USA > Vermont > Addison County > Middlebury > History of the town of Middlebury, in the county of Addison, Vermont > Part 28
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A remarkable mortality, among prominent citizens in the village, occurred in 1855, when no epidemic prevailed. The following six gentlemen died of the diseases mentioned within six months, and the first five within less than four months. Hon. Dorastus, Woos- ter of "Fatty degeneration of the heart," January 11; Hon. Ira Stewart of dropsy in the chest, February 13; Hon. Samuel S. Phelps, of syncopy, induced by a prostrated condition of his system, March 25; Rev. Thomas A. Merrill, D. D., of ossification of the valves of the heart, April 29; Jonathan Hagar, Esq., softening .of the brain, April 20; Hon. Horace Eaton, of inflammation of the bowels, July 4-all except the last of chronic diseases.
The small pox has several times shown itself here. In January 1802, it prevailed to such extent, that the town meeting, on the first of February, " Voted that the selectmen and civil authority of the town of Middlebury be, and they hereby are, authorized to per- mit inoculation for the small pox in the town, under such regula- tions and restrictions as they may judge prudent, and prohibit at their discretion ;" and a hospital was accordingly established, remote
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
from the residences and thoroughfares of the inhabitants. In the spring of 1810, Luke Wheelock, a partner of David Page in the mercantile business, and brother of the late Josephus Wheelock, having occasion to visit Montreal in the prosecution of his business, took the small pox, at that place, of which he died soon after his return. At this time vaccination had been introduced to some extent. But so much alarm prevailed, that some of the citizens, not quite satisfied of the efficacy of that preventive, made applica- tion for a town meeting which was held on the 14th of April, and it was " Voted that the selectmen be authorized to allow, at their dis- cretion, persons who have been inoculated for the kind pock, to be inoculated for the small pox, under the direction of experienced physicians, to be licensed by said selecctmen, and to license houses for the purpose, if necessary. In the spring of 1820, some cases of small pox occurred, and the patients were removed to a hospital provided for that purpose. Tatnai Prince, a colored man, who had had the smell pox, when young, and had been accustomed to attend, as a nurse, upon persons having that disease, was employed to take care of the patients, and from them took the disease and died.
In January 1832, Miss Church, a young lady in the Female Seminary, was attacked with the small pox and died. One or more others died of the disease, and several, who had been exposed, narrowly escaped, by being vaccinated, in season to anticipate the symptoms of the small pox ; and some, who had been previously vaccinated, had severe attacks of the varioloid.
Rev. Dr. Merrill, when pastor of the Congregational Church, kept a record of the deaths in town from 1806 to 1842 inclusive, and Dr. Charles L. Allen, a similar record from 1849 to 1859 ; Dr. Allen, from these, at our request, has furnished us the follow - ing estimates of the mortality and diseases during those periods.
323
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY. Mortality of Middlebury.
RECORDS from 1806 to 1842 inclusive-37 years, by T. A. MERRILL, D. D. 66 66 1849 " 1859 10 " " C. L. ALLEN, M. D.
47
Total number of deaths recorded, - 1660
Annual average, - - - -
- 36
Annual per cent .. 1 2-10-one death in 83 persons.
Add 25 per cent. as the probable number omitted- Total number of deathis ( probably) .
2075
Annual average
,
44
Annual per cent. 1 47-100-one death in 70 persons.
The most fatal years were-
1813, Spotted Fever. Mortality 3 per cent-one in 83 person's.
1826, Erysipelas. 60 2 35-100 per cent -one in 42 persons.
1 9-10 .‹ - 52 1842,
The least mortality occurred in the years ---
-
1817, mortality 54-100 per cent .- one in 186 persons.
1824,
65-100
- 153
The deaths were distributed among the months as follows:
· March 173 February 157 October 185
June 104
August 170 January 144 May 121
July 102
September 150 April 185 Nov'r 107 December 100
The ages at death wore ascertained in 1578 instances. Of these 560, or 35 66- 100 per cent. were of children ui der five.
More females than males died, the ratio being 46 85.100 males to 53 65-100 females.
Only during the last ten years have the causes of death been giv- en sufficiently often to be of practical value.
The epidemic, endemic and contagious diseases, including scarlet fever, dysentery, &c., have carried off about one-fifth of the cases, more than half of these being under five years of age. The con- stitutional diseases, such as consumption, dropsy, cancer, &c., com- prise nearly one-third of the deaths. Consumption alone swept off more than one-fifth of those dying in the last ten years, more than one-half of these being between the ages of fifteen. and forty, du- ring the periods of development and early adult life. Of those thus taken away at the commencement of active life, there were more than twice as many males as females.
Not quite four per cent of the deaths were from accidents.
-
324
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
About eight per cent of the deaths were from old age, or the nat- ural decay of the body .*
The remaining deaths were mainly of local origin, such as dis- cases of the brain and heart, pneumonia, &c. Pneumonia, compri- sing about seven per cent of the deaths, has been fatal mainly at the two extremes of life, among young children and the aged.
*Between one-fifth and one-quarter of the deaths were of persons over seventy years of age.
325
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY,
CHAPTER XVIII.
BANKS-STATE
BANK-BANK OF MIDDLEBURY-SAVINGS BANK.
THE legislature, at their session in Middlebury in 1806, estab- lished a State Bank, with two branches, one at Middlebury and the other at Woodstock, and appointed directors for each, although con- stituting but one board. The directors for this branch were Daniel Chipman, Horatio Seymour and John Willard. Titus Hutchinson, of Woodstock, was chosen President. No capital was furnished to sustain its credit. The business was done on the credit of the state. The pecuniary condition and habits of the people were hardly adap- ted to the long continuance of a bank on such principles. It was an agricultural country, and too remote from market for readily con- verting its produce into money, which of course was scarce. The country was in debt, and punctuality was not to be expected from the habits of the people. The traffic was generally conducted, among farmers and mechanics, by an exchange of their respective productions, and the foreign goods were generally paid for in the same articles. These were transported by the merchants to market twice a year, to pay for their goods. Notes were generally made payable in cattle or grain, or other specific articles ; and, when pay- able in money, they were not generally construed according to their tenor, but according to the convenience of the makers, if the patience of the creditor was not sooner exhausted. Notes taken to the bank, for loans, too generally received the same construction. But the legislature, at their next session, established two new branches, at Burlington and Westminster.
Dr. William G. Hooker, whom we have mentioned elsewhere, as an early resident and merchant, was the first cashier of this branch, and continued, for some years, the principal manager of its internal 24
326
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
operations. Being accurate, attentive and courteous in any branch of business in which he engaged, and having made himself acquainted with banking, he afforded efficient and valuable aid in getting the' branch into operation, and, for a time, keeping it alive .*
The directors did what they could to supply their vaults with spe- cie, to meet the pressing demands upon them, by exchanging their bills for gold and silver, and by inducing persons wanting accommo- dations to refund their loans in specie. The legislature also adopted various measures to keep up the credit of the bills and enforce greater punctuality. Among others, to promote the former object, they passed an act at their session in 1809, and others afterwards, making the bills a " lawful tender " in payment of all land taxes. And to promote the latter, at their session in 1810, they passed an act authorizing the cashiers, instead of the regular but slow course of law, forthwith to issue extents on all notes unpaid, and on all bonds given for the liberty of the jail yard, they were to issue "close jail " extents, depriving the debtors and sureties of any further ad- mission to the liberties of the jail. . In the same act they limited the amount of loans. But all this did not succeed in keeping the bank alive. The bills would depreciate, and speculators were so un- civil as to buy them up at a discount, and present them for payment. One learned director, who happened to be state's attorney, endeav- ored to induce the grand jury to indict one of these depredators, for such ungentlemanly conduct, on the principle that the bank was not established for any such purpose, but to accommodate the good peo- ple of Vermont, who needed money.
The directors of each branch were made personally responsible for the amount of blank bills signed by the president, and all other property delivered to that branch. In the summer of 1812, the banking house in Middlebury was entered by a false key, and a large amount; in specie and bills in sheets, or filled for circulation, was purloined. The burglary was so adroitly and cautiously committed,
*He was otherwise a respectable and useful citizen, and forward and active in promoting every benevolent object. After he left Middlebury, he resided in New Haven, Conn., where he died, Icaring his widow and a daughter and son to mourn his loss.
327
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
that little disturbance was made to the internal appearance of the bank, and the door was found locked as usual. The directors however soon discovered that their money had been purloined, but the discovery was not so obvious to others, and they could prove nothing. Daniel Chipman, Horatio Seymour and John Willard were still the direct- ors of this branch, and were called on to account for the missing funds. For the purpose of bringing this claim to a speedy deter- mination, the legislature, at their session in 1812, appointed the judges of the Supreme Court commissioners "to determine all con- troversies between the state and the late or present directors or other officers of the bank," and authorized them to render judgment and issue execution ; and in case the debtors were committed to jail, they were not to be allowed the liberties of the yard. Although this law was general in its terms, it was designed to apply particularly to this case. The parties were summoned, and after the trial, the com- missioners rendered judgment against the directors of the Middle- bury branch for $28,826,13, and issued execution for the same. The supposed delinquents, not satisfied with this judgment, applied to the legislature, at their session in 1813, to remit it. The legis- lature, after reciting in the preamble the judgment above mentioned, and farther, that, " whereas it has been made to appear to the sat- isfaction of the General Assembly that the said judgment ought not to be paid by said directors, excepting the sum of $1238,84," en- acted that the judgment be discharged on the payment of that sum, or the execution of a note for the same.
At the same session, the legislature enacted that, instead of the previous number of directors, only three should be chosen, " so long as it shall be necessary for closing the concerns " of that institution. They also directed the treasurer to burn all the bills in the treasury, being the amount received on taxes. But agents were appointed from time to time, for several years, to collect the debts and dispose of the lands received on debts due the bank.
It may not be out of place to say that the duplicate key, by which the bank was entered, as above stated, was afterwards found in the attic story of a house, crowded in above a rafter.
Soon after the close of the operations of the Vermont State Bank,
·
328
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
applications were made, from different villages, for charters for pri- vate banking corporations. The legislature began rather cautiously, at their session in 1818, and incorporated two institutions for bank- ing purposes, one at Burlington and the other at Windsor. Others were added from year to year. The whole number of banks, at the present time, is forty-one, with an aggregate capital of $4,041,500, ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 each.
Among others, the charter of the " President, Directors and Com- pany of the Bank of Middlebury " was granted November 10, 1831, with a capital of $100,000, divided into 2000 shares, to be managed by seven directors. Only thirty dollars on each share, or $60,000 was called in. Its existence was limited to fifteen years.
For many years no general system had been established, and the establishment of banks was the subject of perpetual controversy, in the legislature and among the people. Some were opposed to all banks, and others contended for making the individual stockholders liable personally for the debts of the corporation. For some years this became the most agitating political question in the State. At their session in 1840, the legislature passed a general act to govern all the banks, which should be thereafter chartered or rechartered. They did not adopt the principle of making the stockholders respon- sible, beyond what they had paid in toward the capital. The re- sponsibility was made to rest upon the directors, who alone are at fault, if damages should accrue, from the mismanagement of the bank. A restraint was also placed upon their transactions, and a limit fixed to the amount of individual and aggregate loans, and the directors were subjected to forfeiture if they trespassed beyond those limits. Bonds were to be given by the directors and cashier, to the satisfaction of the commissioner, whose duty it was made to examine their proceedings, and the state of the bank, and make report to the governor. This law was so satisfactory to the public as to quiet all further agitation on the subject.
At the session of the legislature in 1845, the charter of the Bank of Middlebury was renewed for fifteen years more, subject to the general law of 1840. The capital, by that act and by an act passed the following year, was increased to $75,000 by adding 500
329
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
shares to the capital stock, at 30 dollars per share. In 1856 the charter was again renewed until 1875, and 850 shares, at $30 each added to the capital stock, making the whole capital $100,500.
During the continuance of the original charter, Gen. William Nash of New Haven, was annually chosen president of the bank, and since that, Paris Fletcher, Esq., has been the president. Joseph Warner, Esq., has been the cashier from the beginning. No bank has been more judiciously and safely managed, or has been subject to fewer losses until recently. The directors were deceived, as every one was, as to the responsibility of the Rutland and Burlington Rail Road Company. They had extended their accommodations to that company to a large amount, for their small capital, and on the assignment of the road, they had so large an amount of the paper of that and two other corporations unpaid, as to swallow the whole of their surplus fund and compel the directors to suspend their div- idends for a time ; and on the recent re-charter of the bank, they were compelled to provide for the deficiency, which still remained of the capital stock, to the amount of five thousand dollars, by an assessment on the old shares. The bank, for the first fifteen years, was kept in the rooms at the north end of the hotel building. Since that the directors have purchased the building adjoining it on the north, and fitted it up in a handsome and convenient style, with a very substantial vault for the safe keeping of the money and books.
" The Middlebury Savings Bank" was incorporated November 12, 1836. It was immediately organized by electing the requisite officers, and went into operation. The business was judiciously and successfully prosecuted, and it became a very useful institution, for persons having small and increasing funds, to invest. But, within the last few years, the same agency, which has spread its destructive influence over other banks, and over many individuals, has sent, at least a temporary ruin into this institution. The treasurer had in- vested a considerable amount of the deposits in the preferred stock and bonds of the Rutland and Burlington Rail Road Company ; through the failure of which the savings bank has become insolvent. Its concerns are now in the hands of a receiver, appointed by the Court of Chancery.
330
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY,
CHAPTER XIX.
MANUFACTURES-FORGE AND GUN FACTORY-COTTON FACTORY- GRIST MILL-WARREN'S FACTORY-MID. MAN. COMPANY-MAR- BLE MILL-FIRES-D. NICHOLS.
WE have already incidentally alluded to some of the manufac- tures, and we here notice others more particularly.
The forge, which we have mentioned, as established by Jonathan Nichols, falling soon into other hands, was not long kept in opera- tion. While the manufacture of iron was carried on in it, the ore was obtained in part from Monkton, but principally from Crown Point, west of the lake. The gun factory was established chiefly to manufacture guns for the government. Nichols and the owners, who succeeded him, had a contract for the manufacture of one thousand, which were finished, and inspected by Major Orr of the army, and received by the government in 1802. Mr. Elias Hall, who had been employed in the works, contined, on a small scale, the manufacture and repair of guns for several years afterwards.
While Josiah Nichols, mentioned elsewhere, was employed in the trip hammer shop, in company with Daniel Pettibone and Ezekiel Chapman, in the year 1799 or 1800, they discovered a process for welding cast steel, an operation which, although of great impor- tance, it is said, was not previously understood in the country. In 1802, a patent was taken out in their names. Nichols, we believe, never obtained any income from the patent, but one or both the others, who removed to other parts of the country, used it and prob- ably sold it to others ; and it is now in general use in the country.
In the spring of 1806, Lavius Fillmore, an experienced archi- tect, came to this village, under a contract for erecting the Congre-
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3471
MIDDLEBURY FALLS.
331
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
gational church. In February following, David Page, Jun, from Jaffry, New Hampshire, established himself here in the mercantile business. At the last mentioned date, Page and Fillmore purchased of Judge Painter his mills and water power, on the east side of the falls. Soon after, Mr. Fillmore removed the old mills. and made preparation for erecting a flouring and grist mill, on a larger and more permanent scale. The result was the completion of the stone mill and store rooms recently burnt.
As early as 1811, Mr. Page commenced the erection of the stone cotton factory, on the grounds north of the mill. The obstructions to the commerce of the country, during the European wars, by the decrees of the French emperor, and the orders in council of the British government, and the action of our own government in their defence, had directed the attention of the enterprising people of this country to the establishment of manufactories of our own. But the machinery for manufacturing cotton in this country was very im- perfect and not easily obtained. Mr. Page set up such machinery as he could obtain, started his works on a small scale, and manufac- tured some cloth before the close of the war, which he sold for fifty cents a yard, and which might now sell for six or eight cents.
Mr. John Houghton, from New Ipswich N. H., who had been employed in erecting machinery in the cotton mills in that place, was first employed for that purpose in this factory. In the year 1817, Mr. Joseph Gordon, who had been employed in the manu- facture of machinery, and had set up several factories in Scotland, and is still living in this place, with his daughter, principal of the Female Seminary, immigrated to this country and brought with him drawings of machinery used there. Mr. Gordon built for Mr. Page twenty power looms at that time. These, Mr. Gordon informs us, were the first power looms ever built in the United States, except six in Rhode Island, which were built by a Scotchman, who came to this country the year before. Isaac Markham, an ingenious young · mechanic, who had worked under Houghton, was set to work and manufactured the iron part of the machinery. He died, after estab- lishing a distinguished reputation as a machinist, in'1825, at the early age of thirty.
332
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
After these works were completed, Page and Fillmore divided their property, Fillinore taking the mill and Page the factory. During the war, and subsequently, while large crops of wheat were' raised in the country, the manufacture of flour was prosecuted with great success and profit.
In the year 1821, Professor Frederic Hall published a " Statis- tical Account of the Town of Middlebury," from which we propose to quote largely, as we can thus more easily obtain the facts cor- rectly, than from any other source. "The first," he says, "is a grist mill, owned by Nathan Wood & Co. It is of stone, and the form of its base is that of an L. Its length on the side next to' the water is forty-five feet, on the east side seventy-six, on the' street forty-five, and it contains five sets of stones, with screens and apparatus, moving with sufficient power to manufacture into flour eighty thousand bushels of grain annually. The situation of this mill is singular ; and the plan, in part new, was formad by an ingenious archetect, Mr. Lavius Fillmore, to whom I am indebted for the following particulars relating to it. It stands on a solid rock, projecting into the creek about thirty feet up stream from the' falls. After leveling the rock sufficiently for the foundation of the' building, a vault was cut in it, 43 feet long, 25 feet deep and 18 feet wide, which brought it nearly even with the surface of the water, at the foot of the cataract. Then an inlet was formed, 26 feet in length, through the solid rock, from the bed of the stream to the vault, through which water, in sufficient quantity to carry all the stones and other machinery, flows into a flume, 43 feet long, six wide and eighteen deep, fortified by solid rock, on all sides, ex- cept one, where the water, in the ordinary manner, is thrown into six tub wheels, built on an improved construction, and placed in the bottom of the vault." The water is discharged " through a subterranean outlet" into the creek below the falls. The mill can- not be endangered by the highest floods. "The inlet and outlet of the floom, being formed in solid rock, is subject to no decay, and the wheels are entirely secured from the frost.
Mr. Hall says of the cotton factory : "The next establishment is a large cotton manufactory, erected by Major David Page, who has
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
politely furnished me with a description of it. It is constructed of grey and white lime stone or marble, and its walls are thick and very substantial. It is one hundred and fifty feet in length, thirty- seven feet wide, six stories high at one end, and three at the other. The present proprietor, Mr. Joseph Hough, informs me that the building contains at this time (December, 1820,) eight hundred and forty spindles for cotton, fifteen power looms, together with two wool- len carding machines. The spindles produce a sufficient quantity of yarn daily for five hundred yards of sheeting." This factory, not long afterwards, became the property of the late Benjamin Marshall, of Troy, N. Y., a large manufacturer, who by his will conveyed it to Mrs. Julia Carville, wife of Mr. Charles Carville, of New York, who now has the title. Mr. Marshall added a large quantity of machinery, and among others, increased the number of looms to about one hundred. It has since been managed by different persons, as agents or lessees. In 1849, Mr. H. W. Pitts, an experienced man- ufacturer, took a lease of it, and has since carried it on prudently and judiciously, and with success and profit to himself. It has ex- changed much of the old, for new and improved machinery. He still has one hundred looms, but has only sixty in running order. He manufactures daily sixteen hundred yards of heavy sheeting, and from one to eight hundred pounds of yarn, according to circumstances.
The mill, after the time mentioned by Mr. Hall, became the property of Aaron and Timothy Hall, of Keene, N. H., both of whom died and it was carried on by different persons under them and their administrators, until the 16th of September, 1854, when it was destroyed by fire, together with the store in front, occupied by Nathan Wood, and the brick store of Gen. Nash adjoining, oc- cupied. by W. S. Lane for a clothing and furnishing store, and the shop attached, occupied by L. Bertrand as a tailor. In the fall of 1855, the site and privileges of the mill, with its partially standing walls, were purchased by Mr. H. W. Pitts and Mr. Harmon Shel- don, who have rebuilt it and set it in operation, with four runs of stones and improved machinery, which is capable of manufacturing one hundred barrels of flour daily.
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