USA > Vermont > Windham County > Rockingham > History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1753-1907, with family genealogies > Part 11
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Among the most interesting animals, with almost human intelligence, which the first settlers found in Rockingham were the beavers. They were gathered in villages of their own in at least two, and possibly more, places in the town. One was just beyond Saxtons River village on the road to West- minster West. The first hill one descends in passing out of the village, near the farm of W. W. Barry, has always been known since the town was first inhabited as "Beaver Dam Hill." Older residents of the town still remember seeing remains of the large dam built by these industrious workmen,
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History of Rockingham
and many indications of their well constructed houses. The dam was on the south side of the road near the foot of the hill, and by its construction the beavers had overflowed the meadow covering about twenty-five acres. The land is now owned by W. J. Wright. The school-house formerly there, which is now a part of Mr. Barry's dwelling, was always denominated the "Beaver Dam School-house," and the early town records all referred to the school district by that name. .
Another place where the remains of a beaver dam and their houses were visible within the memory of present day citizens, was upon the Hubbard B. Davis farm, now owned and occupied by C. E. Ball and located on high ground about two miles northeast of Saxtons River village. This pond, made by these first hydraulic architects, was not as large as the other one mentioned, being of only about an acre in size. It was located about two hundred rods north of the farm buildings now used by Mr. Ball. The signs of the work have remained more clearly visible here than at the Beaver, Dam hill.
A much larger pond than either of these, made wholly by the work of the beavers, was upon the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut, about two miles north of Charlestown village. The railroad passes through the great meadow, which was once flooded, and the place has always been known to railroad men and others as " Beaver Meadow." The dam was on the brook that flows through the meadow and located within a few rods of the bank of the Connecticut river.
The nature of these animals was very shy and retiring, and as soon as the settlers came, they retreated gradually, like the Indian, from the haunts of civilization. The south part of the state being settled first, the animals were found much later in the northern sections. The last captured in Vermont, as far as ascertained by the writer, was one in Essex county about 1830.
Graham, the well known writer upon such subjects, gives the following description of the habits and work of these builders and architects :
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Dams and Houses of the Beavers
"The beavers were from three to four feet in length and weighed from forty to sixty pounds. The toes of the fore-feet were separated answering the purpose of hands and fingers ; and the hind-feet webbed, and thus suited to the purpose of swimming. These animals were brown in color. The fur upon their backs was coarse and long, but on other parts of the body, fine and thick, like down, and as soft as silk, and much prized by fur dealers.
When the young beavers were seeking for homes, their first care was to find a place suitable for their purpose. If the site was a lake or pond, they were careful to select one where they were not likely to be disturbed and where the water was of sufficient depth to give them room to swim under the ice. If a stream were chosen, it was always one that could be formed into a pond.
In the building of their villages, the beavers showed much ingenuity and intelligence. In case a stream were chosen, they first set about constructing a dam. If there were a tree at hand that would naturally fall across the stream, they set to work with their sharp, strong teeth to cut it down; and when it had fallen, so that it would assume a level position, gnawed off the branches. Then by the means of branches, earth, and the like, they filled until a dam was completed, as firm and secure as if made by master work- men, as indeed it was. These dams were often of great size and strength and the ponds thus made often covered several acres.
Then there were the homes to be built along the borders of the pond. These were made of twigs and earth, were oval in form (somewhat resembling a haystack), from two to four stories in height, and varied in their diameter from four to ten feet, according to the number of families they were intended to accommodate. Passages led from one floor to another ; and the lower floor was always built above the level of high water. Each hut had two exits, one upon land, and the other under water, below the freezing limit, the latter to preserve their communication with the pond throughout the winter season. In these cabins the beavers remained through the long winter, living upon bark and tender twigs, which they had laid by for the winter.
These little creatures always lived in perfect harmony with each other ; each knew his own home and storehouse, and was never known to pilfer the goods of his neighbors. Such was the beaver of that date, and such no doubt is the beaver of to-day wherever he may be found."
One peculiarity of the beaver not mentioned in the above account is the tail, which is very wide, often four or five inches, and which some writers claim is used for plastering down the mud of the houses and dams, while other writers go farther and say it is used in driving stakes which form part of the dams. Dr. Williams, the first historian of Vermont, says that it was also commonly used in alarming the com- munity at the approach of danger, by striking the top of the water a resounding blow. The community is said to have
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History of Rockingham
often numbered three to four hundred, and one was usually posted as a sentinel to give warning of approaching danger, while the others labored on their dams or houses.
The first survey for a road through Rockingham, following the Connecticut river from Westminster to the Springfield line, recorded upon the town records as early as 1796, gives names to two localities that have ever since remained with them. The traditions of the origin of these names are interesting and are as follows :
"Coward-ice " is a section of rocky road about two miles south of the Springfield line, near the present farm of M. C. Roundy. It is close to the river and is so called from a legend handed down through all the intervening years that one winter a bear of particularly savage appearance was seen out on the ice of the river opposite. A citizen living near started out very boldly to shoot him, but, he became alarmed and retreated without firing his gun and both he and the locality were thereafter known as "Coward-on-ice," later shortened to "Coward-ice."
"Horse-Heaven," is applied to a steep hill about half way between the north and south lines of the town, just north of the farm at present owned by Johnson & Gay. The legend is that a man drawing a heavy load up the hill is said to have remarked to his horses as they disappeared over the side of the road and fell to the jagged rocks below, "Go to Heaven," instead of the more common profane expression. Evidently early residents thought such praiseworthy and pious remarks should be perpetuated, and they have been to this day.
CHAPTER X.
THE FIRST MILL-DARK DAYS OF 1780 AND 1881 - LATE SPRING IN 1780 -POTASH AND PEARLASH MANU-
FACTURE-THE FIRST BURYING GROUND - LATER CEMETERIES
Throughout all New England the story of the first settle- ment of every town shows the importance of the saw and grist mills to the pioneers, in making and living in their rude homes. Among the first things arranged for were the mill, the " hieways," and the church.
The history of the towns of the Connecticut valley shows many hardships in travelling long distances to mills, before they could be established nearer. The first settlers of Rock- ingham were more fortunate than many, as they had the advantage of being able to go, until they had one of their own about 1760 or 1761, to Benjamin Bellows' mill which was erected two or three years after they came to this town. Bellows' mill was located on what was known as " Blanchard brook " which flowed through his farm, now the Copley Amory place, about three miles south of Bellows Falls on the New Hampshire side of the river. This mill was erected previous to 1755. For some time after Colonel Bellows settled in Walpole, he had to go to Northampton, Mass., to mill, going down with his corn in boats and return- ing with his meal and other stores necessary to feed his family and the large number of his hired help. Settlers of the neighboring towns, including Rockingham, had to take the same laborious method, the hardships of which can be appreciated if we consider the unbroken wilderness surround- ing all this neighborhood at that time. For many years the mill at "Old No. 4," Charlestown, was the most northerly of any, even after settlements had been made as far north as New- bury, Barnet and even Lancaster, N. H. The settlers of those
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History of Rockingham
towns were obliged to come in some instances from 50 to 125 miles to mill, sometimes on horseback, sometimes by boat. The latter mode of travel was hazardous and frequent falls in the Connecticut required the hard work of "carrying by."
From these facts, will be seen the importance of a nearby mill in each locality, and the advantage which Rockingham settlers had in having one owned by Colonel Bellows so near. Although the first houses were in nearly every instance built of unhewn logs, sometimes without floors or partitions, the necessity of a saw mill is evident, and so one of the first votes recorded by the proprietors was for the "Incouragement" of building a mill.
The actual location of the first mill erected by the settlers of Rockingham has of late years been a matter of much speculation, and variety of opinions. Many of the older residents have claimed that it was located near the mouth of Saxtons river, while the more generally accepted theory of its site places it at what is known as "Brockway's Mills," six or seven miles up the Williams river. Child's Windham County Gazetecr, printed about twenty years ago, says :
"Governor Benning Wentworth was interested in the settlement of Rockingham, on account of the excellent masting for ships obtained in this section, and came here personally to make examination and to take measures ' for better securing the masting trees from being cut and felled,' as they had, by charter, been secured for ' the masting of his majesty's navy.' Through his instrumentality the saw mills were erected, one at the place now known as Brockway's Mills, and the other near the mouth of Saxtons River."
One method which Governor Wentworth took to "secure" the best trees was to send surveyors through all the vicinity and plainly mark all trees which were to be preserved for the government with the "Broad arrow," the emblem of the English government used to this day to designate all govern- ment property or stores. The law imposed a severe penalty upon him who, either wilfully or by error, felled one of the trees thus marked.
Careful investigation convinces the writer that the first mill of the town very much ante-dated those mentioned above,
BIRDSEYE VIEW OF BARTONSVILLE AND THE VALLEY OF THE WILLIAMS RIVER, WITH THE SUMMIT OF ASCUTNEY MOUNTAIN IN THE DISTANCE. Photo by R. C. Bristol.
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Site of the First Mill
and that it was located on the Williams river nearly a mile below Rockingham station. The site is on the north side of Williams river about three-fourths of a mile above the high- way bridge on the road leading to Springfield, near the mouth of what is now known as "Hinds'" or "O'Brien's" brook, on the north side of the river.
At this point there is not a great fall in the river, but a steady descent for some distance above the site. The water was brought fifteen or twenty rods in a canal running along the bank of the stream, to a point where the mill stood. The timbers upon which the water wheel rested were discernible at as late a date as 1898 when the spot was first visited by the writer. Further up the bank, and but a short distance from it, are the cellar holes and foundation walls of two or three dwellings, one of which was probably the miller's old home. Possibly one is that of the historic dwelling where the proprietors' meetings of 1760 and 1761 were held, which was designated as that of "Mical Lovwell", frequently mentioned both in the proprietors' and town clerk's records of early years.
Lying upon the river bank a few feet from the site of the old mill, there is an interesting monument to mark the historical spot. A large mill stone formerly used in grinding grain lies nearly sunken into the soil, through the centre hole of which, at the time of the writer's visit, a wood-chuck was gaining entrance to his secluded home. There is now no road used in that locality and very few passers by the spot in later years have understood its history.
The land is a part of the " 15th. Lott In the Six Range " of the original survey of the township made in 1753 by Sur- veyor Caleb Willard. Reference to the records of the proprietors' meeting held July 17, 1760, and also to that of August 4, 1761, will show the action of the proprietors to "Incourage the Building of a saw mill In sd town " and that " the 15th. Lott in the Six Range " was given to " Mical Lovewell " for this purpose under certain restrictions.
The " Mical Lovwell," was one of the progenitors of the
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History of Rockingham
Lovell families who still reside in the town, and have ever been prominent in affairs, owning large tracts of land. This mill in the location described is frequently referred to in the town records, Mr. Lovell having more or less financial difficulty in after years and having been assisted in keeping his mill "In good Repairs" by various votes of the town at the subsequent town meetings. The records of the town show that he later added to his saw mill facilities by putting in stones
for grinding grain, one of which is probably the one still lying there. Although probably at least one hundred and forty years old, the stone shows the same general character- istics in the cuttings and angles upon its face as those of to-dav. The stone itself is of much more primitive character than those of later years in the style of the cutting of the other surfaces.
A few years after the mill was erected in 1762, it became the property of Col. Benjamin Bellows of Walpole, and Sep- tember 21, 1772, he sold it to Peter Evans, who was one of Rockingham's very early settlers.
Mr. Evans owned and operated the mill until May 21st, 1806, when he sold it to William Hall, Jr., of the Bellows Falls mercantile firm of Hall & Goodridge, for $1,600. The town record describes this purchase as "10 1-4 acres, including water power, dwelling houses, saw mill and grist mill with three run of stones, mill yard and dam."
The Bellows Falls Intelligencer of March 31, 1817, con- tained the account of the destruction of this mill by fire as follows : "The mill standing near the mouth of Williams River, owned by Hon. William Hall, Jr., was burned to the ground March 24, with a loss of $2,500, including flour and grain."
March 9, 1818, William Hall, Jr., sold to Jonas Hazelton, Jr .. this same property consisting of 10 1-2 acres of land "where a saw and grist mill lately stood."
The mills were rebuilt, evidently in a much enlarged form, and were used for a more extensive and varied business.
The dam at this point in the river was insecure because of
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First Mill Site Abandoncd
its length, and the sandy shores, and about 1830 it was carried away for the second time. Mr. Hazelton felt the expense of maintaining a dam there to be too great, and in 1831 he took down all the buildings and moved them, together with the machinery except the mill-stone mentioned, to Andover, Vt., making his home there until his death.
From that time the locality described was never used for manufacturing purposes, although the dwellings remained there for some years. The mills were occupied, at the time of the last destruction of the dam, as saw and grist mills (three run of stones), and for finishing the cloths woven by hand in those days, and for dyeing the same. Jonas Hazelton, the owner, lived in the dwelling whose cellar walls are still visible nearest the location of the mill, about five or six rods up the bank. About one hundred rods farther up Williams river, at the mouth of "Hinds'" brook, were two other dwellings, one of which was occupied fifty years ago by a man named Butterfield, the other by Jesse Evans, father of the late George F. Evans of Bellows Falls, and later by Hugh Chapman, who became unbalanced in mind and set fire to that and another one farther up the brook, destroying them.
For some years after the removal of the Williams river mills, there was a saw mill operated about half a mile farther up Hinds' brook, about half way to the place where Mr. Hinds now lives, and the decaying timbers of it can still be seen. It was known as the Butterfield mill.
Because of the many water powers upon the various streams of the town, as detailed in Chapter I., other mills were built within a few years after the first one, and manu- facturing of different kinds has since been an important part of the varied industries of the town.
DARK DAYS
The old residents of Rockingham frequently refer to hav- ing heard their parents or grandparents speak of a noted dark day at some indefinite time early in the settlement of the
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History of Rockingham
town. It is always referred to with a strong feeling of awe, and tradition shows it to have been a time of great terror to the inhabitants of all this vicinity. It is spoken of as "The dark day of 1780." A reliable account states :
" For several days before the 19th of May of that year a sulphurous vapor filled the air, and on that morning there was thunder and lightning and some rain. What little wind there was came from the southwest. By nine o'clock in the morning darkness came creeping on with a yellowish hue which made clear silver appear grass green. A dense vapor settled over all the land from Pennsylvania to the St. Lawrence. The atmosphere was life- less and the darkness came thicker and thicker, and the sun in disappearing took a brassy hue. The lurid, brassy hue spread everywhere, above and below, and all outdoors wore a sickly, weird and melancholy aspect, and there was a stillness which was frightful. By eleven o'clock it was dark as night, and remained so until three o'clock in the afternoon. The hours or minutes on a watch or clock could not be seen without artifical light, which was a necessity both out of doors and in, in order to transact ordinary business. Drivers of coaches put up their teams ; the birds ceased to fly and hid them- selves in the trees. Pigeons on the wing took shelter in the forest as they do at night. The fowls went to their roosts, and bats came out of their hiding places and flew about. Sheep and cattle sought the shelter of the barnyard, and the dogs behaved in a strange manner. The worker in the shop was compelled to forego his labor, and the farmer quitted his furough and made his homeward way, to receive the anxious inquiry of the housewife, ' What is coming?' Schools were dismissed and the frightened children hastened home trembling with fear."
Many citizens of the present day remember September 6, 1881, when a dark day with many conditions of atmosphere similar to those of about a century earlier occurred, and caused widespread consternation among the superstitious.
Early risers found the morning unusually dark. At sun- rise the light assumed a most peculiar yellow, which increased as the forenoon advanced, giving the earth a very weird appearance. Grass lots and lawns had a singular appearance of light green and blue shades, while sidewalks and streets in Bellows Falls looked like yellow ochre. During the forenoon stores and buildings had to be lighted, and the kerosene lights then used assumed the appearance of the purer white of electricity.
The greatest obscurity occurred at about noon, when the entire heavens assumed a deep yellow or buff tint. This
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Late Spring of 1780
created many optical delusions, which continued an hour or more. The sky gradually changed to its normal condition during the afternoon, although at sunset the sun looked like a huge ball of fire.
Many theories were advanced as to the causes, but no definite scientific explanation was made.
The spring of 1780 was a noted one, the ice in the Con- necticut river remaining firm to a date unprecedented before or since. It is a matter of record that on the 20th of April of that year ten men from the village of Charlestown, N. H., mounted their horses and rode together two miles on the ice up the Connecticut river to the ferry at the mouth of Black river and back again. This was done that the memory of their exploit might be perpetuated and thus the lateness of the season in that memorable year be handed down to suc- ceeding generations.
POTASH AND PEARLASH MANUFACTURE
In the early days of Rockingham, and for a number of years during the early part of the last century, the manufac- ture of potash and pearlash was an important industry. Pearlash was used as a substitute for baking soda, it being of a similar nature. Potash works were located in different parts of this town, as well as all over New England. The location of one place where it was made is still pointed out between Saxton's River and Cambridgeport. One of the largest works in all this vicinity was located across the Con- necticut river from Bellows Falls, a few rods south of the old toll bridge, on the east side of the highway, on the first hill the traveler descends in going towards Walpole. From these extensive works the hill mentioned has, until very recent years, been known as "Potash Hill." This industry was the first manufacturing of any kind at North Walpole, except the two saw mills on Governor's brook, which flowsthrough the village.
The manufacture of potash, of which present-day citizens know nothing, is interesting, and worthy of a short description. The product is made wholly from wood ashes, When the
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History of Rockingham
first settlers came to this vicinity, it was necessary to dispose in some way of the immense quantities of trees that then cumbered the ground. For this reason large patches of forest were felled ; the logs were thrown up in piles, and when sufficiently dry were burned.
The ashes were then placed in leaches and water was poured upon them. The water, trickling through the ashes formed lye, which was boiled in a large iron kettle.
In a majority of the settlements large public potash works soon came into existence, like those mentioned above, and to these many of the settlers carried their ashes instead of making their potash at home. These were rude wooden structures, some of them being called potash, and others pearlash works.
At the potash works might be seen the huge leaches and the cauldron kettles employed in the making of potash, while at the pearlash works were immense ovens in which potash was baked. When it was of the right consistency it was stir- red, and thus broken into lumps: it was then of a pearly white color -hence the name, pearlash. These products were used by the women of that day in the making of soap, and they formed a staple article of merchandise for shipment to the large cities. From this town they were shipped down the river by boat in large quantities.
FIRST BURYING-GROUNDS
When the settlers of this town laid out and chose their "Citydale " lots on the broad meadows north of Williams river, in 1753, intending that future generations should there build the largest village, or city, of the valley, they were obliged to provide a burying-ground also in that immediate vicinity. It was located on the extreme southerly point of the high land which divides the valleys of the Williams and Connecticut rivers, and which is now covered by a thick growth of timber. A lot was set apart for the purpose on the majestic bluff which runs to a point just back of what is known as the "Lucius Bancroft" house, at present owned by the estate of George F. Evans.
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First Burying Ground Located
This formed the only burying-ground in town from 1753 until about 1782, when the new cemetery in Rockingham village was opened. Only a few interments, perhaps a dozen, were made in the first burying-ground. The place was much neglected after the new cemetery was started, and it soon grew up to brush, and later to large trees. To-day it would be hard to find any signs of its former use, and but few of the older citizens remember seeing it. N. S. Proctor, who formerly lived on the Bancroft place, remembers fifty years ago, as a small boy, seeing one old fashioned slate head stone with the name "John Lovell " upon it. Others remember seeing a dozen or more old stones and mounds there, but recall nothing regarding the names. These stones and graves have become covered up among the large trees now standing there, and obliterating forever all traces of the first established public resting place of the dead.
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