USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Pittsford > History of the town of Pittsford, Vt., with biographical sketches and family records > Part 20
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The following papers relative to these trials were found among the old Supreme and County Court files, rescued, col-
* Young Hopkins' wound was dressed by order of Col. Clark, and Dr. Porter's bill for amputation and subsequent treatment was £11 3s. This was paid by the Statc.
t These were James Hopkins, John Tuttle, Ebenezer Hopkins, John Rhodes, Elisha Warner, Martin Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins, John Tupper, Ashbel Hopkins, David Starks, Elijah Adams, Caleb Cooley, Benjamin Stevens, Jr., Jeremiah Powers, Ebenezer Lyman, Elijah Brown, Samuel Adams, Peter Powers, Amos Kellogg, Solomon Taylor and Jabez Olmstead.
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THE INSURRECTION.
lected and bound in ten Volumes, by Gen. Hopkins, while Clerk of the Court, and furnished me by him :
"To the Honorable the County Court, now sitting in Rut- land, within and for the county of Rutland, comes Darius Chipman, Attorney for said county, and complaint and informa- tion makes, that on the 22 day of November, A. D. 1786, at said Rutland, Jonathan Fassett, Ebenezer Drury, Dan Barnard, Reuben Allen, Jonathan Swift, Simeon Tupper, Jonathan Row- ley, Benjamin Cooley, all of Pittsford in said county, Gideon Horton, Nathan Daniels, of Brandon, and William Roberts, Benjamin Whipple and Silas Mead, of Rutland, in said county, assembled in a riotous, routous and unlawful manner, with an intent to prevent the sitting of the Honorable County (Court), then and there sitting, and being so assembled as aforesaid, with guns, swords, and stones, marched through the streets at Rutland aforesaid, to the terror of the good people of this State, and then and there disturbed the Honorable County Court then sitting in the Court House in said Rutland, and many other enormities, they, the said Jonathan, Ebenezer, Dan, Reuben, Jonathan, Simeon, Jonathan, Benjamin, Gideon, William, Nathan, Benjamin and Silas then and there did, against the peace and dignity of the Freemen of the State cf Vermont, to the evil example of others in like manner offend- ing ; wherefore said Attorney prays, that they, the said Jonathan, Ebenezer, Dan, Reuben, Jonathan, Simeon, Jona- than, Benjamin, Gideon, William, Nathan, Benjamin and Silas, may be made to answer this complaint, and be further dealt · with, as to law and justice appertains.
Dated at Rutland this 23 day of November, A. D. 1786.
D. CHIPMAN, Attorney.
To the Sheriff of Rutland County, his Deputy, or either of the Constables in said county, in the name and by the authority of the Freemen of the State of Vermont, you are commanded, forthwith to apprehend the bodies of the within delinquents,
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
and safely kecp and cause to appear before the County Court, now sitting in Rutland in said county, then to answer the within complaint, and do and suffer as the court shall order.
Dated at Rutland, November 23, 1786.
OBADIAH NOBLE, Clerk.
November 23d, 1786. Then, by virtue of the within pre- cept, I have arrested the bodies of the within Delinquents, and have them here in court.
Attest, JONA. BELL, Sheriff.
And now the said Attorney says, that he will prosecute the said Jonathan Rowley and Gideon Horton no further.
D. CHIPMAN, Atty.
Whereupon, the Delinquents, being called to plead to said Information, plead not guilty, and put themselves on the coun- try for trial.
Whereupon, a jury being impannelled and sworn to try the Delinquents, and having heard the said cause, on their oaths say, that Jonathan Fassett, William Roberts, Benja- min Cooley, Benjamin Whipple, Nathan Daniels, Silas Mead, are guilty of the facts charged against them in the said Information ;
Whereupon, this court do adjudge and sentence that the said Jonathan Fassett pay a fine of £25 L. Money, to the Treasurer of this county, and give a bond, with surety, in the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Pounds, for his good behaviour for one year, and also a Bill of Costs, taxed by said court at £1. 2. 6. and that that the said William Roberts pay a fine of £15 to the Treasurer of this county, and give a bond, with surety, in the sum of £100 L. Money, for his good behaviour for one year, and pay a Bill of Costs, taxed by said court at £1. 2. 6. And that the said Benjamin Cooley pay a fine of £12. to the Treasurer of this county, and give a bond, with surety, of £100. for his good behaviour for one year, and also pay a Bill of Cost, taxed by said court at £1. 2. 6. And that
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255
the said Benjamin Whipple pay a fine of £10. to the Treasurer of this county and give a bond in the sum of £100. for his good behaviour for one year, and also pay a Bill of Cost, taxed by said court at £1. 2. 6. And that Nathan Daniels pay a fine of £10. to the Treasurer of this county, and give a bond, with surety, for his good behaviour for one year, and pay a Bill of Cost, taxed at £1. 2. 6. And that Silas Mead pay a fine of £6. to the Treasurer of this county, and give a bond, with surety, for his good behaviour for one year, in the sum of £50. and pay a Bill of Cost, taxed by said court, at £1. 2. 6. And the aforesaid Delinquents, not being satisfied with said judg- ment, prayed for, and were admitted to an appeal to the then next stated session of the Supreme Court, to be holden at Rut- land, within and for the county of Rutland, on the Third Tuesday of August then next.
The rebellion being considered effectually crushed, on Sat- urday afternoon the militia were assembled, and after being addressed by Col. Clark were discharged. But it was so near dark that they remained over night, and on Sabbath morning started for home. As the militia, returning westward, arrived at Pine Hill, they were informed that some two hundred mal- contents were assembled at Col. James Mead's, west of Otter Creek. On the reception of this intelligence the Court issued orders for the immediate recall of the militia and for reinforce- ments from other parts of the county. Col. Pearl, who had gone southward, immediately returned with the militia under his command, and receiving large reinforcements from the west, halted at Blanchard's Corners in West Rutland, while the militia from the east proceeded to Center Rutland and, placing a strong guard at Otter Creek bridge, halted there during the day, thus placing the insurgents in a very unenvi- able position between two formidable forces. During the latter part of the preceding week, some of the most active in insti- gating the rebellion, had traversed the neighboring towns,
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
falsely charging the Court with dealing fraudulently with the Regulators, and with treating the prisoners with the most out- rageous cruelty. The result of these charges was that even the most candid and conservative portion of the people were aroused to the highest state of indignation. Acting from the impulse of feeling created by what they were made to believe were the acts of an unjust and tyrannical court, the assemblage at Col. Mead's had convened to inaugurate active measures for redressing their wrongs. Sunday was improved by several friends of law and order, in efforts to convince the malcon- tents that many of the evils of which they complained did not exist ; that for such as did exist, the Court was in no way responsible ; that the prisoners had been kindly treated ; and that the Court and the government had a common interest in doing all in their power to relieve the sufferings of the people. They were told that they had been misinformed, that they had been imposed upon by a few artful and designing men, and that the course they were pursuing, if persisted in, must inevit- ably result in bloodshed and ruin. These efforts were attended with gratifying success ; the Regulators were convinced that they had been made the dupes of a gross imposition; and as candid and honest men they not only abandoned the object of their enterprise, but even joined the militia under Col. Clark" in defence of the Court and the laws. Monday morning, all being again quiet, and no further use for the militia being anticipated, they received the thanks of the Court and were dismissed. The Court continued in session without further interruption until Tuesday evening, when it was adjourned without day. The militia were afterwards paid for their ser- vices by the State, and on the 2d day of March, 1787, the General Assembly passed and caused to be published the following resolution : "Resolved, That this House entertains a high sense of the services done to this State by the officers and soldiers, whose spirited exertions crushed the late daring
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THE INSURRECTION.
insurrection against government, in the counties of Rutland and Windsor,* and does hereby return the said officers and soldiers their hearty thanks."
On looking over the list of names of those who were engaged in this insurrection we are not a little surprised to find in it the names of such men as Col. Benjamin Cooley, Capt. Caleb Cooley, Amos Kellogg, Ebenezer Lyman, Ebenezer Hopkins and Elijah Adams, pioneers in the settlement of the town; men who had received a religious education and were deeply imbued with the spirit of Christianity; who had toiled together to lay broad and deep the foundation of our social and religious institutions ; who were foremost in every enterprise pertaining to the material prosperity of the people ; and who were looked upon as models of stability and embodiments of almost every manly virtue; and we wonder how such men could have engaged in high-handed rebellion against a benefi- cent government, and a government which they had them- selves helped to establish. But the fact that they did this, shows the extremity of their sufferings, as well as the extremity of their misapprehension, in respect to its causes and proper remedies. But we must bear in mind that they lived in a very exciting period of our history. Not only were the finances of the country in a very unsatisfactory condition, but the plans for improving them were various; and upon this subject public sentiment was very much divided and party feeling very strong.
At that time the facilities for obtaining information were greatly inferior to those we have now. There was not a news- paper published in the county, and only twot in the State, and very few copies of these found their way into the families of Pittsford. It was not so difficult, therefore, for crafty politi-
* A similar outbreak had occurred in Windsor County.
t At that time the Vermont Gazette was published at Bennington, and the Ver- mont Journal at Windsor.
18
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
cians to manufacture a local, public sentiment for or against a public measure. The people of Pittsford in common with the citizens of other portions of the State were in debt, and suffer- ing greatly from an almost worthless currency ; yet, that they would have risen in rebellion against the government, had they not been misinformed and perversely influenced, we are not prepared to admit. The man who of all others did most to promote a spirit of discontent and rebellion in Pittsford was, undoubtedly, Jonathan Fassett. He was one of the early set- tlers, a large land-holder, quite loquacious, took a prominent part in the transaction of the public business, and, up to this time, appears to have had the confidence of his townsmen, by reason of which he had three times represented them in the General Assembly of the State, and had but recently been elected for a fourth term. He had also held the office of Justice of the Peace and County Judge. It is not our purpose to discuss his motives, whether honest and conscientious, or selfish and vindictive; but that he, by his personal influence and public harangues, did more than any other to array the people of the town against the Court, there is no room for doubt. It is creditable to those whom he had deceived that their minds were open to conviction, and that as soon as con- vinced of their error, they deplored the course they had taken, and became law-abiding and law-sustaining citizens; while the man who had deceived them and been the principal cause of their disgrace, never afterwards received much favor at their hands.
The Court showed great discrimination in passing judgment upon the insurrectionists, and while the majority of those con- victed were discharged on the payment of a mere nominal fine, Jonathan Fassett was required to disgorge the sum of £25, more than double the amount demanded of any other Pittsford man. But this was not the whole of his punishment, as will
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COMPLAINT AGAINST FASSETT.
be seen by the following extract from the journal of the proceedings of the General Assembly, at its next session in February following.
"To the Honorable General Assembly now sitting in Ben- nington by adjournment :
Gideon Brownson, Esq., complaining, saith, that Jonathan Fassett, Esq., of Pittsford, in the county of Rutland, and Rep- resentative to this Assembly for said town of Pittsford, for the present year, hath, during and since the session of this Assem- bly in October last, by seditious speeches misrepresenting the proceeding of this Assembly at their said session, among the good people of this State, endeavored to influence the minds of the citizens of this State against the proceedings of this Assem- bly, at their said session, and did excite them to mutiny, riot and sedition against the laws and government of this State; and did, on the third Tuesday of November last, excite, encour- age, aid and abet, a large number of the inhabitants of the county of Rutland, then notoriously and seditiously assem- bled at said Rutland to oppose the sitting of the County Court for the county of Rutland, then and there to be holden according to law ; all which conduct of the said Jonathan Fassett is contrary to and in violation of a duty and obligation of a member of this House; your complainant therefore moves, that inquiry be made into the conduct of the said Jonathan, and he dealt with according to the rules and regulations of this House.
(Signed) G. BROWNSON."
The question being put to Mr. Fassett whether he plead guilty or not guilty to said complaint, he answered not guilty. And on motion made, and agreed to by Mr. Fassett, Ordered, That Wednesday morning of next week, at the opening of the House in the morning, be assigned to take said complaint under
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD. .
consideration ; and that Mr. Fassett be suspended until that time from taking his seat in this House; and that the State's Attorney, for the county of Rutland, be requested to bring forward the evidence to support said complaint.
Wednesday February 28, 1787.
Agreeable to order, the house took under consideration the complaint of Col. Brownson against Jonathan Fassett, Esq., which was read, and Mr. Fassett not appearing, the evidence in support of the complaint being heard, the question was put, whether said complaint is supported, and that Jonathan Fassett, Esq., be expelled from his seat as a member of this House ? The yeas and nays on the question were required by Mr. Free- man, they stand as follows, viz .:
Yeas - Mr. Dewey, Mr. Goodrich, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Speaker, Mr. O. Smith, Mr. Canfield, Mr. Brownson, Mr. Gray, Mr. Sheldon, Mr. Bristol, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Chipman, Mr. J. Burt, Mr. Marvin, Mr. Randall, Mr. Merriman, Mr. Marsh, Judge Ward, Mr. Higley, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Asabel Smith, Mr. Mott, Mr. C. Carpenter, Mr. Wilson, Mr. B. Burt, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Bridgman, Mr. Clark, Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Jewet, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Wells, Mr. Briggs, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Cook, Mr. Aiken, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Burgiss, Captain Ward, Mr. B. Brown, Mr. Bisbee, Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Davison, Mr. Brigham, Mr. Heald, Mr. Emmons, Mr. Weld, Mr. Abida Smith, Mr. Green, Mr. Cosseen, Mr. J. Carpenter, Mr. Park- hurst, Mr. Bliss, Mr. Rosbrooks, Mr. Steel, Mr. Bartholomew, Mr. Hall, Mr. P. Brown, Mr. Ferris, Mr. S. Lane, Mr. Loid, Mr. J. Lane, Mr. Pierce, Mr. Butterfield.
So it passed unanimously in the affirmative.
" Thursday, March 1, 1787.
Mr. Chipman, State's Attorney for the county of Rutland, presented a bill of cost on the complaint against Jonathan Fassett, Esq., as follows :
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COSTS IN FASSETT'S TRIAL.
Two Subpænas, 0-2-0
Serving ditto on Esq. Drury and Mr. Moulton, 3-12-0 Cost of taking depositions taxed by Esq. Drury, 0-19-6 Esq. Drury's travel 70 miles and Mr. Moulton's travel, 1-14-7 Subpoena and serving on Col. Clark and others, 0- 6-0
Four witnesses attendance one day each, 0-8-0
Attorney's fees, 1-10-0
Attendance eight days, 0-16-0
Clerk's fees, 0-2-6
£9-10-7
Whereupon the General Assembly
Resolved, That the Treasurer pay to Darius Chipman, Esq., £.9: 10: 7. in hard money orders, for cost of prosecuting the impeachment against Jonathan Fassett, Esq., and that he pay the same to the several persons that the same is due to.
Resolved, That Jonathan Fassett, Esq., pay to the Treas- urer of this State the sum of nine pounds ten shillings and seven pence, lawful money, as cost of prosecution on an impeachment exhibited to this Assembly againt him, by Col. Gideon Brownson; and that the State's Attorney for the county of Rutland, be, and he is hereby directed, to collect the same of the said Jonathan Fassett, and pay the same into the treasury of this State."
On the first Tuesday of January, 1787, The votes on the establishment of a Bank were as follows: Yeas 450, Nays 2197. On the passage of a General Tender Act, Yeas 150, Nays 881.
The votes in the Town of Pittsford were for the establish- ment of a Bank 3, against a Bank 25; For a General Tender Act none, against such an Act 38.
During the latter part of this period an event occurred . which was long remembered, and should be recorded that those who now live may, by comparison, better appreciate the bless-
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
ings which are lavished upon them. The year 1788 was noted for a severe famine which prevailed throughout Vermont, some other parts of New England and Canada. It is thus described by one* then living in this town, and probably one of the very few now living who have any personal knowledge of it :
" There was at that time, commencing as soon as April and lasting until harvest, a scarcity of bread which caused great suffering throughout Vermont, the newer parts of New York and Canada. Most of the people had one cow and a pair of oxen. The pasture was the woods after the first of May. The plains had been burned over a few years before this, and the Lord sent us that year a wonderful crop of wintergreen berries to begin with, and then strawberries, raspberries and black- berries in succession. There were a few families in town that had a competency, but only a few, and these imparted to others and put their own families upon rations to keep others from
starving. Children were dispersed through the day to obtain berries, and the cow would give us some milk at night, and a handful of berries to a person or child, and a small piece of bread baked in a pan, for it would not do to have a loaf of bread, as it would be in danger of being devoured at once. But the good mother would take, at every meal, a certain quan- tity of flour, just enough to make one ,cake, that would be faithfully divided and the rest must be made up with milk and berries and this must answer for two meals; and for dinner we had greens and sometimes a small allowance of meat with a few mouthfuls of bread. But many families were without bread or meat for weeks. The material for bread was not in the country ; no money could procure it because it was not here. Corn was brought from Virginia to Troy, and from thence to Pittsford in an ox cart, on such a road as a new country fur- nished. A team would go and return in about ten days and bring, with two yokes of oxen, twenty-five bushels of Southern
* Rev. Simeon Parmelee.
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THE FAMINE.
corn. One man-I will not call his name for he is dead, and I hope in heaven, for he expected to go there, but he was rather a selfish man-brought a number of bushels of old wheat to mill after harvest, and my grandfather, who was then the miller, gave this man a severe reproof for keeping his wheat when his neighbors were starving. His excuse was that he did not think it good economy to thrash new wheat as soon as it goes into the barn. Multitudes were offering to labor for their board. There were not many in that town that were as much straightened as many in neighboring towns. In Chitten- den, Pittsfield and newer towns, and nearer the mountains, they suffered more. In some places, such was the severity of the famine that many could accomplish but little labor, and they had forebodings lest another year would be more distress- ing than the present. Let us now cast our eyes abroad and institute a comparison of the present condition of our country with the state of things that we witnessed in our country then. Then our country was comparatively a wilderness, and now it is a fruitful field. Then we had cabins, but now temples ; then corduroy roads and now rails. Then it was long trust, and often imprisonment for debt, now the latter is not allowed, and as a rule it is ready pay. Men now fail, and are reckless and imprudent, but there is no difficulty if we have not bread enough in Vermont or New York, we can go to Iowa, Texas or California for it, and it need not cost us very dear. God has blessed our land with plenty and with means of obtaining it from any section, and we are a very wicked people if we are not truly thankful for these blessings scattered broadcast over the land."
The writer of the foregoing extract feels confident that the famine was in 1788, though we find some writers assert that it was in 1789, and others that it was in 1790.
" The scarcity was attributed to the too rapid filling up of the country. The few who had made clearings and brought
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
their land into a state of cultivation, were not able to raise provisions sufficient to sustain themselves, and all those who were so constantly seeking to settle here, from the older States."* Ths was a serious condition, and was made still more so by the difficulty of transporting provisions from abroad.
In connection with the history of this trying period, some notice should be taken of Ebenezer Drury, Esq., a man of large heart and uncommon benevolence, and whose sympathies embraced the needy of all classes. He was not in affluent cir- cumstances, but he was ready, at all times, to divide his- "staff of life" with his suffering neighbors. He made a special effort to learn the circumstance of every family in the township, and he not only imparted to the needy from his own stores, but he collected from his wealthier neighbors and distributed among the destitute. Almost every day he could be seen, on horseback, conveying packages of provisions to families in straightened circumstances. By reason of these acts the trials of many were greatly mitigated, and they were enabled to pass through this period of famine without suffering the pangs of starvation. By such deeds Mr. Drury merited and received the gratitude of the people of the town.
* History of Salisbury.
*
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ABRAHAM DRURY.
CHAPTER VII.
Immigrants and their Locations continued ; Extracts from the Proprietors' Records ; Settlement of the Land-title Controversy ; Vermont admitted into the Union ; Pay- ment of $30,000. 1790-1800.
During the next ten years, the agitation occasioned by the war having subsided, the population of the town went on grad- ually increasing, while new openings were continually made in the forest, a greater breadth of soil was brought under the influence of husbandry, and the machinery of civil government was moving gracefully along. This prosperous state of things, combined with the natural fertility of soil, made the township a desirable one for enterprising young men, who wished to make pleasant homes for themselves in some promising region.
Among the number who located here in 1790, we find Abraham Drury, John Woodward, Samuel Copley, Phineas Hammond, Abraham Carpenter, Adget Lathrop and Nathan B. Graham.
Abraham Drury was a nephew of Ebenezer Drury and grandson of Daniel Drury of Shrewsbury, Mass., but his father's christian name we have not been able to obtain. He was born in Shrewsbury, came to Pittsford in 1790, and pur- chased the westerly half of the Joshua Woodward farm, or what constitutes the farm now owned by Frank B. Barnes. The road at that time, it will be remembered, passed consider- ably to the west of the present road and about sixty rods south- west of the present residence of Mr. Barnes, made a short turn from a southwesterly to a southeasterly direction and upon that
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
corner Mr. Drury built a house .* He married Abigail, daugh- ter of Joshua Morse, and resided there till 1804, when he built the house now owned by Mr. Barnes on the present road. His wife Abigail died about the year 1800, and he married Lucy, daughter of Abijah Tucker, March 8, 1802. He afterwards moved to the State of Ohio where he died.
Calvin Drury, the second son of Ebenezer, was born in Templeton, Mass., May 8, 1765, came to Pittsford with other members of his father's family, and married Azubia, daughter of Rev. Eleazer Harwood, about the year 1790. He located on the home farm upon which he built a house which stood about three rods north of the house now owned by the heirs of the late Austin Andrews. His wife Azubia died about 1824, and he married Sarah, danghter of Jacob Weed, September 22, 1825. He was industrious, frugal, of sound judgment, and took a deep interest in everything pertaining to the pros- perity of the town and the Christian Church.
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