USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 67
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* An instance of his readiness to espouse the cause of the oppressed was seen in the attempt which he made-at a meeting of the " church of Christ" in West- minster, held on the 27th of May, 1795-to defend Mrs. Bethiah Holton, a mem. ber of that church, against whom he thought an undue severity was being exer- cised, on account of her avowal of the belief "that all mankind will finally be restored to the Divine favor through the sufferings, death, and atonement of Christ." An account of the proceedings on this occasion, and a report of Judge Hall's remarks, were published in the " Farmer's Weekly Museum," on the 2d of June, and the 7th of July, 1795, and in the " Rural Magazine: or Vermont Repo- sitory," for June, 1795.
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
bined with an extensive experience of men and things, and an affable disposition, rendered his conversation not only agreeable but instructive. Though dying in the fifty-third year of his age, his life was an active one, and his personal and political influence was felt and acknowledged in the community in which he resided .*
THOMAS JOHNSON.
IN the year 1762, Thomas Johnson, then in the twenty-first year of his age, removed from Hampstead, New Hampshire, to Newbury on the New Hampshire Grants. In the service of Col. Jacob Bayley he was entrusted with the care of that gentleman's lands, which were situated on the west side of the Connecticut, and were subsequently comprised within the limits of Newbury. The charter of Newbury was granted by Benning Wentworth, on the 18th of March, 1763, and in the same year Mr. Johnson became a resident of the town, and there purchased lands. At this time there was no road in any direction leading from Newbury, and bread-stuffs and all arti- cles of furniture, agriculture, and consumption, were brought on horseback from the head waters of the Merrimac, or in boats from Charlestown, eighty miles below. The new settlement rapidly increased in population, and its rich acres were soon converted into well-cultivated farms. In the summer of 1775, Mr. Johnson, who then owned large tracts of land, and had become a successful merchant, built for the accommodation of himself and family, a large house, which is still standing, and which even at this day, is one of the best and most spacious dwellings in the town.
At the commencement of the Revolution, the inhabitants of Newbury, who were nearly all Whigs, held a town meeting,
* Journals Am. Cong., ed. 1823, i. 119, 238, 240. Sparks's Writings of Wash- ington, iii. 270. Almon's Remembrancer, ii. 353 : iii. 130: iv. 264, 317. House Documents of 26th Cong., 1st session, No. 58. Deming's Cat. of Vt. Officers, pas- sim. Thomas's (Mass.) Spy, Dec. 13th, 1792, No. 1028. Farmers' Weekly Mu- seum, or New Hampshire and Vermont Journal, Walpole, N.H., Sept. 3d, 1798. Farmers' Museum, or Literary Gazette, Walpole, N. H., August 18th and 25th, 1800. Graham's Vt., p. 111. Beckley's Hist. Vt., p. 124. Acts and Laws Vt. 1800, pp. 36-40. Ante, p. 453.
667
SERVICES OF THOMAS JOHNSON.
and in the most deliberate manner declared themselves inde- pendent of Great Britain, and entered the declaration in the records of the town. During the latter part of March and the early part of April, 1776, Mr. Johnson traced out on foot, through an unbroken wilderness and the melting snows of spring, a path for a military road from Newbury to St. John's. His journal of the survey was sent to General Washington. The object of this examination was to ascertain a practicable and short route for the invasion of Canada. Several other explora- tions of a similar character were made at this period, but cir- cumstances never afterwards favored an expedition which was so strongly desired, so long contemplated, and once actually organized under La Fayette. In the year 1777, Mr. Johnson at that time holding a captain's commission, raised and took the command of a company, which served under General Lincoln, whose head-quarters were at Manchester. With this distin- guished officer, Captain Johnson was for some time connected as aid-de-camp. In September of the same year, General Lin- coln sent five hundred men, of whom Captain Johnson's com- pany formed a part, to reconnoitre Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. The former post was taken, and the latter was besieged for several days.
In a letter to his wife, dated the 12th of September, 1777, in camp, near Mount Independence, Captain Johnson observed :- " I have had little sleep these three nights, for the roaring of cannon and the cracking of guns are continually in our ears. I must say that I felt ugly when I first heard the firing. I have had but few chances of firing my gun at the enemy. When I fired the first time, they gave me three for one. The cannon- balls and the grape-shot rattle like hail-stones, but they don't kill men. I don't feel any more concerned here, than I did at home in my business." Of the prisoners taken at Crown Point during this expedition, one hundred were placed in the charge of Captain Johnson, who conducted them to Charlestown, New Hampshire, where he delivered them to a continental officer, who led them into country quarters. Captain Johnson then returned to Newbury, where he was actively employed for the next four years in improving his estate. During this period he was honored by the Assembly of New York with a lieute- nant-colonel's commission in the militia. On account of his par- ticipation in the transactions at Ticonderoga, Colonel Johnson was narrowly watched by the British, who sought to take him.
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
The method of his capture on the morning of the 8th of March, 1781, while at Peacham, and the treatment he received during his detention in Canada, have been already detailed .* On the 5th of October following, he was released on parole of honor, having first pledged his faith to General Haldimand in a writ- ten agreement, that, until he should be " legally exchanged," he would "not do or say anything contrary to his Majesty's interest or government," and would " repair to whatever place his Excellency or any other, his Majesty's commander-in-chief in America," should designate. This parole was the cause of great trouble and anxiety to him during the year 1782. He sometimes received visits from spies, with whom, on account of his peculiar relations with the enemy, he was obliged to hold communication. A knowledge of an intercourse of this nature subjected him to suspicion as a traitor, and rendered his situa- tion very unpleasant. To free himself from an imputation so galling to his honor and patriotism, he communicated to Gene- ral Washington all the information he had obtained during his captivity, concerning the designs of the British ; detailed to him the measures he had taken to gain his liberty ; revealed to him his motives for adopting the course he had pursued since his return from Canada ; enclosed him a copy of the agreement he had made with General Haldimand ; and prayed that some means might be taken to effect his exchange, and restore him to perfect freedom.
Furnished with letters of introduction from the Hon. Meshech Weare, President of New Hampshire, and Nathaniel Peabody, a respected citizen of that state, Colonel Johnson visited Gene- ral Washington in the latter part of the year 1782. The result of this interview is not known. It is certain, however, that the conduct of Colonel Johnson met with the full approbation of General Washington. Fearing that he should be recalled to Canada, Colonel Johnson absented himself from home, and did not return until after the 20th of January, 1783, the date of the declaration of peace. On one occasion, and while subjected to his parole, he was informed that the British had laid a plan to capture his friend and neighbor, Gen. Jacob Bayley. At the risk of his own life and liberty, he forewarned the General of his danger, and enabled him to escape it. Among the gentle- men with whom he was in correspondence, and for whom he
* See ante, pp. 404-408.
669
JOSEPH KELLOGG.
procured intelligence concerning the British, was Capt. Ebene- zer Webster, of Salisbury, New Hampshire, the father of Daniel Webster, who in the year 1782 commanded the militia raised for the protection of the northern frontiers, and was stationed for a time at Newbury.
The patriotism of Colonel Johnson, though subjected to many severe trials, was ever pure and perfect, and his worth and in- tegrity were undoubted. He possessed the entire confidence of his fellow-townsmen, and represented them in the General Assembly of Vermont, during the years 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1795, 1797, 1799, 1800, and 1801. He was born in Haver- hill, Massachusetts, on the 22d of March, 1732, O. S., and died at Newbury on the 4th of January, 1819, at the age of seventy-seven years. His father was John Johnson, who was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on the 15th of November, 1711. His great-great-grandfather was William Johnson, who in the year 1634 or 1635 was one of the founders and proprie- tors of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and who emigrated from Herne Hill, in the county of Kent, England. Edward John- son, a brother of William, was a proprietor and founder of Woburn, Massachusetts, and was the author of a quaint history of the colony, which has now become a rare work .*
JOSEPH KELLOGG.
WHEN the town of Deerfield was destroyed by the Indians, on the 29th of February, 1703, Joseph Kellogg, then a lad of twelve, with his brother Martin Jr., and his sisters Joanna and Rebecca, was taken captive and carried to Canada. Here he remained with the Indians a year, and was then delivered to the French, with whom he spent the ten years succeeding. During this time he travelled with traders, and by participating in their negotiations, not only acquired the French language, but the tongues of all the tribes of Indians with which the French were engaged in traffic. Of the dialect of the Mohawks his knowledge was especially thorough. In this manner, to use
* MSS. in the possession of the Johnson family. Powers's Hist. Sketches of the Coos Country, pp. 48, 180, 181, 194-221. Deming's Cat. of Vt. Officers, passim. Graham's Descriptive Sketch of Vt., p. 149.
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
his own expressions, he " got into a very good way of business, so as to get considerable of moneys and other things, and hand- somely to support himself, and was under no restraint at all." Yielding to the solicitations of his brother, and encouraged by Colonel Stoddard and Mr. Williams, he returned home in the year 1714, and two years later was placed in the pay of govern- ment. Thus did he obtain a livelihood until the year 1722, when he was employed by the province of Massachusetts Bay to perform journeys to Canada, Albany, and other distant places. Of his more specific duties there still remain a few data, which, it is reasonable to suppose, may be regarded as reliable. In 1722, he commanded a company of ten men at Northfield. It also appears by a memorandum dated the 26th of July, in the same year, that he was a lieutenant under Samuel Barnard, and acted also as an interpreter. He was captain of a com- pany at Deerfield in 1723, and of another at Suffield, Connecti- cut, from. November, 1723, to May, 1724. On the 9th of November, 1723, he was ordered to scout on the northern fron- tier of Hampshire county. His skill in Indian signals, and modes of ambush and warfare, enabled him to meet the savage foe on terms almost equal. In obedience to a command dated the 22d of May, 1724, Colonel Kellogg, as he was then desig- nated, attended an Indian conference at Albany, in company with Colonel Stoddard. In the same year he sent out several scouting parties, of whose routes and doings he preserved a journal, which he afterwards sent to Lieut .- Gov. William Dum- mer. As a specimen of documents of this kind, it is here in- serted :-
" May it please your Honour.
"These wait upon your Honour, to present my humble Duty to you, and acquaint you with my proceedings. Pursuant to your order, I have sent out several scouts, an account of we I here present your Honour with.
" The first on November 30, we went on ye west side of Con- necticut River, and crossing ye West River went up to ye Great Falls and returned, making no discovery of any Enemy.
" The next scout went up ye West River 6 miles, and then crossed ye wood up to ye Great Falls, and returned, making no discovery of any new signs of an enemy.
"The next scout, I sent out west from Northfield about 12 miles and from thence northward, crossing West River thro ye
671
UNIQUE DOCUMENT.
woods ; then steering east, they came to ye Canoo place about 16 or 17 miles above Northfield.
" The next scout I sent out northwest, about 6 miles, and then they steered north until they crossed West River, and so thro ye woods to ye Great Meadow below ye Great Falls, then they crossed Connecticut River and came down on ye East side untill they came to Northfield without any new Discovery, this Meadow being about 32 miles from Northfield.
" The next scout I sent up ye West River Mountain, and there to Lodge on ye top and view Evening and Morning for smoaks, and from thence, up to ye mountain at ye Great Falls and there also to Lodge on ye top and view morning and evening for smoaks; but these making no discovery, re- turned.
"The next scout, I sent up ye West River 5 miles and then north till they came upon Sextons River, 6 miles from ye mouth of it, we empties it self at ye foot of ye Great Falls, and then they came down till they came to ye mouth of it, and so returned, but made no discovery of any enemy.
" I have here given your Honour a true account of the several scouts I have sent out, and I should have sent out many more, but ye great difficulty of high water and unfavorable weather, and very slippery going and snow, has prevented any greater proceedings therein."
Finding that these employments, though necessary and labo- rious, scarcely afforded him the means of living, he petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts, on the 4th of January, 1727, for "some reward or assistance." In answer to his prayer, a grant was made him of two hundred acres of the un- appropriated lands in the county of Hampshire. In the same year, Fort Dummer was converted into a garrisoned trading- house, and the charge of it was given to Captain Kellogg. Here he remained as commander and truck-master until the year 1740. But these employments did not hinder him from engaging in others. He was appointed on the 19th of October, 1733, with Timothy Dwight and William Chandler, to lay out the townships at Pequoiag, and on Ashuelot river in New Hampshire. In the year 1736, he received a warrant to act as interpreter for the Bay province to the Indian nations, which warrant was confirmed by a more specific commission, dated in 1740. From this time until the year 1749, he received pay from the Fort Dummer establishment as interpreter, and,
672
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
according to his own candid statement, "acted as such with great fidelity, and to the acceptance, as he hopes, of the govern- ment." He was present at the Indian conference held at the fort, on the 5th and 6th of October, 1737, and bore an import- ant part in the transactions of that occasion. From 1749 until 1753, he was variously occupied, but, as it appears from a peti- tion dated on the 30th of May, in the latter year, had not at that time received pay for his services during the four years preceding. He was also employed for fifteen months as an interpreter in the school which was established by the Rev. John Sergeant and Ephraim Williams, Esqr., at Stockbridge, for the education of Indian youths. In the year 1754, he was present at the celebrated Albany treaty, " which was attended by a greater number of respectable personages, from the seve- ral provinces and colonies, than had met upon any similar occa- sion."
His services in behalf of government do not seem to have met with the reward they merited, and a petition presented by him to the General Court, on the 29th of May, 1755, shows that the arrearages for which he had asked two years before, had not yet been paid him. In the year 1756, though broken in health, and at the age of sixty-six, he was persuaded by General Shirley to accompany him as an interpreter to Oswego. The fatigue incident to the undertaking proved too great for his enfeebled constitution, and he died before the completion of the journey, and was buried at Schenectady. "He was the best interpreter in his day that New England had," observes the Rev. Gideon Hawley, " and was employed upon every occa- sion." It is supposed he was born in Suffield, Connecticut.
Martin Kellogg Jr., the brother of Joseph, well known by the name of Captain Kellogg, and who was captured at the burning of Deerfield and taken to Canada, escaped from Mon- treal in company with three others, in May or June, 1705, and returned home. In the month of August, 1708, while on a scouting expedition to White river, in the present state of Ver- mont, he was again taken prisoner by the Indians, but succeeded in discharging his gun and wounding one of his enemies in the thigh before his capture. He was a second time conveyed to Canada, and during his life was compelled on several occasions to make involuntary journeys of a similar nature, to that pro- vince. He was remarkable for his courage and bodily strength, : and many stories were related of his feats and exploits in early
673
SAMUEL KNIGHT.
life. Like his brother, he was employed in the mission school at Stockbridge, where it is believed his labors were acceptable. He lived at Newington, near Farmington, in Connecticut, where it is supposed he died, about the year 1758. It is not known at what time Joanna, one of the sisters of Joseph and Martin, returned home. The other sister, Rebecca, who was about three years old at the time of her capture, resided among the Caughnawagas in Canada, until she was a maiden grown. On her return, she became the wife of Benjamin Ashley. In the year 1753, when Mr .- afterwards the Rev .- Gideon Haw- ley, of Marshpee, was employed with others, to visit the Indians at Onohoghgwage or Oquago, now the town of Windsor, in Broome county, New York, she accompanied the mission, and was regarded as " a very good sort of woman, and an extraor- dinary interpreter in the Iroquois language." She resided at Onohoghgwage until the time of her death, which took place in August, 1757, and was buried at that place. She was much lamented by the Indians. Her Indian name was Wausaunia .*
SAMUEL KNIGHT
Samuel Kinights
OCCUPIED a position of great influence and high respecta-
bility among the lawyers who practised at the bar of Cumber- land county prior to the Revolution. His commission as an attorney-at-law in "his Majesty's courts of record" in that county, was dated the 23d of June, 1772. The only appoint- ment which he held under the province of New York, was that of commissioner to administer oaths of office. This he received on the 18th of February, 1774. He was present at the affray which occurred at Westminster on the 13th of March, 1775. At the inquest which was held on the body of William French, who was shot on that occasion, he, with four others, was de- clared guilty of his death. The conduct of Mr. Knight imme-
* Journals Gen. Court Mass. Bay, passim. M3S. in office Sec. State Mass. Mass. Hist. Coll., iv. 57 : x. 143. Biog. Mem. of Rev. John Williams, pp. 84, 118. Hist. West. Mass., i. 158. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii. 1033-1046. Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 195, 199.
43
674
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
diately after this event, is described in a foot-note to that most entertaining tale, by the Hon. Daniel P. Thompson, entitled "The Rangers ; or the Tory's Daughter." The facts narrated in this foot-note rest on the authority of "an aged and distin- guished carly settler" of Vermont, and are given in his own words :- " I have heard Judge Samuel Knight describe the trepidation that seized a portion of the community, when, after the massacre, and on the rising of the surrounding country, they came to learn the excited state of the populace. He related how he and another member of the bar (Stearns, I think, who was afterwards attorney-secretary of Nova Scotia) hurried down to the river, and finding there a boat (such as was used in those times for carrying seines or nets at the shad and salmon fishing-grounds, which were frequent on both sides the river, below the Great Falls), they paddled themselves across, and lay all day under a log in the pine forest opposite the town ; and when night came, went to Parson Fessenden's, at Walpole, and obtained a horse ; so that, by riding and tying, they got out of the country till the storm blew over, when Knight returned to Brattleborough."
From Westminster, Knight went to Boston, and thence to the city of New York, where he arrived on the 29th of March. On his return to Brattleborough in the course of the following summer, he resumed his professional duties, but does not appear to have taken any very active part in the struggle between Great Britain and the colonies. When Vermont was declared a separate and independent state, he strenuously favored the jurisdiction of New York on the "Grants," and strove to effect a reconciliation between the contending parties. In the supply bill passed by the Legislature of New York on the 4th of No- vember, 1778, £60 were voted to him as a reimbursement of his " expences in attending upon the Legislature, on the busi- ness of quieting the disorders prevailing in the north-eastern parts of this state." Satisfied, at length, that New York would never be able to maintain her claim to the "Grants," he became an open supporter of the government of Vermont. He after- wards removed to Guilford, and in the year 1781 was appointed a justice of the peace. Owing to the discontent of some of the citizens of that portion of the state, who believed him to be in- fected not only with sentiments favorable to New York, but with Tory principles, he was suspended from office by the Council on the 12th of April of the same year. He was rein-
675
LUKE KNOWLTON.
stated on the 25th of October following. He occupied the posi- tion of first judge of Windham county during the years 1786, 1794, 1795, and 1801, and presided as chief justice in the Supreme court of the state from 1789 to 1793. In his "De- scriptive Sketch of Vermont," Dr. John A. Graham observes of Judge Knight :- " He was bred to the law ; is a gentleman of great abilities ; and has rendered many essential services to his fellow-citizens, but, I am sorry to add, they have by no means been recompensed as they ought to be. To Mr. Knight that celebrated line of Pope may truly be applied,
"' An honest man 's the noblest work of God.'"*
LUKE KNOWLTON.
LUKE KNOWLTON was born in Shrewsbury, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was married to Sarah Holland, who bore him three sons and four daughters. He removed to Newfane in the year 1772, where he lived until the time of his death, which occurred on the 12th of December, 1810, at the age of seventy-three years. The third charter of the township of New- fane was granted by the government of New York on the 11th of May, 1772, to Walter Franklin and twenty others, most of whom were inhabitants of New York city. On the day follow- ing, the charter was conveyed to Luke Knowlton and John Taylor, of Worcester county, Massachusetts. The town was organized on the 17th of May, 1774, and on that occasion Knowlton was chosen town-clerk, and held that post for sixteen years. He was town representative in the General Assembly of Vermont in the years 1784, 1788, and 1789 ; a member of the Council from 1790 to 1800, inclusive; a member of the constitutional convention in 1793; and a judge of the court of Windham county from 1787 to 1793.
In his "Letters from Vermont," John Andrew Graham refers to Mr. Knowlton in a very complimentary manner, in connection with a few remarks relative to Newfane. "This town," the writer observes, "owes its consequence in a great
* The Rangers, i. 92, 93. N. Y. Gazette, Monday, April 10th, 1775. Graham's Letters, pp. 109, 110. Laws of N. Y., 1777-1783, Holt's ed., p. 47. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 1022.
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
measure to Mr. Luke Knowlton, a leading character, and a man of great ambition and enterprise, of few words, but possessed of the keenest perception, and an almost intuitive knowledge of human nature, of which he is a perfect judge. This gentle- man, owing to the particular method in which he has transacted business, has obtained the appellation of Saint Luke. Young Mr. Knowlton is a practitioner at the bar. He is modest, inge- nuous, and master of abilities that give a fair promise of his becoming a most valuable citizen. Saint Luke is the owner of much the best and most elegant buildings in the place." Calvin Knowlton, the young man referred to in this extract, and a son of Luke Knowlton, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1788, and was educated in the law. He adorned his profession by his learning and ability, and his worth was acknowledged by all who knew him. He died on the 20th of January, 1800, aged thirty-nine years.
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