USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 10
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Although it was confidently hoped, at the beginning of the year 1759, that the western frontiers would be relieved from the depredations of the Indians by the prowess of the English, the theatre of whose exploits was to be in Canada and along the borders of Lake Champlain, still Massachusetts, early in the year, voted supplies for the defence of her settlements. Her ranging parties, and those of New Hampshire, were soon climb- ing the mountain, fording the stream, and threading the valley, in search, not of deer or wild fowl, but of the human denizens of the forest. On the 21st of March, the Indians appeared at Colrain, and captured John McCoun and his wife. The latter was sacrificed to the cruelty of her captors on the second day's march. A party of militia, led by Major Hawley of Northamp- ton, started in pursuit, but the enemy were soon at a safe dis- tance, and the troops proceeded no further than Greenfield.
An attempt was soon after made to centralize the regular forces. A company of one hundred regulars, that had been stationed at Charlestown during the preceding winter, were re-
89
LETTER FROM MAJOR ROGERS.
1759.]
moved thence to the army assembled on the Hudson ; but their places were, on the 4th of May, filled by the same number of provincials taken from the regiment of Col. Israel Williams, in the county of Hampshire.
The evacuation of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by the French, which relieved the western frontiers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire from the depredations of the Indians to which they had been for years exposed, spread joy throughout the provinces ; and the destruction by Major Rogers, on the 5th of October, of the village of St. Francis, situated at the head of the river of the same name, completed what had long been the ardent wish of the English, and to the accomplishment of which their efforts had been earnestly directed. To these victories, the surrendry of Quebec and Niagara added, made this the most glorious campaign ever conducted by the English on the shores of America.
After the destruction of the village of St. Francis," Rogers, to avoid his pursuers, determined to return to Crown Point by the way of Number Four or Charlestown. Having reached Lake Memphramagog, and provisions becoming scarce, he divided his detachment into small companies ; and having or- dered them all to assemble at the mouth of the Upper Amo- noosuck river, where he expected to find food, sent them on their march. After a journey of several days, he and his party reach- ed the point of meeting which had been agreed on. "It is hardly possible," wrote he to Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, " to de- scribe the grief and consternation of those of us who came to Co- hasse Intervales. Upon our arrival there, after so many days' tedious march over steep rocky mountains, or through wet, dirty swamps, with the terrible attendants of fatigue and hunger, we found that here was no relief for us, where we had encouraged ourselves that we should find it, and have our distresses allevi- ated. Notwithstanding, the officer I dispatched to the General, discharged his trust with great expedition, and in nine days ar- rived at Crown Point, which was an hundred miles through the woods ; and the General, without delay, sent Lieut. Stephens to Number Four with orders to take provisions up the river to the place I had appointed, and there wait as long as there was any hopes of my returning, yet, the officer that was sent being an indolent fellow, tarried at the place but two days when he re-
* An account of this event may be found in Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 302-306. Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 302-305. Williams's Hist. Vt., i. 428-433.
90
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1759.
turned, taking all the provisions back with him about two hours before our arrival. Finding a fresh fire burning in his camp, I fired guns to bring him back, which guns he heard, but would not return, supposing we were an enemy.
" Our distress upon this occasion was truly inexpressible. Our spirits, greatly depressed by the hunger and fatigues we had already suffered, now almost entirely sunk within us, seeing no resource left, nor any reasonable ground to hope that we should escape a most miserable death by famine. Atlength I came to a resolution to push as fast as possible towards Number Four, leav- ing the remains of my party, now unable to march further, to get such wretched subsistence as the barren wilderness could afford,* till I could get relief to them, which I engaged to do within ten days. I, with Capt. Ogden, one Ranger, and a captive Indian boy, embarked upon a raft we had made of dry pine trees. The current carried us down the stream in the middle of the river, where we endeavoured to keep our wretched vessel, by such pad- dles as we had made out of small trees, or spires split and hewed. The second day we reached White River Falls, and very nar- rowly escaped being carried over them by the current. Our little remains of strength, however, enabled us to land, and to march by them. At the bottom of these falls, while Capt. Ogden and the Ranger hunted for red squirrels for a refresh- ment, who had the good fortune, likewise, to kill a partridge, I attempted the forming of a new raft for our further conveyance. Being unable to cut down trees, I burnt them down, and then burnt them off at proper lengths. This was our third day's work after leaving our companions. The next day we got our materials together, and completed our raft, and floated with the stream again till we came to Wattockquitcheyt Falls, which are about fifty yards in length. Here we landed, and by a weath; made of hazel bushes, Capt. Ogden held the raft till I went to the bottom, prepared to swim and board it when it came down, and, if possible, paddle it ashore, this being our only resource for life, as we were not able to make a third raft in case we had lost this. I had the good fortune to succeed, and the next morn- ing we embarked, and floated down the stream to within a small distance of Number Four, where we found some men cutting
* Note by Major Rogers: "This was ground nuts and lily roots, which, being cleaned and boiled, will serve to preserve life, and the use and method of prepar- - ing which, I taught to Lieut. Grant, the commander of the party."
+ Otta Quechee. į Withe.
91
GENERAL AMHERST'S PLANS.
1759, 1760.]
timber, who gave us the first relief, and assisted us to the fort, whence I dispatched a canoe with provisions, which reached the men at Cohasse four days after, which, agreeable to my en- gagement, was the tenth day after I left them.
"Two days after my arrival at Number Four, I went with other canoes, loaded with provisions, up the river myself, for the relief of others of my party, that might be coming on that way, having hired some of the inhabitants to assist me in this affair. I likewise sent expresses to Suncook and Pennacook,* upon Mer- rimack river, that any who should chance to straggle that way might be assisted; and provisions were sent up said rivers accordingly."+
Having returned from his expedition up the river, Major Rogers waited for his men at Number Four, and having collected a part of his force, marched for Crown Point. On reaching that station, on the 1st of December, he found that he had lost by exposure and in other ways since leaving the ruins of St. Francis, three lieutenants and forty-six sergeants and privates.
General Amherst, the English commander, having informed Governor Pownal of Massachusetts, that his operations would effectually protect the frontiers from further incursions of the enemy, Col. Israel Williams, by the governor's orders, in the month of October, discharged the smaller garrisons along the Massachusetts cordon, and on the Connecticut river. The troops at Charlestown having gone with General Amherst, that post, not being deemed liable to an attack, was left unde- fended. Forts Dummer and Massachusetts, and the post at West Hoosac, were the only stations on the north-west frontiers of the province where garrisons were retained.}
Although the strength of the French in Canada had been broken, yet the remainder of the season was too short to effect the total subjugation of that province. In the summer of 1760, General Amherst, in order to bring about this result at one blow, laid his plans for approaching Montreal by three differ- ent routes. The men under the command of Col. John Goffe, who had been raised in New Hampshire for the service of this year, having met at Charlestown, instead of being ordered to Crown Point by the way of Albany, were commanded to cut
* Now Pembroke and Concord.
+ Letter to General Jeffrey Amherst, November 5th, 1759, in Journals of Major Robert Rogers; London, 1765, pp. 146-158.
# Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 307.
92
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1760.
a road across the present state of Vermont, thus opening a direct communication by land between Connecticut river and Lake Champlain. The road began at Wentworth's Ferry, two miles above the Fort at Charlestown, and was laid out twenty- six miles in the course of Black river, as far as the present town of Ludlow, where commenced a path which had been made the year before by Lieut .- Col. Hawks .* In this they passed over the mountains to Otter creek, tlience along the borders of that stream in a good road previously constructed, to Crown Point. Their stores and baggage were conveyed in wagons the first twenty-six miles of the route, and from the point where the wagon-road ended, on pack-horses, across the moun- tains to the place of destination. By the same course, a drove of cattle for the supply of the army, were removed from Charles- town to Crown Point, during the campaign. While the New Hampshire regiment were engaged in cutting the road, the trails of Indians were occasionally seen in the adjacent woods, but no hostilities followed. The last incursion of the Indians on the fron- tiers of New England during the war was at Charlestown, whence the family of Joseph Willard were taken and carried toMontreal, a short time previous to its investment by the English.
Affairs in the colonies began now to wear a more cheerful aspect. The Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, finding it impossible to resist the combined forces of Generals Amherst and Murray, and of Col. Haviland, offered to capitu- late, and the whole province of Canada, on the 8th of Septem- ber, became the possessions of Great Britain. Thus ended the war in America, and for the first time since the year 1689, when " King William's war," as it was called, began, was there a prospect that peace would be long in its duration and pro- tective in its character. Those who had deserted their settle- ments at the breaking out of the war, now returned to them, and fields which had for a long time lain uncultivated, began once more to wave with luxuriant harvests.t
The fort on the Great Meadow, which had been rebuilt in the year 1755, and which had been occupied as such, since
* In the " Memoir of General Stark," Concord, 1831, p. 180, it is said, that in the spring of the year 1759, Capt. John Stark "was employed with two hundred Rangers in cutting a road from Ticonderoga to Charlestown, N. H." It is pro- bable that Hawks and Stark were employed on different portions of the same general route.
+ Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 306, 307.
93
1750-1770.] GRANTS BY GOVERNOR WENTWORTH.
that period, was now turned into a dwelling, as were other posts in the vicinity, similarly constructed ; but the defences being allowed to remain, these buildings were easily convertible to their original use. Nor were precautions of this nature entirely useless. Although the enemy did not again appear in any considerable force, yet during the two or three following years the settlers were occasionally alarmed by reports of their proximity, and found protection from danger, sometimes, it is true, more imaginary than real, in their old fortifications.
Governor Wentworth, who, on the 3d of January, 1749, had chartered the township of Bennington, and from that time until the 6th of April, 1754, had made grants of fourteen other town- ships within the present limits of Vermont, now commenced a course similar but more extensive, by granting the township of Pownal, on the 8th of January, 1760. Before the close of the year 1764, so actively had he been engaged in prosecuting his designs, that he had named and sold one hundred and eight- een townships, and had given fourteen thousand acres of land to reduced officers. This territory included the richest and most valuable portions of the land over which New Hamp- shire claimed jurisdiction, and left but little of it ungranted. The governor's official fees, and a reservation in every town- ship of a certain portion of land for his own use and benefit, made him one of the richest men in his own province, and put him in possession of an abundance of good land, for which he rendered no compensation. *
For the purpose of resuscitating the settlement at Westmin- ster which had been abandoned, Col. Josiah Willard Jr., for- merly of Fort Dummer, obtained a renewal of the charter of that town, on the 11th of June, 1760, and notified to the pro- prietors* a meeting. In accordance with this notice, " a legal meeting of the proprietors of the township of Westminster, in the province of New Hampshire," was held on the 4th of February, 1761, "at the house of Mr. John Averill, in said Westminster," at which Benjamin Bellows, of Walpole, presided as moderator. Means were taken to apportion the land satis- factorily, and preparations were made for permanent settle- ments on the broad and fertile plains which now constitute so much of the beauty of that village. At a subsequent meeting held May 6th, several valuable lots of land were voted to Col.
* See Appendix F.
94
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1750-1770.
Willard, in addition to those he then held, provided he should build a saw mill and a grist mill within the limits of the town. At the same time a tax was laid on the proprietors, in order to raise a fund from which to reward him for the various services he had rendered them. These efforts to multiply inducements to settlers from the older provinces were not without success, and before the close of the year 1766, more than fifty families were located in Westminster .* According to the census of 1771, taken by the order of Governor Dunmore of New York, this town was the most populous in that part of the province, the whole number of actual residents being four hundred and seventy-eight. The charter of Westminster was confirmed by the government of New York, on the 16th of March, 1772.
The charter of the township of Putney had been given by Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, to Col. Josiah Willard and others, and bore date December 26th, 1753. Settlements had been made on the "Meadows" in Putney, as early as the year 1744, and although they had been broken up by the Cape Breton war, yet they had been renewed about the time of the granting of the charter. The return of peace again gave an impulse to this almost abandoned settlement. Pleasantly diversified with the meadow-land and the hill- country ; with woods whose recesses were rendered dark at mid- day by the towering pine, and the less tall but more expanded oak, butternut, and elm; with streams whose devious courses afforded a secluded home for the timid trout, or whose waterfalls promised encouragement to enterprise-Putney attracted the attention of the adventurer winding his way along the Con- necticut, and gave him an abode among her woodland retreats.
* MS. Westminster Records under Massachusetts.
The conditions on which the settlers agreed to release to Col. Willard certain lands in the township of Westminster, are stated in the following language in the MS. volume above named :- "Provided he shall Build a Good Saw Mill and Grist Mill in sd Town, and saw and grind at the usual Price of sawing at the Neighbouring Mill, and Grind Likewise at the same Toll Taken at the Neighbour- ing Mills. The Saw Mill to be built by the first Day of October next, and the Grist Mill in two years if the Town should Desire the same, and [he to] keep the said Mills in Repair ten years or Longer or Deliver up sd stream for the use of the sd Proprietors after ye ten years, if he Refuses to Continue to keep sd Mills in Repair. And it is to be understood that if the stream that is in sd land be not sufficient for Constant Water for a Mill, then the said Town is to Provide a stream for sd Mill to be built upon, and Land for the Conveniency of building sd Grist Mill on, or the said Willard to be Exempted from building sd Grist Mill."
See also Land Papers in Office Sec. State, N. Y., vol. xix., under date October 1st, 1765; vol. xxi., under date June 25th, 1766.
95
SETTLEMENT OF PUTNEY.
1750-1770.]
Early in the autumn of 1762, Lieut. Joshua Hide purchased in Putney a tract of land lying in the east part of the town on the river, comprising twenty-eight hundred acres, and in Decem- ber following removed his family, and settled them in a house situated about fifty rods south of the spot where Westmoreland bridge has since been erected. At this time, with the exception of the families on the meadow, there were only two other families in the place-those of John Perry, and Philip Alexander, who lived not far from the river. There was no saw nor grist mill in town, and the grain for their daily bread was for several years carried for grinding either to Northfield, Massachusetts, or to Chesterfield or Westmoreland, New Hampshire. In 1764, Joshua Parker purchased land in Putney, and soon after drove the first cart which had ever appeared in town, through the main street to the north end of it, where he had fixed his residence. Although he removed his family from Canterbury, Connecticut, in October, yet he located them for the winter in Westmoreland for the convenience of mills, and did not settle permanently in Putney until March, 1765. A saw mill and a grist mill were soon after put in operation, and the settlers were thus relieved from several of their greatest embarrass- ments. Meantime, Henry Walton, James Cummings, and Moses Johnson had erected dwellings on the street, and Ben- jamin Hutchins and Samuel Skinner in the eastern part of the town. Before the middle of the year 1765, the number of families had increased to fifteen.
Few though they were in numbers, yet they forgot not the worship of God ; and meetings for this purpose, held for several years at the house of Joshua Parker, by whom they were con- ducted, or in the barn of James Cummings, and afterwards, when the settlers had become more numerous, in more conve- nient places, served to cherish in their breasts the spirit which they had brought from their native provinces-a spirit derived from the Puritan, but pruned of the severity, dissimulation, bigotry, and intolerance, which were too often manifest among those who bore that venerated name. In 1768 Noah Sabin of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, afterwards distinguished in the annals of Cumberland county, removed to Putney. The town was char- tered by New York on the 14th of November, 1766, and on the 8th of May, 1770, it was organized, and town officers were chosen .*
* From two MS. " Historical Sermons," preached at Putney, by the Rev. E. D.
96
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1750-1770.
The township of Halifax, the second in the state granted by New Hampshire, was chartered on the 11th of May, 1750. At the instance of Oliver Partridge, one of the principal grantees, it was divided into sixty-four equal shares, and the lot of each owner was marked at the corners with "lasting boundaries." In the centre of the town was a large space of a hexagon shape taken from the surrounding lots for public uses. Settlements were commenced in 1751, but those who undertook them were not able to prosecute their plans on account of the hostility of the Indians. After the reduction of Canada, the proprietors of more than forty lots renewed their exertions "with good pro-
Andrews, on a Fast-Day, in the year 1825, which have afforded the materials for the paragraphs in the text relative to that town, the following additional par- ticulars are extracted :- " In the year 1768 there were on the street, besides the families before named, William Wyman's, settled near the house now occupied by Captain Ash ; Charles Kathan's, near Dr. Campbell's place; and Amos Haile's. West of the street there were but three families, viz. John Butler's, where Peter Blood now lives; Michael Law's, where Aaron Houghton now lives; and Dennis Locklin's, on the farm now owned by the Hon. P. White, forty or fifty rods in the field south of his farm-house. East of the mouth of Sackett's Brook there were four families, viz. Jonas Moore's, where Abel Hubbard now lives ; Leonard Spaul- ding's, near B. Reynolds's ; Fairbank Moore's, on Timothy Underwood's farm ; and Samuel Allen's, on the farm of Jonas Keyes Jr. At that time there was no road from the Great Meadow to the street, except on the bank of the river as far as Kathan's ferry, and thence up to the street. The valley through the middle of the town was then chiefly a wilderness.
"In 1768 the Hon. Noah Sabin built the first framed house, on the ground nearly opposite Deacon Taft's; and the building is now a part of the store of Leavitt and Crawford. The same year Amos Haile built a framed house, oppo- site the house now occupied by the Hon. Theophilus Crawford. James Cum- mings built the house where Abel Haynes lives, and Charles Kathan also built on the spot where Mrs. McLellan lives, near Dr. Campbell's. Not long after, Moses Johnson built the first two story house on the street-the house now occupied by Elijah Blake, thirty rods north of the meeting-house. The first saw-mill was built on the site of the paper-mill in 1765 or 1766. The first grist-mill was built by Deacon Minott, where Minott's mills now stand, in the year 1766. The second grist-mill was built by Jonathan Houghton about the year 1769. It was situated fifteen rods east of the paper-mill, on the site where Newell Moore's blacksmith shop now stands. The first clothing works were built in the east part of the town by Capt. Roswell Parker in the year 1785. The first blacksmith, who
worked in town, was Capt. Daniel Jewett. He commenced about the year 1773. The first store was opened about the year 1770, by Peter Wilson, a little west of the house of the Hon. John Noyes, and here was the first tavern. The second store was opened by Charles Chandler, twelve rods south of the meeting-house, about the year 1783. The first meeting-house was built in 1773."
Many changes have taken place since the Rev. Mr. Andrews collected these minute details of the early settlement of'Putney, but it was supposed they might still possess some interest to those curious in preserving the grains of local history, and for that reason they have been here inserted.
97
SETTLEMENT OF MARLBOROUGHI.
1750-1770.]
ficiency," and although the township consists almost entirely of " mountainous lands," and was then very heavily " loaded with timber," yet the proprietors were sanguine that their settlement would at some future period "prove beneficial to the public."
The township of Marlborough, after having been chartered by New Hampshire by that name, on the 29th of April, 1751, and again on the 21st of September, 1761, was chartered as New Marlborough, on the 17th of April, 1764. The prefix being dis- liked, was dropped by the consent of most of the inhabitants, the original name only being retained. The first two charters were granted to Timothy Dwight of Northampton and his associates, the third to Charles Phelps and his associates. Phelps, as the principal grantee, was directed to call town-meetings in accord- ance with the conditions of the third charter. Under the first charter the outside lines of the town were run and the corners set in 1752, but owing to the French war the grantees were unable to comply with the requisitions of their charter, and for this reason it was forfeited. On the renewal of the charter means were taken to effect a settlement, and in May, 1762, the town was laid out by Joseph Allen Jr., surveyor, and Eliphaz Clap, Oliver Brigham, Joel Strong, and Timothy Parsons, chainmen .*
The first actual settler was Abel Stockwell, who, in the spring of the year 1765, removed with his family from West Spring- field, Massachusetts. Entering by the road passing through Brattleborough, he established himself in the eastern part of the town, on the farm since occupied by Luther Ames. The first tavern in town was opened and kept by Stockwell.t Francis Whitmore with his family from Middletown, Connecti- cut, commenced the second settlement. He came in by the way of Colrain and Halifax, and chose for his location the farm which was afterwards occupied by his grandson, Levi Barret. Although his entrance succeeded that of Stockwell but a few weeks, yet the two lived nearly a year within a few miles of
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