USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 69
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About this period, and at the age of sixty-five, he married a second time, his first wife having died in the year 1777. During the year 1783, he did not dare to remain regularly at
687
CONFISCATION OF HIS PROPERTY.
home, for fear of his foes. In the latter part of the year, hav- ing become especially obnoxious, the decision of the court, ren- dered in September, 1782, which had never been executed against him, was revived, and on the 4th of January, 1784, he was thrown into the jail at Westminster, and was soon after removed to Bennington, that he might be more securely guarded. Here he was kept until the 28th of February follow- ing, when he was released by an act of the Legislature. A few days after his enlargement, a committee to whom the subject had been referred, recommended the adoption of a bill direct- ing the sale, at public vendue, of so much of the estate of Charles Phelps as should amount to £70, for the purpose of defraying the costs of his prosecution. A bill to this effect was brought in, but was laid over until the next session of the Legislature, and was never again revived. An unsuccessful attempt was also made at the session in February, 1784, by Joseph Tucker and sixteen others, who had been engaged in a skirmish with the Yorkers, and had been partially defeated, to obtain reimbursement out of the property of Mr. Phelps, for the pecuniary losses they had incurred in their unfortunate undertaking.
Although, in these two instances, Mr. Phelps was treated with a leniency, which, judging from the previous conduct of the government of Vermont towards him, could hardly have been expected, yet his possessions were not, on this account, deemed less the property of the state. To Micah Townsend and Nathaniel Chipman had been entrusted the duty of revising the laws of Vermont. On the 6th of March, 1784, they pre- sented to the General Assembly a statement of the terms on which they would accept of their appointment. Among other provisions, they required an order from the Assembly, directing Col. S. R. Bradley to deliver to them "such books of Charles Phelps, Esq.," as would assist them in their deliberations. They also asked to be paid for their services out of Mr. Phelps's library, the choice of books being left with them, and the ap- praisement of the books being made by persons acquainted with their value. If the library should be insufficient to satisfy their demand, or should be restored to Mr. Phelps by the state, or redeemed by him, they agreed to receive their compensation in hard money. These proposals were received with favor, and were immediately embodied in the form of resolutions, and adopted. In October, 1784, Mr. Phelps-wcaried by the an-
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
noyances to which he was constantly subjected on account of his adherence to New York, satisfied that further resistance was useless, and unwilling to strive longer in a contest, the fruits of which were bitterness only-petitioned the General Assembly of Vermont for a full pardon, and a reversion of the sentence by which his estate had been declared confiscate. In their report upon his petition, the committee took occasion to allude favorably to the efforts he had made in behalf of Ameri- can independence, and recommended an affirmative answer to his prayer. In consequence of this counsel, a bill, entitled " An Act pardoning Charles Phelps, Esq., of Marlborough, in the county of Windham, and restoring to him all his estate, real and personal," became a law of the state, on the 26th of October, 1784.
Protected by the government which he had so long opposed, Mr. Phelps now endeavored to regain possession of his property by every legal and proper means. It was for the purpose of assisting him in procuring a weapon, which had been taken from him at a time when it was feared he would use it in opposing the officers of Vermont, that Governor Chittenden addressed to Maj. Josiah Boyden a letter, of which the follow- ing is an exact.copy :-
" Arlington, 30th of Dec'r. 1784.
"Sir .- In persuance to an act of Assembly, past Last octo- ber, ordering that all the property of Charles Phelps, Which had been Taken from him on account of his opposing the athor- ity of this State and Not disposed of for the Benefit of the State, Should be returned to him on Sartain Conditions, Which Con- ditions has been Complyed With on his Part, you are therefore directed to Deliver to the s'd Charles Phelps His Sword, if you have the Same in your Hands, and the Same has not been Sold or disposed of by athority, for the Benefit of this State.
"I am S'r your H'bl Serv't,
THO'S CHITTENDEN.
" Maj'r Boyden."
Busied in striving to restore his estate, and in searching for facts, constructing arguments, and preparing documents to in- duce Congress to make good their resolutions of the 5th of De- cember, 1782, he passed the remainder of his days. He died in April, 1789, in the seventy-third year of his age. Though,
689
WILLIAM AND NATHANIEL PHELPS.
by oath, a citizen of Vermont, he never could divest himself of his antipathy against that state; and in spirit remained even unto the end firmly attached to the government and jurisdic- tion of New York.
Of the genealogy of the Phelps family the following particu- lars have been preserved. The name was anciently spelled Phyllyppes, but has been always pronounced Phelps. After the time of Edward VI. the superfluous letters were dropped. The family has been established for a number of centuries in the county of Stafford, England. John Phelps, who dwelt upon the Nether Tyne in England, the son of Francis Phelps, who died in the reign of Edward VI., left with other issue at his decease in 1641, Anthony, WILLIAM, and John. This family opposed the high-church and prerogative party of Strafford and Archbishop Laud. John Phelps became private secretary to Oliver Cromwell, and in the print which has been preserved of the trial of Charles I., is represented as serving in the capacity of clerk of the court on that occasion .*
WILLIAM PHELPS, was one of the first settlers of Dorchester, Massachusetts, about the year 1630. Thence he removed to Windsor, Connecticut, in the latter part of the year 1635, and was one of the "principal planters" of that town. He is included by Trumbull, in his History of Connecticut, in the list of prominent men "who undertook this great work of settling Connecticut," and is designated by the same authority as one of " the civil and religious fathers of the colony." The session of the first court convened in Connecticut, was held at New- town, on the 26th of April, 1636. Of this court William Phelps was a judge. He was a man of large influence, was much employed in public business, held the position of a ma- gistrate, and was honored by the title of Mr., a distinction which but few at that day enjoyed. He died on the 14th of July, 1672. The death of his wife occurred on the 30th of Au- gust, 1689. He left five sons, William, Samuel, NATHANIEL, Joseph, Timothy, and one daughter, Mary. Three of these children were born in England, one in Dorchester, and the two youngest-Timothy and Mary-in Windsor.
NATHANIEL PHELPS, son of William, was born in England ; removed to this country with his father; married Elizabeth Copley,t a young widow, on the 17th of September, 1650 ;
* Pictorial Hist. England, Harper's ed., 1849, iii. 377.
+ A descendant of the family of this Elizabeth Copley became Lord High-
44
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
was one of the first settlers of Northampton, Massachusetts, about the year 1655 ; was highly respected as a deacon in the church ; and died on the 27th of May, 1702, leaving " a good estate." The death of his widow occurred on the 6th of De- cember, 1712. Their children were Mary, born at Windsor in 1651, who was the wife of Matthew Clesson ; NATHANIEL, born at Windsor in 1653 ; Abigail, born at Windsor in 1655, who was the wife of John Alvord, and who died in 1756, aged one hundred and one years ; William, born at Northampton in 1657; and Mercy born at Northampton in 1662, who died young.
NATHANIEL PHELPS, son of Nathaniel the deacon, married Grace Martin on the 27th of August, 1676, and died on the 20th of June, 1719. His wife, at the time of her marriage, was a young woman who had recently come from England. She was a person of great resolution and perseverance, and was withal a little romantic. She has been highly praised by her descendants. Her death occurred on the 2d of August, 1727. Their children were NATHANIEL, born in 1678 ; Samuel, born in 1680; Lydia, born in 1683, who was the wife of Mark War- ner ; Grace, born in 1685, who was the wife of Samuel Mar- shall; Elizabeth, born in 1688, who was the wife of Jonathan Wright; Timothy, who removed to Connecticut ; Abigail, born in 1690, who was the wife of John Laughton ; and Sarah, born in 1695, who was the wife of David Burt.
NATHANIEL PHELPS, son of the second Nathaniel, married for his first wife, Abigail Burnham, about the year 1716, and for his second wife, Catharine, daughter of John King of North- ampton. His death occurred on the 4th of October, 1747. His first wife died on the 2d of January, 1724, at the age of twenty-seven. His second wife, at the time of her marriage with him, was the widow of a man named Hickock of Durham, Connecticut, who had died without children. After the death of Mr. Phelps, his widow married for her third husband, Gideon Lyman. Mr. Phelps's children by his first wife were CHARLES, born on the 15th of August, 1717; Nathaniel, born in 1721; Ann, who was the wife of Elias Lyman of Southamp- ton, Massachusetts ; and Martin, born in 1723. His children by his second wife, were Catharine, born in 1731, who was the
Chancellor of England, by the name and title of Lord Lyndhurst, on the 30th of April, 1827.
-
691
SOLOMON PHELPS.
wife of Simeon Parsons; Lydia, born in 1732, who was the wife of Ebenezer Pomroy; John, born in 1734, who lived in Westfield, Massachusetts ; and Mehitable, born in 1736, who died young.
CHARLES PHELPS, to a sketch of whose life this notice has been mainly devoted, was the eldest son of the third Nathaniel. Of three of the sons of Charles, namely, Solomon, Charles Jr., and Timothy, an account will be found elsewhere. The other children of Charles Phelps were Dorothy, Abigail, Lucy, John, and Experience .*
SOLOMON PHELPS.
SOLOMON, the first son of Charles Phelps, was born in the year 1742, and was entered a freshman at Harvard College at the age of sixteen. On graduating in 1762, he applied himself to the study of the law, and having removed with his father to the New Hampshire Grants, was commissioned by Governor Henry Moore, on the 31st of March, 1768, an attorney-at-law, and was authorized to practise as such in "His Majesty's courts of record to be holden in and for the county of Cumberland." At the breaking out of the war he embraced the cause of the colonies, and during the period in which the inhabitants on the " Grants" acted in concert with the people of New York, served as a member of the committee of safety for Cumberland county. Being well versed in the Scriptures, and possessing an hereditary oratorical .capacity, he served as a preacher at Marlborough during the summer of 1776. In the year 1779 he received the degree of M.A. from his Alma Mater, which fact alone, judging from the qualifications which were then necessary to render a person eligible to this rank, affords good evidence of his abilities. But unhappily his life was darkened
* MS. Narrative of Phelps family. MS. Letters from the Hon. J. H. Phelps. MS. Hist. Marlborough, by the Rev. E. H. Newton. Journals of Congress, passim. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 996-1002. George Clinton Papers, in office Sec. State N. Y., vol. viii. doc. 2549 ; vol. xi. doc. 3189 ; vol. xvi. docs. 4647, 4796, 4797, 4828, 4842, 4856, 4857, 4858. Journals Gen. Ass. Vt., Feb., 1784, pp. 24, 27, 42, 43, 47, 50, 52, 53 ; Oct. 1784, pp. 28, 33, 35, 40; June, 1785, p. 47. Slade's Vt. State Papers, p. 494. Trumbull's Hist. Conn., i. 54, 58, 70. Holland's Hist. West Mass., ii. 245.
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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
by the obscurations of insanity-a disease which, whether it be of the mind or of the body, is almost certain to manifest its. effects upon both. On one occasion he attempted to beat out his brains with the head of an axe, and succeeded in breaking in his skull. His life was saved by trepanning. In the year 1790 he ended his life by cutting his throat with a razor. When discovered he was lying in a lot, between two hemlock logs, and to all appearance had been some time dead .*
CHARLES PHELPS JR.,
THE second son of Charles Phelps, was born in the year 1744, and bore the name of his father. Like his brother Solomon, he was educated in the profession of the law, and received his commission as an attorney from Governor Tryon of New York, on the 22d of July, 1771. Although he afterwards removed to Hadley, Massachusetts, yet he ever continued to manifest a deep interest in the affairs of the New Hampshire Grants, and on several occasions afforded assistance to his father and bro- thers, when the rage of party violence had driven them from their homes, to seek refuge wherever they could find it. His contemporaries in legal practice were John Worthington of Springfield, Joseph Hawley of Northampton, Oliver Partridge of Hatfield, Josiah Dwight of Westfield, and John Ashley of Lower Housatonic. An account of Mr. Phelps's farm and resi- dence, which the Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight describes as " the most desirable possession of the same kind and extent," within his knowledge, may be found in the travels of the latter gentle- man in New England and New York during the year 1796. Mr. Phelps died in Hadley, on the 4th of December, 1814, aged seventy. years.+
* MS. Hist. Marlborough. Am. Arch. Fourth Series, vol. iii, col. 1330.
Dwight's Travels in New England and New York, i. 357. Holland's Hist. West. Mass., i. 185.
693
NOTICE OF TIMOTHY PHELPS.
TIMOTHY PHELPS.
OF Timothy Phelps, the third son of Charles Phelps, but Juin %. Phelps little remains to be said in addition to what has been already recorded in the preceding pages. He was born on the 25th of January, 1747, and at the age of seven- teen removed with his father and brothers to the unsettled wil- dernesses of the New Hampshire Grants. His services as a farmer were especially valuable at this period, and upon him devolved, in a great degree, the management and cultivation of the lands of the new abode. Of great energy of character and steadfastness of opinion, his attachment to the government of New York having become once fixed, remained constant and unyielding. In his efforts to enforce its laws, he often met with the most determined resistance, and was not unfrequently over- powered by the number and force of his opponents. On the 5th of June, 1782, he received from the Council of Appointment of the state of New York, the shrievalty of Cumberland county. Armed with the power of this office, before which he imagined the vehemence of party rage and the lawlessness of party tri- umph would cower, he endeavored to exercise his authority within the limits of Vermont, and against men who scoffed at the government under which he acted. The decision of the trials of September, 1782, in Windham county, marked him with the taint of treason, rendered him for a time a prisoner, confiscated his possessions, banished him from the state, and forbade his return on pain of death.
Emboldened by the resolves of Congress, passed on the 5th of December of the same year, he returned to his home, was cast into prison at Bennington, and there remained in confine- ment for nearly five months. Although he afterwards became a citizen of Vermont, yet he was never able to transfer to the adopted state the feelings of loyalty which he entertained towards New York, and could not be brought to acknowledge his obligation to maintain pecuniarily, or otherwise, a govern- ment which had deprived him of his possessions, surrounded him with sorrows, and rendered his life miserable and unhappy.
694
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
1
Continued reflection upon his troubles, served in a measure to waste his mental energies, and the effects of this condition, com- bined with the natural eccentricity of his disposition, disordered his intellect, and left him a melancholy prey to the gloomiest forebodings concerning his temporal welfare. The fact, also, that there had been no "atonement made for that blood that was wantonly shed" on " the confines of Guilford," when Silvanus Fisk and Daniel Spicer were killed, seemed ever to disturb him, and there is still preserved a curious letter, written by him, dated at Marlborough, May 28th, 1812, and directed to the grand jury of Windham county, in which he adjured them, in the most solemn manner, to investigate the circumstances at- tending those deaths, and denounced upon them terrible retri- bution, in case they should fail to attend to his appeal. He died at Marlborough very suddenly, in the seventy-first year of his age, on the 3d of July, 1817, and was buried in that town.
Timothy Phelps married Zipporah Williams on the 6th of June, 1775. Their children were John, who was born on the 18th of November, 1777, and who died on the 14th of April, 1849, at Ellicott's Mills, Maryland ; Charles, who was born on the 13th of September, 1781, and who died on the 19th of November, 1854, at Cincinnati, Ohio; Eunice, who was born on the 8th of May, 1783, and who died on the 14th of Decem- ber, 1811, at Marlborough, Vermont ; Austis, who was born on the 11th of September, 1788, and who died on the 25th of May, 1850, at Townshend, Vermont ; and Timothy, who was born on the 6th of June, 1792, and who died of yellow fever in September, 1822, near Natchez, Mississippi, on board of a steamer from New Orleans.
NOAH SABIN
Noah Subin WAS born at Reho- both, Massachusetts, on the 10th of No- vember, 1714, and was the only son of Noah Sabin, of that place. Becoming religiously disposed in early life, he was de- signed by his father for the ministry. To this disposition of his
695
ILL-JUDGED PERSECUTION OF NOAH SABIN.
talents the son refused to accede, but for what reason is not known. In the year 1768, at the age of fifty-four, he removed to Putney, and at the first election of town officers, held on the Sth of May, 1770, was chosen town-clerk. On the 14th of April, 1772, he was appointed judge of the Inferior court of Common Pleas of Cumberland county, and justice of the peace. Previous to the affray at Westminster on the 13th of March, 1775, Judge Sabin opposed in every practicable manner the attempts of the people to interfere with the management of the courts. His extreme conscientiousness led him to adopt this course, for he knew that he had received a commission from the Crown, and felt that his oath of office bound him, at the least, not to offer resistance to the government of the mother country. After being taken prisoner on this occasion, he was confined in the Court-house at Westminster for a few days, was then carried to Northampton, and afterwards to New York city, where he was imprisoned. It is said that he was subse- quently tried, and upon being honorably acquitted, was sup- plied by Governor Tryon with clothing and ample means to return home. He was absent more than a year.
Regarded as a Tory in principle, and as a secret favorer of the cause of Great Britain, he was for a time subjected to many annoyances. Soon after his return, William Moore, Daniel Jewett, and Moses Johnson, committee men of Putney, accom- panied by a party of their friends, armed with swords, went to his house, ordered him to mount his horse, and follow them. Obeying their commands, he was conducted to Westminster, where he was placed in the jail. Many were the threats used to intimidate him during this transaction. His imprisonment, however, lasted but a day. In the evening, the door of his cell was opened, and he was allowed to return home. On his death-bed, Moore, who had been the principal actor on this occasion, sent for Judge Sabin, confessed with tears the abuses of which he had been guilty, and besought forgiveness. On being assured that his request was granted-" Now," said he, " I can die in peace." Fearing that Judge Sabin might be in communication with the enemy, he was confined to his farm by an order of the committee of safety, passed in the year 1776, and permission was given to any one to shoot him, whenever he should be found beyond its limits. So bitter was the hatred towards him at this time, that one of his neighbors, a man zealous for the liberty of the colonies, and for the destruction
696
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
of their foes, watched for him with a loaded rifle, as he after- wards acknowledged, in the woods adjoining the Judge's house, prepared to shoot the despised Loyalist, should he venture be- yond the prescribed lines. But this treatment, though it might tend to suppress the outward manifestation of his principles, did not avail at once to change them. A certain Solomon Willard, who had been a soldier under Governor Tryon at the time of the burning of Norwalk, having returned to Vermont at the close of the war, had again taken up his residence in the state. Although a Tory at heart, yet he submitted to the existing laws, and acted like an American citizen. In his conversations with this man, it is said that Judge Sabin often declared that the British troops had not treated the rebels with half the severity they deserved, and expressed his opinion, that every place refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Crown should have suffered the fate of Norwalk.
The prejudices against him springing from these causes, affected the minds even of the members of the church at Put- ney. Not being an original member, he was refused the privi- lege of occoasional communion with them. This fact appears by the annexed extract from the church records :-
"Putney, Dec. 7, 1778. The church met and took under consideration the request of Noah Sabin, Esqr., of occasional communion with this church, and came to the following vote, that it was best, all things considered, not to receive him at present. " J. GOODHUE, Moderator."
He was afterwards on the 29th of April, 1781, admitted by vote to full communion, and was known as a "most stable, consistent, and useful member."
In 1781 he was elected judge of probate for Windham county, but on the 12th of April, in the same year, was suspended from office in order to satisfy the complaints of many who believed him to be dangerous as a Loyalist. He was reinstated on the 25th of October following, and it is believed continued in office until the year 1801. Judge Sabin was a man of uncommon powers of mind. He was cool and considerate in his purposes, and sound and discriminating in his judgment. His counsels were often sought and were generally safely followed. For the period in which he lived his education was superior. It is asserted with confidence that when the charter for Putney was
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NOAH SABIN JR.
obtained, he was the only person in the town possessed of suf- ficient skill to decipher the peculiar chirography in which the instrument was written. In his religious character he was up- right, sincere, and conscientiously true to his professions. It might be said of him that he was remarkably active as a Christian, for it is well known that when the people were desti- tute of a minister, the duty of conducting the exercises of their religious assemblies usually devolved on him. Although at the first strongly attached to the Crown, and for some time after the commencement of the Revolution undecided as to the course he should take in the struggle between the colonies and the mother country, his sympathies were subsequently enlisted on the side of the former, and no truer patriot was to be found than he. Upon retiring from office and active life, the remainder of his days was marked by acts of piety towards God and beneficence to mankind. He died on the 10th of March, 1811, at the advanced age of ninety-six years .*
NOAH SABIN JR.,
SON of Noah Sabin, was born at Reho- Noch Sabin guns both, Massachusetts, on the 20th of April, 1750, and removed with his father to Putney, when he was about eighteen years old. He held the office of register of probate for Windham county, from 1791 to 1801, and from the latter year until 1808 was judge of probate, in which station he succeeded his father. He was early elected a justice of the peace, and filled the office for nearly half a century. He represented the town of Putney in the General Assembly during the years 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, and 1787. His death occurred at Putney on the 5th of December, 1827, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. From an obituary notice, written soon after his decease, the following passages are taken :-
* MS. Letter from Rev. A. Foster of Putney, April 5th, 1852. Doc. Hist. N Y., iv. 1022. See ante, pp. 398, 399.
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