockbridge was brought into existence by virtue of a charter granted by Benning Wentworth, governor of the province of New Hampshire, and dated July 21, 1761, and was estimated to contain about forty-eight square miles of land, or its equivalent in acres, thirty thousand seven hundred and twenty. The grant was made to William Dodge and his associates, of whom there were sixty-one, in seventy-two shares, which included the reservations for all purposes and improve- ments, the same as provided for in nearly every charter made by Gov- ernor Wentworth.

But Stockbridge was also granted by the provincial governor of New York, in the year 1772, the instrument conveying the territory of the town to William Story and others, his associates ; and whatever of dis- tinction naturally accompanies " first events " belongs, in one respect at least, to Stockbridge, for this is understood to have been the first town in what became Vermont that was granted by the New York authority, although the grant was never confirmed by subsequent charter, as is gen- erally understood. This double chartering or granting was the result of the controversy between New York and New Hampshire concerning the right of jurisdiction over the territory of the New Hampshire Grants, so- called ; and it was a part of the policy of each province to grant as many towns as possible, in the hope, at least on the part of New York, that the settlers expected to occupy the lands would be favorably disposed toward the authority of the chartering province, thus carrying out the principles of the adage that " might makes right." But why Stock- bridge should have been selected by New York as the first town to be so granted is a question, for at the time there were no New Hampshire claimants within the territory of the town, and none could reasonably be expected in the near future, as it was quite early for settlement in a lo- cality so remote from any inhabited district. The action of New York may have been designed and the reasons unknown to us, or it may have been merely a coincidence, probably the latter. The matter of the con- troversy between the provinces of New York and New Hampshire con- cerning the territory now called Vermont is made the subject of special and extended notice in the early chapters of this volume, and therefore needs no further comment in this place.

The town of Stockbridge, as has been stated, was first chartered on the

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

2Ist of July, 1761, but it was nearly twenty-five years after that time that the first permanent settlement was made, and more than thirty years after the date of the charter that the town was organized and officers chosen. Tradition has it that the first person to attempt an im- provement and settlement within the bounds of the town was John Durkee, who came here during the early spring of 1784, cleared a small tract of land, planted crops and built a cabin ; and that during the same year, but later in the season, and early in 1785, other families to the number of eleven came to the locality, among them those of Asa Whit- comb, Elias Keyes, Joshua Bartlett and Samuel Wiley.

These families and others who followed later were the pioneers of Stockbridge, and upon them fell the burden of all the hardships and privations incident to life in a wild, unbroken and uncultivated forest country. With them town organization was of no use or value; the struggle for comfortable houses was the main consideration that over- shadowed all else. Their houses were of logs, roughly hewn, and other buildings they had not. But it was necessary that some means should be provided by which their grain could be ground for food, and this it was that led to the erection of a rude grist-mill by Elias Keyes, in the year 1786; and that same energetic pioneer built, during the same year, a saw mill and made the lumber with which to construct more comfort- able habitations for the few families of the community. For the build- ing of these two mills the proprietors of the town voted to give Mr. Keyes four hundred acres of land.

In this little settlement Elias Keyes appears to have been the leader, the foremost man ; he not only built and managed the first mill indus- tries of the town, but he is said to have established the first school therein. He was enterprising and industrious, and did more, perhaps, than any other man, or set of men, to help build up and make prosperous the town and its people. As the town increased in population he operated quite extensively and did a large business in land trausactions ; but, un- fortunately, he became involved in a litigation that terminated disas- trously for him, which, with the additional loss and demolition of his mills, left him financially broken, and he was brought to the county seat a prisoner for debt, but then he gave bonds for the "liberties of the jail." During his enforced residence at the county seat Judge Keyes rebuilt the jail.

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TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.

He was in all respects the worthy citizen, and held offices of trust and responsibility both in county and State affairs. In 1813 he was chosen one of the councilors to the governor, and served in that capacity until 1814, and again from 1815 to 1818. In 1803. also, he was elected presid- ing judge of the County Court, and served until succeeded by Judge Ebenezer Brown in 1814 ; and was again chosen in 1815, and served two years more. After a number of years Judge Keyes returned to his old town of Stockbridge, and repossessed himself of his former mill property, which he improved. He acquired a fair estate before his death, out of which he made a provision for the poor of the town. Judge Keyes rep- resented the town in the General Assembly fourteen years.

Among the other pioneers of Stockbridge was Lot Whitcomb, a na- tive of Massachusetts, but who came to reside and make a home in Barnard in 1780, but during that year the English and Indians attacked the settlement and captured or drove the settlers and destroyed their property. Whitcomb succeeded in making an escape and returned to Massachusetts and remained there until the war was ended ; and when he returned he joined the little colony that settled and improved Stock- bridge. He raised to maturity a large family of children, most of whom remained in the town, and themselves raised families. And to this day the surname of Whitcomb is as frequent in the town as perhaps any other.

John Durkee, the acknowledged pioneer of Stockbridge, was likewise the progenitor of a goodly family of children, there being seven of them, and although not so numerous perhaps in the town as the Whitcomb descendants, the family name of Durkee is very well represented, and among those so named are some of the most substantial and progressive men of the locality. Orrin Durkee, one of the sons of the pioneer, was in the service during the second war with Great Britain, and held the rank of captain.

As must of course be seen from the foregoing narrative, there were no settlers within the territory of the town to be disturbed by the events of the Revolutionary war; nor were those who came here soon after the close of that contest ever embarrassed in their possession by reason of the dispute between the independent State of Vermont, on the one hand, and the recognized State of New York on the other ; for, after the pe-

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

riod of the war had passed, Vermont, instead of resisting the New York claims, was directing her every effort toward an acknowledgment of her independence in Congress. This required politic and diplomatic meas- ures, and the most complete condition of peace on the part of Vermont's people was the greatest aid that could be asked of them in bringing about the desired end. To be sure there was in the region of this State, east of the mountains, a strong element of opposition to the Vermont interests, and a correspondingly strong element favorable to the New York side of the controversy, but that sentiment was not among the settlers of Stockbridge, who were too busily occupied with their own personal interests to give much time to the affairs of the States, how- ever important they might have been.

Soon after the admission of Vermont to the Union Stockbridge was possessed of a sufficient population to entitle it to town organization ; in fact, by that time such organization was not only desirable, but neces- sary for the proper government of the town and its people. Therefore, in accordance with the usual custom, the freemen of the town held their first meeting on the 27th of March, 1792, and elected their officers as follows : Town clerk, Elihu Holland ; selectmen, Joseph Durkee, John Whitcomb, and Samuel Wiley; constable, Branch Whitcomb. In the fall of the same year the freemen elected John Whitcomb as the first representative in the General Assembly of the State.

Having thus become organized the opportunities for further settle- ment were offered, and readily accepted. At this time the town had about eighteen or twenty families and one hundred inhabitants. Dur- ing the next eight years the population increased slightly more than four-fold, the number of inhabitants, according to the census of 1800, being 432. Since that the census enumerations have shown the popu- lation of the town to be as follows : 1810, 700 ; 1820, 964; 1830, 1,333 ; 1840, 1,419; 1850, 1,327; 1860, 1,264; 1870, 1,269; 1880, 1, 124, There are very good reasons upon which to ground the belief that the census enumeration of 1890 will show the town to have about the same number of souls as it had in 1880, or at least that the falling off, if any there be, will be less in proportion than during the preceding decade, that from 1870 to 1880.

Probably the most extensive and important manufacturing industry

Un I Durkee

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TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.

of Stockbridge, past or present, was that until recently operated under the name of Gaysville Manufacturing Company. The concern had its origin in the factory established in 1832, at the point called Gaysville, so named in honor of its founders, Daniel and Jeremiah Gay. In the year stated these men erected a mill at the Great Narrows of White River, and commenced the manufacture of cassimere cloths, and so con- tinued for many years, though with various changes in management and extent of works as time progressed. In 1880 the late company was or- ganized, the partnership comprising Nelson Gay, F. P. Holden, Chester Downer and A. A. Brooks. The principal article of manufacture was men's knit underwear, which industry furnished employment to nearly seventy-five persons, and employed several sets of machinery. This was the only manufactory of its special character recently in the town or vicinity, and its unfortunate destruction by fire in 1888 was a severe blow to the prosperity of the locality.

The establishment of this industry gave rise to the pleasant little vil- lage of Gaysville, and with the constantly increasing business of the pro- prietors the town correspondingly enlarged and prospered, until it contained several general stores, three churches, a school, a saw and grist- mill, and all the other adjuncts of a flourishing village, in which condition it is found to-day, save only that the large mill is no longer to be seen.

But in the manufacture of lumber, in all its numerous branches, there are not so many mills in the town at present as was the case forty and fifty years ago. This is accounted for by the fact that the town's maxi- mum population was reached about the year 1840, and at that time, or within a few years afterwards, the lands needed for agriculture were about all cleared, and as there was not much building going on in the town the necessity for saw-mills was past. But there was a time when almost every available stream in the town had along its banks one or more of this class of industries. In 1860 the principal manufacturers of Stock- bridge town were, at Gaysville, M. Gay & Son and Thomas Greenbank, woolen goods; at Stockbridge village, Partridge & Hayden, tanners and · manufacturers of leather At that time, also, the merchants were Car- roll & Brown at Stockbridge, and R. L. Fay and A. A. Brooks at Gaysville. In 1870 the merchants of the town were H. D. Morgan, Asgood & Culver, Kimball & Montgomery, L. P. Dean; and the manu-

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

facturers, J. H. Townshend & Co., woolens, F. P. Blanchard & Co., lumber, and M. E. Smith, hand rakes, at Stockbridge village; and Thomas Greenbank and M. Gay & Son, woolens, at Gaysville. Besides these there were the usual contingent of outside saw-mills, principal among which was the Isaac Jones mill, on Stony Brook; also the Rich- ardson saw, grist and woodenware-mill on another stream. These mills, which are near the hamlet of Stockbridge, are still in operation. In 1880 H. D. Morgan was still in mercantile business at Stockbridge, while E. P. Kimball, L. P. Dean and E. M. McCollom were in the same business at Gaysville.

The present industries and occupations of these villagers may be summed up substantially as follows: Merchants, C. S. Carroll & Co .; postmaster, J. D. Wilcox; hotels, E. H. Whitcomb, E. W. Clark; manu- facturers, the Richardson mills, as heretofore stated, and A. F. Lamb, monuments and headstones. The above are at Stockbridge village. At Gaysville, Austin Brown is postmaster; J. M. Clay, landlord ; J. A. Chedel & Co., E. B. Kimball, H. L. Deane, E. M. McCullom, F. V. Hassam, merchants; M. T. Averill, manufacturer of wagons, carriages, etc .; William H. Edmunds and Isaac T. Jones, lumbermen; and the late Gaysville Manufacturing Company, knit goods.

In the town are several church societies, the Universalist, Methodist and Congregational at Gaysville ; and a union church building at Stock- bridge, the latter being open to the use of any society. The Congrega- tional Society is the oldest, perhaps, of any, having been organized in conjunction with the Pittsfield society in 1812, and under the ministerial charge of Rev. Justin Patterson. In 1827 a separation was effected and this town's society placed in charge of Rev. Gilman Vose, who held the pastorate from 1829 to 1831. The present church edifice of the society was built in 1863.

The Gaysville and Stony Brook Methodist Episcopal church was erected during the year 1862, one society with two buildings, located re- spectively at Gaysville and a point several miles south, near where Fletcher Brook empties into Stony Brook, but on the stream last named. The Universalist Societies are at both Gaysville and Stockbridge villages, each organized in 1867, and having two edifices, although the latter is a union building and was erected in 1836.

ADellargam

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TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.

Some Past Town Officers .- However interesting a record it might make, it would be deemed imprudent to furnish here a complete succes- sion of the town officers of Stockbridge since organization, or the suc- cession even for the last quarter of a century ; but, that the reader may have some knowledge of who presided over the affairs of the town at different periods, it is thought best to name the principal officers, com- mencing with 1860, and then following with those chosen during the subsequent years, 1870, 1880, 1887, and the present incumbents ; and further supplementing this sub-division with a complete succession of the town representatives in the State General Assembly.

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History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 58

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1260

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1260