USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 63
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624
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
year. By a paragraph in the New York Gazette of August 25th, 1777, chronicling the arrival in that city of Michael Nailer, previously a prisoner at Boston, it appears that Brush had been lately tried on three indictments found against him by the grand jury of Massachusetts, on account of his partici- pation in the plundering of Boston, and had been " honorably acquitted." Whether this statement was true or false, one thing is certain, that his acquittal did not procure his release. This was effected in a manner far different. On Wednesday, the 5th of November following, Mrs. Brush, as was her custom, visited her husband in his cell, and remained with him several hours. The time for locking up the prisoners for the night having come, she was requested to terminate her visit. As the turnkey stood at the door, waiting for her appearance, a tall figure in woman's garb passed out of the cell, walked with deliberation to the outer door, and disappeared in the dark- ness. The turnkey threw the bolt forward to its place, little imagining, as was the case, that Mr. Brush had escaped in his wife's clothing, and reported all the prisoners secure for the night. On the next morning, when he shoved up the slide which closed the loophole through which food was passed, no response was given to his summons, and no hand appeared to take the proffered breakfast. Having called several times, Mrs. Brush, who was the sole occupant of the cell, at length replied, "I am not Mr. Brush's keeper," but refused to give any information concerning her husband.
Immediately on escaping, Mr. Brush set out for New York, having been furnished by his wife with the means of accom- plishing the journey, and with a horse, which he found tied at a place she had designated. On Sunday, the 16th of November, he reached the place of his destination, and the arrival of the man who for " upwards of nineteen months" had been " a pri- soner in Boston Gaol," was duly noticed in the next day's ga- zette .* Mr. Brush now directed his efforts to the recovery of his property, and especially of his lands on the New Hamp- shire Grants. Owing to his previous acts and character, and to the hatred towards Tories, which the condition of New York at that time did not tend to lessen, he made but little progress in his endeavors, and became dispirited. Nor did he succeed any better in an attempt which he made to obtain from the
New York Gazette, Monday, November 17th, 1777.
625
SUICIDE.
commander of the British forces in that city redress for the injuries he had received, and compensation for the losses he had sustained on behalf of the King. Goaded by the scorpion whips of remorse ; too proud to strive to redeem the errors of his past life by living honorably in the future ; unable to en- dure, longer,
- " the whips and scorns of time, - the law's delay,
The insolence of office ;"
making but little account of the dread responsibility incurred by him who cares not that the Everlasting has fixed
" His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ;"
he chose to exchange the miseries of the present for the uncer- tainties of eternity, and to rush uncalled into the presence of his Maker. On a cold morning in the following spring, he stood alone in his chamber, the shadow of black years behind him, and the gloomier darkness of an impenetrable future be- fore. There was little in the room to cheer a soul like his. The fire had died on the hearth, and the white ashes and the half-consumed brand were fit emblems of the seared heart which was sepulchred in his bosom. The frost had gathered on the soiled and weather-stained windows, and the light which struggled through them seemed to have lost its strength in the effort and left nothing but its dimness as the evidence of its presence. The answer which but a few hours before the Bri- tish commander had made him, when he spoke of his suffer- ings-the answer, "Your conduct merited them, and more," was still sounding in his ears. A report, as of fire-arms, drew the attention of curious people to the building whence the noise proceeded. Mr. Brush was found upon the floor-wel- tering in blood-a pistol in his hand-a bullet-hole in his head- his brains besmearing the walls of the apartment-dead .*
* A traditional account of this occurrence is, that he cut his throat with a razor in a lawyer's office which he was accustomed to frequent, while the lawyer had gone out to get some fuel for the purpose of making a fire. In a Boston paper of that time is recorded the following paragraph, which supports the state- ment of the text :-
"From New York, we learn that the notorious CREAN BRUSH (who was some Time since released from Confinement in this Town) after his Arrival in that
40
626
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
A few months previous to this occurrence, his wife had asked leave of the Council of Massachusetts to go to Rhode Island. On the 7th of January, 1778, her request was granted. Liberty was given her to proceed to Providence, and thence, provided Major General Spencer "should indulge her with a flag," to Newport. At the same time the commissary of prisoners was directed ,to see that she carried with her no papers or letters detrimental to the United States.
By the will of Mr. Brush, which was dated "in Boston Gaol," the "Eighteenth Day of October in the year of our Lord, 1777, and in the eighteenth year of his Majesty's Reign," his whole property, after the payment of his debts, was given to his wife during her widowhood. In case of her re-marriage, she was to receive one-third of the estate, and the remaining two-thirds were to be divided equally between his daughter, Elizabeth Martha, and his step-daughter, Frances. On the death of Mrs. Brush, her share was to descend to the first named daughter. Provision was made for other contingencies, and in the event of the death of his wife and daughters, his whole estate was to be divided between his "sister Rebecca, the wife of the Reverend Doctor Clarke of the county of Down in the Kingdom of Ireland," and his cousins John Brush, mer- chant and planter, of the island of Tobago, and Richard Brush, merchant, of the island of Madeira. Of this will, his wife was nominated executrix, and his friends Goldsbrow Banyar, John Church, and Simeon Olcott, executors. It was proved before Cary Ludlow, the surrogate of the city and county of New York, on the 14th of April, 1778, and at the same time, Mrs. Brush qualified as executrix. Mr. Brush owned, it is supposed, about 25,000 acres of land in the province of New York pro- per, and a little less than that amount on the New Hampshire Grants, but his heirs were able to obtain possession only of a very small portion of this part of his estate .*
In accordance with the advice of Ira Allen, the Council of Safety of Vermont appointed commissioners of sequestration
LOYAL City, applied to the Commander there, for a Consideration of the Insults and, as he told the Story, the many Losses &c. he met while here, when he re- ceived for Answer 'Your Conduct merited them, and more,' which so enraged him that he retired to his Chamber, where, with a Pistol, he besmeared the Room with his Brains."-The Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, Thurs- day, May 21, 1778.
* Will of Crean Brush.
627
DISPOSAL OF BRUSH'S ESTATE.
on the 28th of July, 1777, and gave them power "to seize all lands, tenements, goods and chattels of any person or persons" in the state who had "repaired to the enemy," and to apply the revenue arising from the sale of the personal and the leasing of the real property, to the maintenance of the state. Inter- preting this order with a meaning of which it was in no way susceptible, private individuals seized upon the doomed pro- perty, and appropriated it to their own use. As an instance of this easy method of transfer, it will be sufficient to refer to the conduct of Leonard Spaulding, of Dummerston, who, on the 4th of February, 1778, by virtue of the order of confisca- tion, took possession of "Timothy Lovell's wood-farm" in Rockingham, the "Governor's meadow" at Westminster, and two lots and a barn in the latter place, the property of Crean Brush. On the .30th of March, 1778, he also seized upon the "Dawes place" in Putney, which had formerly belonged to Mr. Brush .*
Owing to the confusion incident to the war, and to the forma- tion of Vermont as a separate government, much of the reve- arising from the estates of Tories found other channels than nose which led to the treasury of the state. But with the par- tial restoration of order, the abuses which had obtained in this particular were not unheeded. By an order of the Council, dated June 17th, 1778, the estate of Crean Brush was taken from the hands of the commissioners of sequestration, and was given in charge to Nathaniel Robinson and others, with autho- rity to lease it, and pay the proceeds to the state. By another order, emanating from the same authority, dated June 18th, 1778, Paul Spooner was appointed a commissioner to receive from "John Church, Esqr., of Charlestown and the widow Mary Bellows of Walpole," " divers books and other effects, formerly the property of Crean Brush and others, now with the enemies of the United States of America," and to " make due returns of his doings" at the next session of the General Assembly, to be holden at Windsor on the second Thursday of the following October. For the purpose of protecting the state from the influence of its foes, an act was passed by the General Assem- bly in February, 1779, forbidding the return of all inimical persons, under the penalty of being "whipped on the naked back, not more than forty nor less than twenty stripes." Any
* Vt. Council Records.
628
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
one who should continue in the state a month, or who should again return after a first conviction, was to suffer death, and the crime of harboring an enemy was made punishable by a fine of £500. In a list accompanying this act, containing the names of one hundred and twenty-eight persons, to whom its provisions were especially applicable, the name of Crean Brush, of Westminster, although he had been dead already a year, was included .*
It is impossible, at this distance of time, to ascertain the names of those who became the owners, by purchase, seizure, or otherwise, of the property of this unfortunate loyalist. The following data may not, however, prove uninteresting to persons residing in those localities where the old method of designating lands is understood. Of the real estate of Crean Brush situated in Westminster, and comprising, among other items, five thou- sand or six thousand acres of land, Stephen R. Bradley pur- chased of Thomas Chandler, commissioner, house lot number 58, on the 10th of September, 1779. The General Assembly quit-claimed to William Crook, by a resolution dated October 22d, 1779, "all right and title to a certain mill place," com- prising about two acres in lot number 8 of the fifth range. William Hyde bought, on the 20th of June, 1780, lot number 6 in the fifth range of one hundred acre lots. Lot number 2 in the fourth range, containing one hundred acres, was purchased by Nathan Fisk on the 24th of June, 1780. William Crook bought of Thomas Chandler, on the 3d of October, 1780, lots numbers 9 and 10 in the third range of eighty acre lots. The library and furniture of Mr. Brush were scattered among the households of the neighborhood in which he resided. Books, bearing on their fly leaves his name, in the round, full auto- graph, which he had acquired while serving in the office of the deputy secretary of the province of New York, are still to be found in some of the houses which border the Connecticut, and the old clock, whose strokes fell on the ear of the jovial Tory, at midnight oftener than at morning, is still preserved, and con- tinues to mark with accuracy the fleeting hours, as it has done for the last hundred years.+
After her second bereavement, it is not known how long Mrs. Brush remained a widow. In 1783 she was the wife of
Vermont Council Records. Vt. Laws, February, 1779, p. 72. Slade's Vt. State Papers, pp. 355, 356.
+ Various MS. Memoranda in office Sec. State N. Y.
629
MRS. BRUSH.
Patrick Wall,* and, with her husband, resided in New York . city. They afterwards removed to Westminster, at which place she spent the remainder of her life. In the will of Crean Brush, his step-daughter, Frances, is referred to as the wife of Captain Buchanan. On the marriage of her mother with Pa- trick Wall, one-third of the estate of her step-father came into her possession, by virtue of the will, whose main provisions have been already cited. When Mrs. Wall came to reside at Westminster, Mrs. Buchanan, then a widow, accompanied her. She was a dashing woman, and early attracted the attention of the quiet town's-people, to whom a bearing as imperious as that which she exhibited was wholly new. During some one of his frequent visits to Westminster, Gen. Ethan Allen, at that time a widower, formed an acquaintance with Mrs. Buchanan, which subsequently ripened into a warm, but, for a time, singularly inter-
* Though a tailor by occupation, Patrick Wall was a man of education, kind in disposition, courteous in manners, and, as John Kelly declared of him, one who knew " a good deal of the world." He was an Irishman by birth, but at the time of the revolution, was practising his craft in Boston. His situation during a por- tion of that period may be inferred from the annexed petition :-
" To the Honorable the Council of the State of Massachusetts Bay.
" The Petition of Patrick Wall of Boston, Taylor, Humbly sheweth --
" That your Petitioner is in very great distress, as he cannot find business suf- ficient to support himself and family, and having already exhausted his whole substance for his subsistence hitherto, hath the melancholy prospect of an ap- proaching winter, wherein he must inevitably suffer the utmost hardships from his incapacity to procure the common necessaries of life.
"That your Petitioner in addition to the calamities which threaten him with extreme poverty and distress, hath many months been afflicted with violent pains in his limbs and for want of proper exercise finds himself falling into a dropsical habit of body.
"That in order to avoid the gloomy prospect with which he is surrounded, your petitioner, as the only means which promises relief, is willing and desirous of taking a passage for New York, being advised that the voyage thither would tend towards his finding means of getting a passage home to his native country, and laying his bones amongst those of his fathers.
" Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays that your Honours in tender con sideration of the premises, may be favourably pleased to pass an order permitting your Petitioner to depart with his family for New York in the next cartel bound to that place.
" Boston, 29 Sept'r, 1777."
His request was granted by an order of the Council, and the commissary of prisoners was directed to examine all the letters, papers, etc., which he and his family might desire to take with them. Subsequent events proved that he did not long entertain the idea of "laying his bones amongst those of his fathers." After his marriage with the widow Brush, his worldly prospects assumed a more cheerful aspect. At her death, he married Elizabeth Erwin, of Westminster, on the 7th of January, 1812.
630
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
mittent friendship. Pleased with the originality of his views and conversation ; flattered at her own ability to arrest the attention of a man whom all feared, but whom few loved; and imagining that she should find more sympathy in the companionship of his strong, active nature, than in the society of those by whom she was surrounded, Mrs. Buchanan found herself, on some occasions, irresistibly attracted towards him. At other times, his rough manners would render him equally repulsive to her. Aware of the feelings with which she regarded the Gene- ral, and hoping to induce her to effect an alliance with a man whose boundless ambition was at all times apparent, save when overshadowed by passions as violent as they were unre- buked, John Norton, the tavern keeper at Westminster, and a man of considerable note, said to her one day, in a familiar manner, " Fanny, if you marry General Allen, you will be the queen of a new state !" "Yes," she replied, turning upon him a look which accorded well with her words, "if I should marry the devil, I would be the queen of hell !"
The character of Mrs. Buchanan must not, however, be judged by an expression extorted in a moment of passion. By one who knew her well, she is said to have been a fascinating woman ; endowed with an ease of manner, which she had acquired from intercourse with the polite society of that day, in which she had been brought up ; possessed of a refined taste and many accom- plishments ; and, on most occasions, soft and gentle in her ways and speech. The aversion with which she occasionally regard- ed General Allen, disappeared, at length, in the stronger admir- ation which she entertained for him, and she consented to become his wife. The circumstances attendant upon their marriage, which occurred previous to the year 1784, were novel, and fully characteristic of the man who cared but little either for "forms of government" or for the social customs of life.
Soon after the removal of General Stephen R. Bradley to Westminster, he erected a convenient dwelling for himself and family on the flat, north of the spot where the old Court-house formerly stood. During the sessions of the Supreme court, the judges usually boarded with him. At this period, Mrs. Wall and her daughter Mrs. Buchanan, occupied rooms in the house, and General Allen was a frequent visitor. One morning, while General Bradley and the judges were at breakfast, General Allen, with his sleigh, horses, and driver, appeared at the gate, and, on coming into the room, was invited to partake. He an-
631
MARRIAGE OF ETHAN ALLEN.
swered, that he had breakfasted at Norton's, and would, while they were engaged, step into Mrs. Wall's apartments and see the ladies. Entering without ceremony, he found Mrs. Bucha- nan in a morning-gown, standing on a chair, and arranging some articles on the upper shelves of a china closet. After recogniz- ing her informal visitor, Mrs. Buchanan raised up a cracked decanter, and calling General Allen's attention to it, accompa- nied the exhibition with a playful remark. The General laughed at the sally, and after some little chat, said to her, "If we are to be married, now is the time, for I am on my way to Arling- ton." "Very well," she replied, descending from the chair, " but give me time to put on my Joseph."
Meanwhile, the judges and their host, having finished their breakfast, were smoking their long pipes. While thus engaged the couple came in, and General Allen, walking up to his old friend Chief Justice Moses Robinson, addressed him as follows :- " Judge Robinson, this young woman and myself have concluded to marry each other, and to have you perform the ceremony." " When ?" said the Judge, somewhat surprised. "Now !" re- plied Allen. "For myself," he continued, "I have no great opinion of such formality, and from what I can discover, she thinks as little of it as I do. But as a decent respect for the opinions of mankind seems to require it, you will proceed." "General," said the Judge, " this is an important matter, and have you given it a serious consideration ?" "Certainly," re- plied Allen, " but," glancing at Mrs. Buchanan, "I do not think it requires much consideration." The ceremony then pro- ceeded, until the Judge inquired of Ethan whether he promised to live with Frances " agreeable to the law of God." "Stop ! stop !" cried Allen at this point. Then pausing, and looking out of the window, the pantheist exclaimed, "The law of God as written in the great book of Nature ? Yes! Go on !" The Judge continued, and when he had finished, the trunk and guitar- case of Mrs. Allen were placed in the sleigh, the parties took their leave and were at once driven off to the General's home. Thus did the step-daughter of Crean Brush become the wife of the man for whose apprehension Governor Tryon, at the insti- gation of Brush, had on the 9th of March, 1774, offered a reward of £100. The children by this marriage were Frances, Hanni- bal, and Ethan. General Allen died on the 12th of February 1789, and his widow subsequently became the wife of Dr. Jabez Penniman of Burlington.
632
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
Elizabeth Martha, the only child of Crean Brush, was about nineteen years old at the time of her father's death. At the age of twenty-two, she married Thomas Norman of Drogheda, Irc- land, by whom she had four children, Henry M., Eliza, John E., and Forbes. By the will of her father she was heir to one- third part of his estate. Having purchased of Mrs. Penniman and of Mrs. Wall their respective thirds, and taken from them quit- claim deeds duly executed and acknowledged, she became enti- tled to the whole property. In the year 1795 her husband, who resided with her in Ireland, constituted her his attorney, and with this power she soon after came to America, and immedi- ately took measures to recover the property to which she had become entitled. At Westminster, where she had fixed her abode, she was afterwards joined by her husband, and at that place they lived until the time of their removal to Caldwell, at the south end of Lake George, where Mr. Norman died in the year 1814. Mrs. Norman was a lady of fine manners, dignified deportment, and was, in every respect, an ornament to her sex. She enjoyed in early life the advantages of a good education, and never failed to receive that regard and attention to which her merits entitled her.
To what extent she succeeded in obtaining possession of the. estate left by her father, is not known. In addition to the lands which he had held in New York and Vermont, he had owned also farms in Walpole, Westmoreland, Hinsdale, and Winches- ter; but according to John Kelly, Mrs. Norman's lawyer, she was prevented by "the manœuvres of the Burt family of Wal- pole" from obtaining full possession of her landed property in these New Hampshire towns. By a letter from Mr. Kelly to Mrs. Norman, dated the 9th of June, 1795, it appears that all the lands which Mr. Brush had held in Vermont, under the New York title, were at that time deemed, as they afterwards proved to be, "irrecoverably lost." Mr. Kelly also stated that, in many instances, the citizens of Vermont had possessed them- selves of Mr. Brush's lands during the war, and had since "held them by main force and strength ;" that some of his farms in that state had been sold as confiscated ; but that " the resolution of the Governor and Council of Vermont, under which they were so sold," did not pass until two years after Mr. Brush's death. Referring in another place to this resolution, he con- demned it in the plainest terms, declaring "the attempt to con- fiscate a dead man's estate" as an act "superlatively wicked."
633
THOMAS CHANDLER.
It is believed that Mr. Brush's property, situated in the state of New York proper, was never confiscated. Even if this were so, it does not appear that Mrs. Norman ever realized her ex- pectations in the estate of her father. When on the 23d of April, 1799, the sum of $30,000 which Vermont had paid to New York, was divided among the claimants who had held lands on the "Grants," under charters from the latter state, Mrs. Norman made application for her portion, but obtained $718.60 only, a sum which bore no proportion to the real value of the possessions of her father in Vermont. The portrait of Crean Brush, from which the engraving given at the beginning of this sketch is taken, has for many years been preserved in the family of Mr. Henry M. Norman, who resides at Caldwell, and of whom several of the facts relative to his grandfather, previously mentioned, have been obtained .*
THOMAS CHANDLER.
AMONG those who The Chandy bore an active part as pioneers in the early settlement of Vermont, but few endured as many hardships, and overcame as many of the difficulties of the wil- derness, as Thomas Chandler. He was the son of John Chan- dler ; was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, on the 23d of July, 1709 ; and was married to Elizabeth Eliot, on the 23d of No- vember, 1732. At the close of the French war, when many of the inhabitants of Massachusetts and Connecticut were turn- ing their attention to the rich lands lying between Lake Cham- plain and New Hampshire, Mr. Chandler did not remain unob- servant. It is probable that he resided, during a portion of the time between the years 1761 and 1763, at Walpole, New Hamp- shire, for his name is found recorded at that period, as a select- man of that town. In the year 1763, he removed to New Flam- stead, the name by which Chester was then known, being
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