USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 76
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So far as the old proprietors' records disclose the first meeting at which town officers were chosen was held March 9, 1762, at Plainfield, where these were elected: Moderator, "for the work of the day," Captain Tim- othy Wheeler ; town clerk, for the ensuing year, Benjamin Spalding ; selectmen, Captain Timothy Wheeler, Captain James How and Daniel McKee; town treasurer, Captain Timothy Wheeler; collector, Jonathan Parkhurst. During this year as well as that next succeeding the atten- tion of the proprietors was mainly directed to concerting such measures as would result in the speedy settlement and improvement of the lands of the town. "To this end, at a meeting held on the 28th of March, 1763, it was voted, as an inducement to settlement, to give any ten or more proprietors that would settle, or any five or more that would clear and soe three acres with English grane, by the first of November next, (1763,) each of them, " and each five of them that shall build a house sixteen feet square, by the Ist of November next, shall have the choice of lots in said town," in the first division.
But it is not probable that any settlement was made under the first offer of lots, for it is not understood that the survey and division had then been made. The first record upon this point appears as a part of the proceedings of a meeting held November, 1763, when David Spald- ing and Josiah Russell were chosen a committee to complete the laying
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TOWN OF SHARON.
out of lots under the first survey and division, from which it is presum- able that the survey was not made until the spring or summer of 1763, although some efforts in this direction may have been made in 1762. The survey, whenever it was made, was the work of Joshua Dunlap. At a meeting held April 12, 1764, the proprietors renewed their offer, and enlarged it to the extent of allowing them to make choice of the hundred-acre lots, to any or all of five persons, who would " clear and soe three acres of English grane," meaning that such persons should clear three acres of land and sow it to English grain, and build the house, sixteen feet square, before the first of November thereafter. .
In the absence of definite information on the subject it appears that settlement must have been under this last offer, and during the year 1764, for, at a meeting held on the 3d of November of that year, the pro- prietors voted " to give privileges to select pitches to five persons if they would do the duty on each of their rights, by the Ist of November next, -1765, as those proprietors were obliged to do who went there the sun- mer last past." It may readily be inferred from this that the town was settled during the summer of 1764, but the number of persons or families that then took up their homes in the locality cannot now be accurately determined, nor can the names of a single one be given. It is generally conceded, and past authorities have stated, that Robert Havens and his family were the first actual settlers, but none pretend to fix the year of his coming. The tenor of the last stated offer of the proprietors would appear to indicate that more than one improvement was made during 1764. A quite recent authority states that the first settlers were " Isaac Marsh, Willard Shepard, Robert Havens and a Mr. Parkhurt," probably Ebenezer or Joseph, and that their coming was during the year 1764; and further, that they settled in the town just in time to prevent the for- feiture of the charter; that the four made clearings, sowed grain, and built the " regulation " houses; and that to one of their number, Isaac Marsh, fell the duty of remaining in the town during the following win- ter, while the others returned to their former homes. Elias Marsh, the son of Isaac, was the first white male child born in the town, the date of birth, according to Deming, being March 25, 1768. At all events, in 1787 or 1788, the proprietors voted to give Elias Marsh the right to pitch one hundred acres of land "in consideration of his being the first
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
male child born in the town." (The old record books are so torn and mutilated that it is difficult to determine either dates or names with any degree of accuracy.)
The exact date of the organization of the town of Sharon by its in- habitants, independent of the preliminary organization and meetings held by the proprietors, cannot be determined from existing records, from the fact that the first leaves of the town book are so mutilated and worn as to be unreliable for the purposes of accurate statement, but enough can be deciphered to learn that the organization meeting was held during 1768. Thompson says the town was organized March 8th of that year, while at least two later authorities say that the first meet- ing holden for the election of town officers was of date March 12, 1776. In this matter Mr. Thompson was undoubtedly correct, for the old book is still in existence, though much worn and dilapidated. And while this unfortunate condition of the records prevents us from giving here the officers for either 1768 or 1769, those for the year 1770 are reasonably free from mutilation, though much dimmed by being written with poor ink, and the exposures of one hundred and twenty years.
At the town meeting of 1770, held on the 12th of March, the follow- ing officers were elected : Moderator, William Hunter; clerk, William Hunter ; supervisor, Joel Marsh ; assessors, William Hunter, Benjamin Spalding and Robert Havens; treasurer, William Hunter ; collector, Simeon Howe; overseers of highways, Isaac Wheeler, Ebenezer Park - hurst and Robert Havens ; overseer of poor, Joseph Parkhurst ; constable, Joel Marsh ; fence viewer, Benjamin Spaulding ; commissioners to lay out highways, William Hunter, Benjamin Spalding and Ebenezer Parkhurst.
On an occasion of such great importance as this must have been to the people of the town it is quite probable that nearly every townsman of full age was present; and it is also probable that there would be an entire willingness on all sides that the offices should be distributed among the voters as far as they would go; but the fact that there were not enough men to fill the several positions without frequently duplicating names would indicate that the voting population comprised only a hand- ful of men, or else there was an undue contralization of power in the hands of a few, which latter theory is quite improbable. What number of
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TOWN OF SHARON.
people the town contained during this year would be entirely a matter of speculation, but it must, of course, have been less than that of the next year, 1771, when the New York authorities caused an enumeration of the inhabitants to be made. That gave the town, in that year, a population of but sixty-eight, and as there was only about one voter to every five inhabitants, there could not have been to exceed a dozen per- sons of full age in the town in 1770. But during the next score of years the growth of population was much more rapid, the enumeration of 1791 showing the town to have five hundred and sixty-nine souls.
But it must have been exceedingly difficult for these poor struggling inhabitants to determine with accuracy to what jurisdiction they really belonged, so frequent were the changes during the first thirty years of the town's history and peopled existence. In 1761 their town was char- tered as one of the New Hampshire Grants; in 1764 the jurisdiction passed to the province of New York, and the town was erected into a part of Cumberland county of that province; in 1772 the county was divided, and all north of the north line of Sharon was made a part of Gloucester county. But in some manner the people of Sharon obtained the idea that they were in Gloucester county, if the records are evidence of the fact, for at the annual town meeting held March 12, 1776, the minutes read thus : "At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Sharon in the county of Gloucester, province of New York," etc.
Again, in 1777, the independence of the new State of Vermont was declared, and soon thereafter followed the formation of the counties of Bennington and Cumberland, alias Unity, under the new jurisdiction of the latter of which Sharon formed part. Still further on, in 1781, Cum- berland county, under Vermont, was divided and Windsor and others erected, and thenceforth to this present Sharon has been one of Wind- sor county's integral parts From the time that Vermont declared her independence until her admission to the Union, in 1791, Sharon, as well as all the other towns of this State, enjoyed the novel situation of having a double existence, being during that period a part of two counties and under two States, Cumberland in New York, and Cumberland and sub- sequently Windsor in Vermont; but to the credit of the town be it said that Sharon acknowledged and paid allegiance to the State of Vermont, after the declaration of her separate independence, except during the
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
brief period following the dissolution of the first union with the New Hampshire towns.
At a freemen's meeting held on the 3d of March, 1778, the constitu- tion of the State of Vermont was read in open presence, following which the freeman's oath was taken by these persons : Joseph Barrett, Daniel Gilbert, Benjamin Spalding, John Crery, William Hunter, Joseph Park- hurst, Stephen Powel, Elias Stevens, Ebenezer Parkhurst, Joel March, Joseph Parkhurst, James Marsh and Reuben Parkhurst!S These qualified electors then chose Daniel Gilbert as the first representative in the Gen- eral Assembly. In July of the same year the freeman's oath was taken by William Lovejoy, Moses Shepard, Isaac Wheeler, Jonathan Howe, Simeon Howe, Josiah Wheeler and John Parkhurst; and then the free- men chose Joel Marsh the first justice of the peace .-
In 1780 the town was invaded by a detached party of Canadian In- dians, and two citizens were captured and taken to Montreal. This was the occasion of the famous attack upon Royalton, which resulted in the capture of a number of that town's residents, the destruction of buildings by fire, the killing of cattle and the despoilation of growing crops. Roy- alton was the objective point of attack and plunder, and the raid into Sharon was made by a small detachment from the main body, and its results were less disastrous.
Thus, the main and by far more interesting part of the history of Sharon was made during the first twenty-five years of its existence. During the War of 1812-15 the town had the customary militia organizations, and from the whole number was drafted the contingent necessary to be con- tributed for the service. No hostile foot was set upon the soil of the town, unless the political party then known as Federals could be con- sidered hostile, and the part taken by Sharon in that struggle was one of minor importance. This cannot be said, however, of the part taken by this town during the war of the Rebellion-the war of 1861- 65. The roll of volunteers from Sharon, together with an account of the services of the regiments to which they respectively belonged, will be found in one of the earlier chapters of this volume; and all that need be said here may properly be included in a brief summary of the strength of the town in the service.
During the course of the war, and exclusive of the men who enlisted for three months, the town of Sharon stands credited with having fur-
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TOWN OF SHARON.
nished an aggregate of one hundred and four men, elisted for the terms following : For the three years' service, fifty -five; for one year, eleven ; for nine months, eighteen; in the navy, ten; entered service, two ; mis- cellaneous credits, not named, five; volunteers, re-enlisted, three. Added to this, ten were furnished under draft and paid commutation, and three others procured and sent substitutes in their places.
The town of Sharon is now divided into eleven school districts, making no account of the fractional districts annexed to adjoining towns. In these eleven schools are employed eleven teachers, one for each district. All the schools are supported on the district plan ; that is, each district maintains its own school and pays the salary of its teacher. The first division of the town into school districts was made in 1784, and Joel Marsh, James Carpenter and John Walbridge comprised the committee that made the division.
The town also has four present church societies, but only two church buildings. The societies are the Congregational, Baptist, Adventist, and Universalist. The society of the Congregational church was the first organized in the town, dating back to September 11, 1782, and its first settled minister was Rev. Lathrop Thompson, ordained September 3, 1778, dismissed March 26, 1793 ; second minister, Samuel Bascom, settled March 12, 1806. The present pastor of this society is Rev Edward B. Chamberlain. The church house of the society is at Sharon village, and is a substantial building, with an extensive addition in the rear, known as the Steele Memorial Chapel, the voluntary gift of Sam- uel Steele.
The Baptist church building is also a commodious stucture, and situ- ate in the same village. This society has no settled pastor. The other societies, the Advent and the Universalist, have no church home, but hold their meetings in Smith's hall and the town hall.
But long before the organization of the Congregational Society in Sharon religious services, preaching it was called, were held in the town. As early as February, 1777, the towns of Royalton and Sharon joined in hiring a preacher, he to be paid by the towns in proportion to the grand lists of the towns, and plans were designated for holding services, that in Sharon " on the road between Mr. Russell Morgan's grist-mill
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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
and the dwelling house of Joseph Parkhurst, near the second bridge on the Quallion (Quation) Creek, about twenty rods below said bridge."
Town Representatives in General Assembly .- March, 1778, Daniel Gil - bert; October, 1778, Benjamin Spalding; 1779, none; 1780, Ebenezer Parkhurst; 1781, Joel Marsh; 1782-83, Daniel Gilbert; 1784, Anthony Morse (possibly an error, records uncertain); 1785, Daniel Gilbert ; 1786-87, James Carpenter; 1788, Joel Marsh; 1789-90, Anthony Morse ; 1791, Daniel Gilbert; 1792, Joel Marsh ; 1793, Ebenezer Park- hurst; 1794, Reuben Spalding; 1795, James Parker; 1796, Ebenezer Parkhurst; 1797, Reuben Spalding; 1798, Anthony Morse; 1799, Joel Marsh ; 1800, Reuben Spalding; 1801, Anthony Morse; 1802, George Dana; 1803, Joel Marsh; 1804-05, Paul W. Brigham (probably an error) ; 1806-07, Reuben Spalding; 1808-09, James Parker ; 1810, Oliver Lathrop ; 1811, James Parker ; 1812 to 1814, Reuben Spalding ; 1815, Samuel Steele; 1816, none; 1817 to 1821, James Parker; 1822, William Steele; 1823-25, James Parker; 1826-30, William Steele ; 1831-34, none reported; 1835-37, John Baldwin; 1838-39, A. F. Dean ; 1840, Freeman Holt; 1841-42, I.yman Tyler; 1843-45, Roder- ick D. Lathrop; 1846-47, John C. Baldwin; 1848-50, Hiram Moore ; 1851, Colcord Quinby ; 1852, Chester Baxter; 1853-54, Eleazer B. Baldwin; 1855, none; 1856, T. S. Hubbard ; 1857-58, Eleazer Baldwin ; 1859-60, Colcord Quinby ; 1861-63, Samuel Steele; 1864-65, Al- bert B. Mosher; 1866-67, Guy S. Nutt; 1868-69, James Parker; 1870- 71, William H. H. Walbridge; 1872-73, Joel H. Morse; 1874-75, Mariot G. Howe; 1876-77; Edward B. Chamberlain ; 1878-79, Levi B. Steele; 1880-81, Ami Follett; 1882-83, Albert B. Preston ; 1884-85. A. C. Sherwin ; 1886-87, E. K. Baxter ; 1888-89, Amos Emery.
OLD FAMILIES.
It would be impossible within the compass of this work to give a gen - ealogical sketch of each family that has been connected with the town. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to those who feel and have manifested an interest in preserving the records of their ancestors. For sketches received too late for insertion in this chapter please refer to a later chapter of this work.
Baldwin. - The Baldwins of Sharon are descended from Henry Baldwin, who was a freeman in Woburn, Mass., in 1652, but was a resident of that town in 1640, and held the position of selectman in 1681. He married November 1, 1649, Phebe, eldest daugh-
6. K. Baxter W.A.
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OLD FAMILIES.
ter of Ezekiel Richardson. He died February 4, 1697. Of his eleven children Benja- min, the youngest, was born in Woburn, Mass., January 20, 1672, and removed to Can- terbury, Conn., about 1700, where he died in 1759. He married Hannah- -- and had eight children. Benjamin, his second son, was born in 1700, and married April 24, 1724, Elizabeth Longbottom. He was a resident of Norwich, Conn., where he died at an advanced age. He was a man of great physical strength, and being at one time a prisoner of the Indians, proved more than a match for them in wrestling. Of his five children, Ebenezer, the youngest, was born in Hebron, Conn., February 5, 1736, married Abigail Blackman, born in 1743. He removed to Orford, N. H., about 1762, and died at Fairlee, Vt., in 1818. He had eight children : Abigail, married Nathaniel Marsh; Eb- enezer, removed to Ohio ; Martha, married Thomas Truesdale; Irene, married Stephen Lombard; Betsey, married Rufus Carpenter ; Eleazer; William, died in Ohio; and John. Eleazer, above, was born in Orford, N. II., January 27, 1778, and married November, 1803, Polly Ladd, born April 11, 1785. Their children were Pamelia (deceased), married Dr. Isaac D. Carpenter ; Alphes L., born April 18, 1808, died in Strafford, in 1880 ; twin daughters died in infancy ; Emily (deceased), married Willard Hayward; Emeline, died single ; Eleazer Blackman; William A., born June 12, 1820, died in Strafford; Marietta, died young ; Deo Datus, died aged nineteen ; Abigail D., wife of Lavinius H. Chandler, of Barton Landing, Vt .; and Polly G., wife of Edward Dutton, of Barton, Vt. Eleazer was a physician, and died December 20, 1857, his wife August 2, 1870. Eleazer Black- man was born in Strafford, April 30, 1818, came to Sharon in 1842 and engaged in farm- ing. He has been prominently identified in State and town affairs. He has been select- man, lister, member of the House in 1853-54, 1857-58, and nominee on the Democratic ticket for lieutenant-governor in 1877. He married January 31, 1842, Lucia H. Brown, born in Strafford, February 18, 1821. They had eleven children: Willard H., born May 14, 1843, married Lucinda Martyn, born May 14, 1843; he is a railroad bridge builder, and resides now at West Lebanon, N. H .; Marcella L., died young ; Francelia E., resides in South Dakota; George W., born Angust 3, 1845, unmarried, engaged in rail- road bridge building, and resides in Rutland, Vt .; Eleazer, born Jnne 26, 1849, married Eveline Vaughan; they have two children : Parker, and Emily resides at Manchester, Vt .; E. Henry, born March 31, 1851, railroad engineer, resides in Londonderry, Vt .: Adelia L., school teacher in Boston; Emma, wife of E. L. Wells, of Lyndonville; Deo Datus, born February 16, 1857, married, first, Josie Dewey, and had one child, Josie D .; he married, second, Jennie Eaton, and is now a farmer and banker in South Dakota ; William A., born October 16, 1858, married Emma Wheeler, and has one child, Charley ; he is a farmer of Carthage, S. D .; Rufus C., born March 22, 1862, married May Bickford. They have one child, Ralph, resides at Huntington, Vt. John, son of Ebenezer, was born in Orford, N. H., and married Lucinda Clark. He settled in Sharon, March, 1818, where he died February 3, 1870. His children were Almira (deceased), married Moses Preston ; Phebe (deceased). married Abijah Felton; John C., a Universalist minister, died at Sharon ; Albert, resides in Kansas; and Lucinda, widow of David Felton, lives in Illinois.
Chillson, William Howard, was born in Barnston, Canada, December 5, 1854, and was third in a family of four children of George Washington and Sophia (Moser) Chillson. His father was a native of West Hartley, Canada, and died at Barnston in 1867. His brothers and sisters are Edna Z., wife of Don Blake, of S .. Albans, Vt .; Edgar, farmer, living in Sharon ; and Albert G., living at Lowell, Mass. William H resided in Canada till he was twelve years old, when his mother after the death of her husband removed with her children to Sharon, where she died in 1884. He was three years in the Stark cotton-mills of Manchester, N. H., and for twelve years was employed as fireman and engineer on the Vermont Central Railroad, during which time he resided at St. Albans. In December, 1889, he purchased a farm in Sharon, npon which he now lives. He mar- ried, first, Jennie McDonald, of Sharon. They had one child, Edith A. He married, second, Flora Bullard, of Swanton Vt. They have no children.
756
HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.
Day, Edwin L., born in Sharon, January 4, 1838, descends in the eight genera- tion from Robert Day, who came to Cambridge in 1634, and died in 1648. The line is as follows: first, Robert; second, Robert, born in 1604; third, Benjamin, of Gloucester, ancestors of the Days in Vermont. He had seven sons and three daughters; fourth, Caleb, born about 1680, and had children as follows : Caleb, Israel, John, Ebenezer, Dan- iel, Ichabod, Ruth, and Hannah; fifth, Ichabod above, married Elizabeth -, and had children as follows : Amos, Asa, John, Orin, David, Robert, Elizabeth, Hannah and Olive. He died November 3, 1769, aged forty-six. Elizabeth, his wife, died Febru- ary 15, 1802, aged eighty-seven ; sixth, Orin, fourth son above, born at Wrentham, Mass., August 5, 1762, married July 13, 1788, Joanna Everett. Their children were Warren Pliney, Lucy, Amelia, Horace, Harvey, Orin, and Lucia. Orin died September 20, 1835, in Sharon, aged seventy-three; his wife Joanna September 17, 1853, aged eighty-six ; seventh, Orin, seventh child above, born in Sharon, September 23, 1806. His wife was Esther Peck, married September 5, 1836. He died September 14, 1883 ; his wife Au- gust 15, 1879. Their children were Edwin L. and Colvin T. The latter died June 29, 1885; eighth, Edwin L., married Mary, daughter of Eli and Roxanna (Harrington) Hay- den. who was born in Sharon, October 6, 1837. The father of Eli was brought up by Larkin Hunter, of Sharon, who was a brother of Mrs. Hannah Hendee, the heroine on the occasion of the Indian invasion in 1780. Mr. and Mrs. Day had two children, viz .: Herbert E. and Addie M., died January 30, 1871. Both resided in Sharon.
Drown, Wheaton, a native of Connecticut, settled in Hartford, Vt., was born Octo- ber 19, 1784, and died December 14, 1867. He married, first, Mary Ives. Of their children one died in infancy. The others were Walter, who died in Sharon, and Charles I. He married, second, Ann Porter, and their only child, John, was drowned in the White River at Hartford when nineteen years of age. Charles I., born in Hart- land, died in Sharon, March 14, 1875. He married Diana Porter. They had five chil- dren : Porter, died young; Charles E., married Martha Ladd; Mary, died aged eighteen ; Ella (deceased), married Charles Moray ; and George B., born in Sharon, July 12, 1861, married Minnie Howe. They had one child, Mark G. George B. is engaged in farming and is one of the present selectmen of the town.
Emery, Amos, was born in Chester, N. H., March 27, 1820, the third in a family of six sons and two daughters, of Jonathan and Nancy (Eaton) Emery. His education was received in the local schools, and he has always been engaged in farming. His father removed to Washington, Vt., in 1830, where he died. He remained with his father till 1835, when he purchased his time and commenced work in Brookfield, Vt., where he re- mained till 1869, when he removed to Chelsea, Vt., and became a resident of Sharon in 1884. Mr. Emery has taken an active part in public affairs. At the age of twenty-one he was elected captain of a militia company at Brookfield. He has been town superin- tendent of schools, member of the text-book committee, lister, member of the House of 1888, and since December, 1887, has been justice of the peace at Sharon, and has held every office that a town could bestow. He married, first, Almira Hibbard. by whom he had two children : George A., engaged in trade and a resident of Boston, and Albert E., a hotel-keeper, of East Randolph, Vt. He married, second, Sarah M. Hibbard, a sister of his first wife, by whom he had two children : Curtis Stanton, a lawyer, but at pres- ent cashier of Orange County National Bank, at Chelsea, Vt., and Wilson Seward of Boston, assistant United States marshal for Massachusetts. Mr. Emery is a Republican in politics, has always taken a great interest in music, and has had charge of a choir for many years.
Fay .- The family of this name in Sharon is descended from John Fay, a native of England, who was born about 1648. He embarked for America May 30, 1656, on board the Speedwell, arriving in Boston June 27th, of that year. Of the family of eight chil- dren Gresham, his youngest son, married Mary Brigham. He was born October 19, 1681. Gresham died November 24, 1720. He had a son Gresham, born September 17, 1703, and who died April 7, 1784. He married Hannah, daughter of Nathaniel Oaks, an
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