USA > Vermont > Windham County > Rockingham > History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1907-1957 with family genealogies > Part 29
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THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF BELLOWS FALLS
The Congregational Church in Bellows Falls has always done outstanding work in the community and parish. The history of the church has been constructive and many changes have taken place in the church buildings during the past fifty years, even as in the faces who worshipped there. During the term of Rev. Pratt's pastorship, the new Bible School building and Parish House was annexed to the main church building. For this work a committee of nine was appointed at a special church meeting on March 26, 1913 to investigate the possibili-
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ties of a modern addition to house the Sunday School and social activities on land owned by the church and to the south of it. The investigating committee consisted of J. C. Day, Mrs. Edward Kirkland, Deacon Charles Osgood, E. A. Pierce, Mrs. Dallas Pollard, Mrs. A. P. Pratt, Deacon N. G. Williams and the pastor who acted as chairman with F. S. Adams as clerk. Several meetings were held and Sunday School buildings were visited in Worcester, Boston and Springfield, Mass. The plans of the committee were accepted at a special meeting on May 15, 1913 at which time a committee was appointed to complete the plans and secure bids. This committee consisted of E. A. Pierce, Dr. Gorham and Mrs. G. E. Welch. A prospectus was issued by the pastor to church members with plans of the pro- posed annex and the cornerstone was laid on June 14, 1914 at a Devotional Service where Dr. Edward Kirkland read the contents of the box to be imbedded in the stone. The new annex necessitated several changes inside the church proper. The choir loft was moved from the south end of the church to its present position and a new organ was presented to the church by William A. Russell, well-to-do mill owner who stipulated that his gift would be available only if the new addition was made. The enlargement, however, seems to have been a finan- cial burden on the church for some years.
In 1900 the 50th anniversary of the Church was held which was celebrated by the installation of electric lights. In Octo- ber, 1925 it held its 75th anniversary which included an impres- sive ceremony at which the beautiful memorial window was unveiled honoring Deacon Charles Wesley Osgood, deacon for many years and for over 50 years, beloved teacher of a Bible class which began in 1871 when he first came to town and gath- ered about him a group of men each Sunday. Until his death in 1923, he taught that same class. In 1921, the 50th year of his Bible class was celebrated. The 1925 celebration also in- cluded such speakers as Rev. Chauncey Adams of Burlington, a member of the church in his youth. Other young men who went from the church into the ministry were Rev. Charles Earnest White and Rev. Rodney Roundy who was formerly secretary of the American Missionary Society, pastor in Laconia, N. H. and now retired in Portland, Maine. Other members of the church who served faithfully in their several capacities included Mrs. Clarence Downing, sister of Mr. Roundy, who drove from Rockingham, Old Town, each Sunday for many years with her horse and buggy, to teach her class of young people. It would be impossible to list all the loyal workers of that or any other generation. Dr. Pratt taught the young men's class which held monthly meetings and much was done in the church during those years, of working with the young people, even as today. The Mt. Kilbourne Missionary Society consisted of young women, many of whom, as older women, are still active
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in church life today. The Beta Phi Boys' Club met every two weeks and used to drill with guns, surely a case of the church being foresighted and materialistic-and NOT turning all its swords into plough shares! Manual training, not yet incor- porated into the public schools, was also taught these boys from time to time and the Christian Endeavor Society met each Sunday evening.
Since the first band of nine souls met to form a church in 1850, the parish has had 23 pastors, the early ones being given in Mr. Hayes' book. Coming here in 1906, Rev. Arthur Pea- body Pratt served until 1919; Rev. John Prince, 1919-1921; Rev. E. C. Fellowes, 1921-1922; Rev. Edward Worcester, 1922- 1923; Rev. Burton E. Marsh, 1924-1926.
THE UNITED CHURCH
In 1928 began the federation of churches when the Uni- versalist united with the Congregational. The Articles of Feder- ation required that each denomination meet in its own building for a six month period during which time the Board of Control could enact new measures. It was conducted on a 3-year trial period which was evidently successful for in 1931 the two churches formed the United Church of Bellows Falls with Sunday School held in the Congregational Church during the first six months where it has been held ever since. Church services are held there during the winter months due to lack of heating facilities in the Universalist building where summer services are held. In 1933 the Methodist Church became affiliated with the United Church also. Each Church retains its own deacons and trustees, maintaining its own identity with its parent organization. Under the ministry of Rev. Cottle, much has been done to re- decorate and improve the church buildings. In the summer of 1950 a thorough decorating job was done inside the auditorium and new carpets and choir lighting were added. Three years later the outside was painted. About this same time, at Christ- mas, a gold cross was hung behind the pulpit, adding to the dig- nity of the church. The Sunday School rooms have been re- cently re-decorated and new drapes and accessories donated by individuals and by the Woman's Society. During October, 1944, morning services of the church were broadcast over radio station WKNE at Keene, N. H. The young people of the church meet each Sunday evening under the leadership of the pastor.
On October 13, 1932, the Congregational and Universalist ladies organized the Woman's Association of the United Church with 43 members and a few years later the Methodist ladies joined the group. At the end of the first year there were 153 members who had earned $700 to help in church expenses. The first officers were President, Mrs. A. A. Parker; Vice President,
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Mrs. W. A. Graham; Secretary, Mrs. J. L. Livermore; Treasurer, Mrs. J. C. Dennison. The first Board of Directors consisted of Mrs. H. K. Burt, Rev. Frances Kimball, Mrs. E. G. Adams, Mrs. H. D. Sparrow, Mrs. J. F. MacLennan, Mrs. M. F. Down- ing. The aims of the group are to assist in church work and contribute to missions and other worthy caused sponsored by the Vermont Church Council to promote Christian fellowship. Officers in 1955 were President, Mrs. Parker Blake; First Vice President, Mrs. R. D. Harriman; Second Vice President, Mrs. H. C. Davis; Secretary, Miss Lula Whitcomb; Treasurer, Mrs. R. C. Clark; Pianist, Miss Bertha Bodine.
In 1916 Mrs. Edith Balch Wright, Field Secretary of the Vermont Bible School Assn., made a survey of the rural districts in Rockingham to ascertain the number of residents attending any church. She visited 1,337 homes and 5,933 people. At that time Cambridgeport had 24 Congregationalists, 17 Baptists, 14 Methodists, 4 Universalists, 2 Episcopalians and 5 Roman Catholics. In Rockingham, Old Town, 71 homes were visited and 291 persons of whom 63 were connected with the Methodist Church, 50 with the Baptist, 49 with the Congregational, 10 with the Episcopal, 45 with the Universalist and 25 with the Catholic. Only 19 of these people attended church regularly and the Catho- lics were in the majority. Services were established in the old Meetinghouse the year round with about 50 children attending. In later years a Vacation Bible School has been held for all children at the Webb home, under th auspices of the Episcopal Church. The Fall Mountain Ministerial Assn. was formed in 1929 with 20 clergymen of all denominations on both sides of the Connecticut River in a radius of 20 miles of Bellows Falls. In 1926 the TIMES listed 93 organizations and churches in town. Today, although to the author who has just had the privilege of listing these, the average seems twice as high, thirty years later, it seems to have dropped by more than twenty. This may or may not be a good sign but there invariably seem to be too many clubs in any town, which usually include the same people in each of them. Churches fold up for lack of membership. Flourishing churches are the sign of a healthy community. Pastors of United Church are;
Rev. Herbert Livingstone, 1926-1932; Rev. Harlan Campbell, 1933-1939; Rev. George B. Owen, 1940-1943; Rev. Parker B. Ward, 1943-1945; Rev. George B. Owen (returned from the service), 1945-1947; Rev. Gardner D. Cottle, 1947 --
CHAPTER XI
OTHER VILLAGES IN THE TOWN OF ROCKINGHAM
BARTONSVILLE
Once the little village of Bartonsville was a thriving com- munity with two paper mills, a grist mill, blacksmith shop, store, post office, railroad station, Spiritualist Hall and "vinegar factory." Today about 130 people reside there including new- comers who have bought or built homes. There was once even a resident physician, Dr. Pliny Parker. But the great flood of 1869 changed the course of the Williams River and the mills moved to Bellows Falls and the life of the community seeped away. Today on the Petty Brook which runs into the pond at Bartonsville (a Mr. Petty once lived on top of the hill) are the remains of an old stone dam once used for water storage for the mills after the flood. The railroad track also washed away at this time and the present tracks are several feet lower than the original level.
For a while, one catastrophe seemed to follow another. In 1901 the railroad station burned down (there were two fun- erals in town the same day) and an old box car was pushed into service as a station and later replaced by a baggage car until the new station was built. In 1952 this was purchased, torn down and moved to Westminster by Clarence Bodine of Bellows Falls, and used in the erection of a dwelling house. Twice the store was burned but each time rebuilt. The largest business in the community today is the flourishing saw mill on Route 103, owned by Elvin Amsden. The old stone schoolhouse was, for many years, a gift shop and is now used as a summer residence. Several abandoned farms have been purchased and remodeled and today the village wears a thrifty appearance.
At the "bow of the river," south of the village, for many years stood one of the watering troughs so common and so needful in that long ago age of horses and of which so few re- main today. Most of them were originally made of wood and with the years became moss-covered and cool on a hot July day. How pleasant the sound of the running water and how the horse would pull at the reins and race for the water, plunging his head in up to the eyes! But you had to be careful, if he was too hot, not to let him drink too much! Some troughs were replaced with cement like the one near the Jim Albee house, at the foot of the hill north of the Estes house today. This carried off the overflow from Minard's Pond which now slips under the road in
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a culvert. Water may still be obtained from the pipe at the bow-of-the-river, once the only water between Rockingham and Chester. Among other watering troughs in town was the one at the foot of Town Hill in Old Town, just before you reached the covered bridge; the one on the left hand side of the road a half mile above the Rockingham (Old Town) schoolhouse on the way to Pleasant Valley; two on the Upper Meadows, the one near the Downing home originally a hollowed log and an- other, still in existence, between Saxtons River and Cambridge- port. At the few remaining watering places, today trucks, cars and bicycles stop and here people come with forty-quart milk cans when their own water has dried up or frozen.
The story of the Bartonsville Post Office and store is closely tied together over the past 50 years, moving back and forth from owner to owner, from place to place and back again, al- most, you might say, on wheels. As in most small villages, store and post office were often run by one person. For many years Mrs. Mary Bowker filled both positions, going out of business in 1905 when she rented her store to Andrew McGinley, a visitor in Chester who became interested in it. Arthur Day and Joseph Severance purchased the store January 14, 1907. Later Day bought out his partner and moved the post office into his new store in the hotel. In March of the same year, Charles Ball of Bellows Falls, bought the Bowker store which he ran for a short time and sold to David Morris in 1913. When the Day store burned in the hotel fire of December 13, 1914, the post office was moved back to the Morris store where it remained until Guy Schoff was appointed postmaster in 1915 and who moved the versatile post office into his home. He held the position until June 18, 1927 when Frank Snow was appointed postmaster and took the post office back to the Morris store which he had bought February 13, 1917. In March, 1950, Mr. Snow moved the post office once more, this time to the home of his daughter, Virginia Snow Fontaine and that June he sold his store to Albert Kellogg after "keeping store" for 33 years and 4 months. Two years later, in September, he retired as post- master and his daughter, the present incumbent, was appointed to take his place on May 1, 1953. The Bowker store burned November, 1921 and was rebuilt the next year and burned again in 1934 and was again rebuilt. Rev. Rohrer took over the store soon after Mr. Kellogg came and ran it for three and a half years until 1953, with his living quarters behind it. He re- modeled the store into added living quarters later and for the first time in more than 50 years, Bartonsville is without a store.
It was in 1905 that the first R.F.D. mail route out of Bar- tonsville was established, going to Cambridgeport, Grafton, over Fisher Hill to Charles Wright's house and the Sylvan Road, a 26-mile route covered by horses. Robert Curtis of Bartons- ville was the first carrier on this route which he held faithfully
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for 40 years with both horses and cars, receiving his appoint- ment December 15, 1905 and retiring August 18, 1945. He died July 29, 1954, aged 69 years. From 1907 to 1945 his subsitute was Guy Ellison. To this route was added the Cam- bridgeport-to-Athens route in 1939. On June 15, 1946, Charles Morris of Bartonsville was appointed rural carrier with Virginia Fontaine appointed substitute carrier from May 15, 1944 to September 30, 1952. Mr. Morris is the present carrier. (This information furnished by Frank Snow.)
THE BARTONSVILLE GRANGE
The charter of the Bartonsville Grange was issued Decem- ber 28, 1922 and the first meeting was held the next January with 58 charter members, in the old Spiritualist Hall which had been unused for many years. It was presented to the Bartons- ville Grange by the two living descendants of the Spiritualist leaders, the late Sarah Wiley and E. Henry Stillwell. Much credit for the formation of the Grange is due to the interest and untiring efforts of S. I. Sweet.
In the old building a new hardwood floor was laid, papering and painting was done and an anteroom built in place of the old front porch. A barn was erected to store wood for the fires and shelter the horses of the Grangers when they came to meet- ings. Kerosene lamps provided illumination at first but were soon replaced by gas mantle lamps and later by electricity. Although the early records of the Grange were burned, it is known that S. I. Sweet was the first Master; H. A. Taylor, Over- seer and Thelma Worrall, Secretary. At the end of the first year there were 82 members and in 1950 there were ninety-one. Among the awards and honors received by the Grange over the years were a prize of $5.00 for the best float in the 1929 Chester Fair and the same year a $15.00 prize and in 1939, one of $10.00, all in Chester. It also received the bronze placque for Community Service.
The Grange Hall in Bartonsville fills the need in the com- munity for a recreation center, church and meeting place for various societies including the 4-H Clubs, Vacation Bible School, community Christmas Tree as well as funerals, card parties, suppers, plays and weddings which would seem to cover most of the life of the little village. It is the hub of community life with its own orchestra much in demand and its own song written by Charles Morris and set to music by Mrs. Adin Pollard. The late Mrs. Maude Curtis acted as treasurer for over 20 years.
In 1950 there were 6 silver star members, Robert Curtis, Maude Curtis, Helen Morris, A. Beatrice Lovell, Worden Hale and Esther Hale. The Masters of the Bartonsville Grange have been S. I. Sweet, 1923-1924; H. A. Taylor, 1924-1925; Maude
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Curtis, 1926-1927; Roy Douglas, 1928-1929; John Knowlton, 1930-1931; Carroll Morris, 1932; Guy Ellison, 1933; A. Beatrice Lovell, 1934-1935; Raymond Paul, 1936; Charles Morris, 1937- 1938; Earl Griswold, 1939-1940; Helene Douglas, 1941-1942; Emerson Griswold, 1943-1944; John Edwards 1945-1946; Fred- erick Parker, 1947-1948; Melvin Hakey, 1949-1950. Five Grange members served in W. W. II and one, Carroll Morris, Jr., died in the service. In 1947 the Grange raised money for an artificial limb for a member and in 1948 constructed a picnic area at the swimming hole under the long covered bridge with brush cut, fireplaces and picnic tables. The 1950 project for the Grange was to repair the Grange Hall.
The 1957 officers of the Grange which is No. 481, are Mas- ter, Mrs. Carroll Fontaine; Overseer, Larry Snide; Lecturer, Mrs. A. Beatrice Lovell; Chaplain, Mrs. Richard Lillie; Gate- keeper, Michael Bischam; Steward, Clyde Douglas; Assistant Steward, Emerson Griswold; Treasurer, Barbara Reed; Secre- tary, Mrs. Carroll Morris; Pomona, Gloria LaCoursere; Ceres, Patricia Snide; Flora, Linda Fontaine; Lady Assistant Steward, Mrs. Emerson Griswold.
BROCKWAYS MILLS
Old residents still remember the mill at Brockways Mills that sold flour under two names-both the same kind of flour. A metal stencil was used to stamp the barrel heads with which- ever name you preferred. For many years this mill functioned on the edge of the steep gorge below the present new bridge. This was probably the most important industry which the little village ever knew and certainly one of the oldest, being built around the turn of the century. And like most mills of its day, it served a dual purpose with flour ground in one end and lumber sawed in the other. The gristmill had three runs of stones and was also, at one time, a tannery. (Windham County Gazeteer.) The lumber mill included a wood-turning shop which made chair stock, spindles, rungs and legs and which turned out all the spindles for the pews when the Rockingham Meetinghouse was renovated in 1907. In it also L. D. Parker among his other duties, made, over the years, 104 violins which were sold all over the United States and three of which his daughter, Mrs. Minnie Parkhurst, owns today, at her home in Brockways Mills where she was born and which was built in 1799. Plugs for the paper mills at Bellows Falls were also made here and loaded onto side cars nearby.
Martin R. Lawrence who ran the mill with L. D. Parker, took over the ownership in 1873 when the former owner, Daniel G. Nourse, who had owned it for 15 years, was, as some stories say, suffocated in his own flour. It was still known as Law- rence's Mills in 1901 when young Jay Lawrence worked there
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for his father and while playing with another lad, fell into the grinder and has his heel almost torn off. He became a well- known street commissioner for many years in Bellows Falls until his death in 1913 and he always walked with a limp. The old mill closed shortly before 1910 according to Mrs. Morris Glynn, when she first came there to live. The New England Power Company, like the huge spider which it has been called, acquiring control of the waterfalls and river in New England, bought the water flow which tumbled down the narrow gorge and the old building fell into disrepair and finally slipped into the chasm below, the flood of 1927 sounding its final requiem although the small wood-turning shop on the road above was in existence for some years later.
Mrs. Glynn ran a small grocery store in her home for six years until 1933 and her husband was a well-known blacksmith in his shop across the road for almost forty years. Ill health forced him to retire shortly before his death in 1949 when business had become pretty slow. Today the only stores be- long to Niza Trombley and F. Davis at their gas stations on Route 103. Brockways Mills today consists of about 20 houses and farms. Once, like Rockingham and Bartonsville, it was a flag stop on the Rutland Railroad and freight was loaded and unloaded on a siding but no train has stopped at these places for more than 25 years. In an old brochure of 1897 (Heart of the Green Mountains) put out by the Rutland Railroad which, incidentally traces its route over what was first an Indian trail, then a bridle path for white settlers, a military road, turnpike and finally stage road, is an interesting description of what was called "Trembling Chasm," near Brock- ways Mills. It is described as "one of the most beautiful spots in Vermont" where, during high water, the rock seemed to vibrate and the extraordinary bit of nature was always pointed out to the passengers on the steam cars, high above.
CAMBRIDGEPORT
A real catastrophe struck the little village of Cambridge- port when a fire, in 1930 removed, at one fell stroke, three houses, three barns, the store and post office in a $12,000 blaze. And like a similar holocaust in Rockingham, Old Town, almost twenty-five years before, few of these houses were ever rebuilt. Today Cambridgeport is the sort of placid country village to which city people are happy to retire. The only mercantile establishment belongs to John Bell and it comprises general store, post office and garage-service station. The big stone woolen mill, later a saw mill reduced from three to two stores, and once the chief industry of the town, burned down three times and finally left eyeless windows to stare vacantly from roofless stone walls, a picturesque ruin.
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But what remained of the village came near being at the bottom of a lake when, in 1936, citizens of Rockingham, Grafton and Athens voted against building a flood control dam in that area. The subject was brought up again in 1946 with an added dam at Brockways Mills and both were vigorously protested by all towns concerned. That "dam" project, as it was referred to, still raises its Hydra head from time to time as the Connecticut Valley flood control measures are debated.
The Rev. Howard A. Roberts is pastor of the Congrega- tional Church and lives in the old Cushing house with winter services held in the Athens Church which he also serves. In 1955 the Athens Church was painted, the members doing the entire job themselves. There has been no school here for more than 20 years. Raymond Cushing, who with his wife, remembers many things about the village, recollects that once the children tied up the bell rope so "curfew shall not ring tonight" -- only it was probably nine o'clock in the morning. Once, too, they say, the tongue of the old school bell in the square tower and which still hangs mutely there, fell out and clear down into the schoolroom. Probably another day when curfew did not ring. The young people of this little village of hundred people and 40 to 50 houses, seven of which are owned by Mr. Cushing, have recently started a Community Club, using the old schoolhouse as meeting place. Permission for this had to be obtained from both the towns of Rockingham and Grafton as the town line suns smack through the middle of the town and children of both communities once attended this school.
The old tavern was torn down in 1949. Built in 1814 by Simeon Evans, it had a spring dance floor which attracted many gay parties fifty years ago. Robert French runs a radio repair shop and once Lee Willard ran barn dances at his farm which is on the Grafton-Rockingham line, now owned by Francis Coburn famous for his potato fields. Alice Perham ran a gift shop at her home for many years before her death, at one time carrying on her business at Lake George in the summer. The village is noted for having had a postmaster with the longest uninter- rupted term of office in Vermont. When Solon P. Cushing retired, with W. H. Mason as his assistant on February 1, 1940 at the age of 79 after 53 years and 10 months of service, he held the longest tenure of office in the county, state and possibly nation. And he was absent from his duties only four months during the entire period part of which was unavoidable because of jury service in Brattleboro and once he fell out of a wagon and broke a couple of ribs. His family was connected with the Cambridgeport Post Office for almost a hundred years in some capacity. A spry little man, he never needed glasses and never missed a word that was said in the post office. In a rock-ribbed Republican state, he always voted Democrat, but his politics never threatened his job. He was brought up to fear the evils
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