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 31
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The first club was started in Ohio in 1902, in Vermont in 1910 and in Windham County in 1914. They were called simply "clubs" of the extension service at first and in 1916 the "clubs" had 1,350 members under E. L. Ingalls. Bruce Buchanan started work in this county on May 4, 1927. He did a splendid job and was beloved by young and old. His
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death in 1953 after 26 years of service to his young people, was a shock to the whole state. For several years Vermont has sent 4-H delegates to Europe to live with farm families there, surely a gesture towards world peace. This venture is financed by the State Foundation in Burlington.
These clubs include both boys and girls under their respec- tive leaders and are designed to teach the girls home and creative arts from clothes designing and gardening to block printing. The boys raise calves and rabbits, learn about soil and tractors and such unrelated arts as woodworking. The pledge of the 4-H'ers is "Head, Heart, Hands and Health," and the success of their clubs proves their allegiance to their motto. Many groups have done outstanding work both in town and country due to the energy and interest of the leaders as well as the young people. Among these is the Bartonsville Covered Bridge Club of both boys and girls led by Mrs. Worden Hale who, although crippled, had, in 1952, three state winners in two years in her club and one boy and girl won the coveted Washington trip. One girl went to Chicago to represent Vermont in the National 4-H Congress. In 1956 Mrs. Hale was a member of the Execu- tive Committee of the Vermont 4-H Foundation. The record of this club is one of the best in the state, according to Mr. Buchanan who added that "a list of the honors and achievements would fill a page." Members of this active group have also attended National Camp and seven went to Camp Vail at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Mass. In 1956 Mrs. Hale also received a Pearl Clover for 15 years of service and Mrs. Mowry Hawks of Bellows Falls the Award of the Clover with four other leaders in Windham County. The Bartonsville Club was started in 1934 as The Three B's under Mrs. Reginald Wheelock.
The Bellows Falls Club started in 1941 with the Happy Helpers under Mrs. Eleanor Brown. It lasted four years and the first achievement program in Bellows Falls was held at the home of Clarence Bodine that first year where the first standard 4-H Club in that village received its charter. It came to life again, after a short lapse, in 1948 as the Mt. Kilbourne Club under Ann Hawks. Miss Hawks was in the work for 9 years and in 1951 was chosenone of 3 delegates to attend the Congress in Chicago. She was also junior leader of her club for four years. From 1944 to 1945, Mrs. Ellen Parkhurst led 14 members of the Brockway Hustlers at Brockways Mills. The Jolly Juniors in Cambridgeport opened in 1927 under Mrs. Mildred Cushing with Pauline Smith assistant and lasted ten years, an outstand- ing club winning many honors. In 1934 the girls became the C. K. Club under Mrs. Donald Bell. The boys were known as the Hot Shots at the same time under Clarence Walker and Harold Taylor.
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In Rockingham the clubs have had a checkered career. The Pleasant Valley Club for boys organized, under Frank Weeden in 1924, lasted 3 years after which they became the El Circle Jardin with Ellen Abbott for a year, with five boys. In 1939 the America Club was formed with Natt Divoll, Jr. The girls also organized in 1920 as the Happy Co-Workers with 14 members under Mrs. N. L. Divoll. They received the standard club charter that year, the first awarded in Windham County. In 1926 the leader was Mrs. M. F. Downing; in 1927- 1928, Mrs. J. B. Abbott and in 1929 Mrs. Charles Keefe. Then as now, this was another outstanding club of high achievement and leadership. Then for some years there was a lack of club work in Rockingham but in 1949 the Red Clover Club of girls organized under Mrs. Adrian Belisle, Mrs. Natalie Cole in 1951 and Mrs. Morton Downing and Mrs. Francis Bolles in 1952- 1953. In 1956 Mrs. Bolles was a member of the state 4-H Club Leadership Committee. In 1951 the Old Town group of boys met with Mrs. Verne Adams, leader, followed by Mrs. Mildred King and was designated as "a very promising club."
The first club in Saxtons River was the Forest Rangers started in 1927 and which existed for 10 years. Leaders were George Marshall, Austin Fordham, Justin Clayton, Kenneth Beebe, Frank Beals, Joe Barnes. This village had a plethora of clubs over the years which came and went as did those in other parts of town. In 1926 the Home Workers organized at Kurn Hattin under Mrs. Bertha Shaw, "a very fine club" for four years. In 1927 there was the Busy Bee Cooking Club which ran for two years under Mrs. Albert Clark and Mrs. Valeria Hall. The same year the boys became known as the Farm and Garden Club and kept together until 1945. Their leaders were Charles LeClair, Karl Worcester, Gardner Stearns, Justin Clay- ton, Lawrence Leonard and Norman Wright. In 1928 another "outstanding" club was the Good Will Club under Mrs. D. N. Stearns, Mrs. R. F. Cole and Mrs. Melvin Noyes. Nine years was the extent of this club's life. In 1933, for two years, the Happy Bluebirds made another try under Helen Beals, Mrs. Valeria Hall and Marjorie Beals. Contemporaneous with this was the Natachee Club under Mrs. E. L. Rumney. These were followed by the Nimble Fingers under Mrs. F. S. Morri- son. In 1945 the Willing Workers under Mrs. Eunice Bishop, another "very good club" came into being. The Evergreen Girls' Club under Mrs. Ardis Stevens and Mrs. Thelma Mark organ- ized in 1952 together with the Evergreen Boys' Club with Fred- erick Rogers. In November of 1927 the annual Round Up was held in Saxtons River, under Mr. Ingalls, state club leader. The idea was then just four years old, introduced by Miss Pearl Berry, county club agent and was later adopted by all Vermont counties. Between 1920 and 1953 there was a total of 30 clubs
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in the town of Rockingham and in 1953 there were 9 active clubs.
HOME DEMONSTRATION GROUPS OF ROCKINGHAM
Although Home Demonstration work is not restricted to farm women, today most of its work, like that of the 4-H Clubs, is carried on in the smaller communities with fewer clubs and organizations. It, too, is part of the program of Agriculture and is intended to aid the women of the United States to gain useful and practical information to help with home, family and community life. It is state-wide and nation-wide and began in Addison County in Vermont with Miss Emma Fuller as the first agent, who later became Mrs. Bruce Buchanan. The southern part of the state had been working on this idea since 1915 when the Farm Bureau, which started in 1911, decided that if two counties could raise $300 each, an agent could divide her time between them. The idea was enthusiastically taken up by the Bellows Falls Woman's Club and the Windham County Farm Bureau voted $100 if the women would raise the balance to pay an agent.
The first "Home Dem" agent in this county was Miss Lucy Swift who came on duty in 1917 and the first directors in the town were Mrs. N. L. Divoll, Old Town; Mrs. A. M. Richards of Bellows Falls; Mrs. W. J. Wright of Saxtons River and Mrs. N. W. Wyman of Cambridgeport. W. W. I brought the work into sharp focus with awards for food preservation, objectives in all lines being to secure better living at lower cost. This was accomplished by demonstrations in canning, dressmaking homemade fireless cookers (one was kept on display in Brattle- boro) and the use of both whole and skim milk in the home. Those early days which were also war days were concentrated, too, on such subjects as wheat substitutes including potato and rice flour, child diets, welfare clinics, canning kitchens, fruit butters and school lunches. In 1917 with stepped-up projects due to war activity, two agents were hired under the Emergency Act for this work and at one time there were 81 canning centers and over 5,200 mattresses made by state groups. However, five years after the work was started, funds were withdrawn for some reason and the number of agents were cut down. Yet by 1921 women were enthusiastically making dress forms from gummed paper, molded to their own forms, under Miss Lydia Potter of the Extension Service and in 1930 Miss Fuller, then a specialist in Home Economics at UVM, was campaigning among the groups of the state for better kitchens. When we remember what many farm kitchens were 25 years ago, she must have had a problem on her hands. And along with kitchens, there was an upheaval in cooking methods at one time when women were told to "bury the frying pan 20 feet deep in the pasture," that
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fried foods three times a day could wreck havoc with digestions.
Home Demonstration was officially organized in Windham County on November 21, 1928 and included Bellows Falls, Old Town and Saxtons River. Today Cambridgeport, Bartons- ville and the Neighborhood Group on the Saxtons River Road are included in Rockingham. Each spring it celebrates its annual week with displays in the shop windows. In 1919 this included a parade with 2,000 marchers, marking also the end of W. W. I. Bellows Falls has been without a Home Demonstra- tion Group from time to time but soon after 1930 an active group met in the Woman's Club rooms. A new group here was or- ganized in 1956. Until centralization removed the district schools, much of the work of the different groups revolved around their needs such as hot lunches and dental clinics and they al- ways work for the good of their community. A list of the Windham County Home Demonstration Agents is as follows: Miss Ruth Gurney 1929-1930
Miss Elizabeth Ricker
1930-1937
Miss Helen Buttrick
1937-1940
Miss Harriet J. Anderson
1940
Miss Virginia F. Roy
1940-May 31, 1942
Miss Frances Clark
1942-1945
Miss Charlotte Beatty
1945-1948
Miss Muriel McKee
1948-July 31, 1950
Mrs. Ethel R. May
Nov. 1, 1950-June 30, 1955
Mrs. Rosetta S. Pyle
Mrs. Ruth D. Hertzberg
July 1, 1955-Aug. 18, 1956 Aug. 20, 1956-
Presidents of Rockingham Groups for 1957 are Bellows Falls, Mrs. Harold Wyman; Bartonsville, Mrs. Robert Luther; Saxtons River, Mrs. R. M. Stevens; Saxtons River Road Neigh- borhood Group, Mrs. Linwood Moore; Rockingham, Old Town, Mrs. Warren Skelton.
SAXTONS RIVER
Saxtons River became an incorporated village in 1905 with Dr. Frederick Osgood elected the first moderator, a position which he has held ever since. George Alexander was clerk who served in that capacity until his death in 1949. At the end of the first year Cecil K. Hughes was elected treasurer and he also has held that post ever since. One of the first objectives of the corporation was the installation of street lights and in 1919 the village had the prestige of being the only town or village corporation in the state which was free of debt. At that meet- ing, Frederick J. Blake was re-elected first trustee which carried with it the complimentary title of "Mayor." The following trustees were elected: John Snow, F. B. Locke, David Stearns and A. C. Campbell. Auditors were Fred L. Simonds and F. S. Fuller. Present trustees are Bernard Clark, Lawrence Moore, Kenneth Morrison, Fred Brown and Robert Campbell.
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The same year that Saxtons River went in for dial phones, 1949, it also completed the renovation of its new community house and held the first annual village meeting in its own hall since they were incorporated. This was the second floor of the right half of the building which once housed the ticket, freight office and waiting room of the trolley line and which was raised to make room for a fire station below. About 1935 the P.T.A. had opened a public library in the waiting room. The fire department, organized from volunteers a number of years be- fore, christened the new station by holding the second meeting of the Twin State Fireman's Mutual Aid Assn. there which included the villages of Grafton, Putney, Saxtons River and Bellows Falls. In 1955 Ludlow was added to the association. Adequate fire protection was argued as far back as 1929 but not until October, 1954, after having been voted down several times, did the village finally vote 135-59, for a new pumper, which would give a minimum of 500 gallons a minute to conform to regulations for membership in the association. Fire chief today. is Earl Osgood.
When the old covered bridge in the center of the village was razed in '49 and the new concrete one erected, a picturesque bit of the past disappeared. Much painted by artists, the portraits of this old bridge are all that remain of an old landmark, dear to many generations. Among local artists who have made valuable reproductions of the old bridge are George Mark and Dean Lake, both of Saxtons River.
The Old South Meetinghouse built in 1843 for the Baptists and Universalists and noted for its beautiful architecture, was called the Seminary Building in 1866 when it reverted to educa- tion. Since 1915 and the new school in the village, it has been used by various concerns and organizations such as the Outing Club, Sons of Union Veterans and by the Catholic people until their new church was built. A garage and secondhand shop have further lowered its morale but its spire still points to heaven. Most of the old industries have gone. The Saxtons River Woolen Mill, once known as the Saxtons River Worsted Co., probably had more ups and downs than a cat has lives. Func- tioning as far back as 1836, it went into receivership in 1924 when it was owned by John Roberts of Claremont, N. H. and James Walsh of Saxtons River who bought it about 1918 from the Horan estate. Previous to that it was owned by Thomas Kelly. After more reverses it started up again in 1928 at capa- city production with ten new looms and Walter Glynn as presi- dent who was also president of the National Bank at Bellows Falls. The mill employed 60 hands and planned on 28 looms. In 1930 it was operating on a small scale under George W. Overend. In 1934 it was purchased from the National Bank by a New York man who used about 40 hands and made uphol- stery for Ford cars. But the next year the employees walked
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out because of overdue wages, returning when officials agreed to pay weekly wages regularly and 10% of back wages until caught up. Eventually it became idle again and again went into receivership. The machinery was moved to other mills and the old mill burned in 1939 never to be rebuilt. Of the two wool pulleries once flourishing, both are gone; one is now_a storehouse and the other a tenement building.
The wood-turning mill on the "middle falls" now owned and operated by William Frey, has a long and interesting history. More than a century ago it was a sawmill run by Ransome Farnsworth. Later it became a wheelwright or carriage shop known as the Kilburn and Jotham Whitcomb mill. It was bought in 1913 by C. O. Stone who was a ladder maker from Gardner, Mass. and who carried on his business for awhile then turned it into a wood-turning shop purchased in 1928 by Wil- liam Frey, Sr. Ten years later it was taken over by his son, William Frey, Jr., a machinist in Springfield, Vt. In 1943 he began to devote his entire time to managing and operating the mill. At various times in its career the old mill has been used as church, bowling alley and once as the village jail. At one time there was a wood-turning mill just off Main Street, operated by Rugg and Williams. Among the stories still passed from tongue to tongue is one concerning the Frey mill when it belonged to Mr. Farnsworth who ran it both as a cider and saw mill-the former at the appropriate season. He lived next door to the mill and dug a tunnel connecting his home with his place of business. The tunnel soon proved to be the most lucrative part of the mill for in its center was located a still which turned out a brand of cider brandy for which there was much local demand. Mr. Farnsworth complained that he couldn't do much business in Cambridgeport because they already had three stills! This method of catering to his neighbors' thirst was evidently illegal and while many people noticed mysterious vapors rising from the ground near the mill, they were openly winked at. But one day Mr. Corlew protested loudly that his last batch of brandy was not up to standard and he made quite a fuss about it, so much so that the owner became frightened and closed up his brandy business very suddenly. Years later both entrances to the tunnel were found.
The sawmill owned by Claude Tenney since about 1944, has been there for many years also. With the help of Arthur Thompson of Saxtons River and his sister Mrs. Bessie Smith of Worcester, Mass. an interesting picture can be drawn of the old mills and their operation. Henry A. Thompson left Graf- ton with his family in 1892 and with his brother-in-law Sidney A. Whipple, founded the firm of Whipple & Thompson, a grist and saw mill as were most of the early mills, there being an urgent need for both of their products. They also operated another sawmill south of the covered bridge for many years
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where Henry Knight also had a wood-turning shop, another customary arrangement. Following the entrance of Lew Thompson into the firm with his father and after Mr. Whipple's death, the firm became Thompson & Thompson. The elder member of the firm lived to be 93, dying in 1938 and his son carried on the business, dying in 1948. Today only in a replica of the old grist mills, reconstructed to relive the past for those few who remember and to explain another way of life to those who never knew, can we visualize the miller at his work. In the Thompson mill, the first miller was a man by the name of Dutton who lives by the bridge on Pleasant Street and when he died, Leon "Gramp" Davis took his place, remaining at the mill until Mr. Tenney bought the business. Old millstones are a curiosity today, more than five feet in diameter and nine or ten inches thick with a hole in the top stone where the grain was poured in to be ground between the two great stones. When these became smooth they must be laboriously "picked" or roughened again by hand for this was the age of hand work from beginning to end. The Thompson sawmill operated at full speed in the spring when the water was high and the logs drawn in by horses and oxen during the fall and winter. By June flashboards had to be put on the dam to hold the diminishing supply of water. Finished lumber went through the siding machine and 30 years ago matched pine brought about $35.00 per M. Today (and the knottier the better) it retails as high as $250.00. The Thompson mill is a good picture of an era.
In 1917 F. S. Fuller purchased the basket factory of Ed- wards & Oakes on River Street which was producing the finest split baskets in New England when it burned three years later. Today there are also lumber mills owned and operated by George Lanou, Robert Benson, Willis & Dunn and Percy Cutts.
For a number of years a dry goods and grocery business was operated under the name of Farr & Hughes. In 1919 it was sold to Harry and Roland Simonds and became known as Simonds Bros. Today it is the Simonds Bros. Cash Store, a grocery concern with both brothers, Philip and Guy having been in the business for many years. In April, 1946, the new firm of Moore & Clark took over the plumbing and bottle gas business which was operated for over 40 years by F. S. Fuller & Co. The new partners, two returned veterans, rented quar- ters in the Saxwin building and were joined by Lester Moore, father of one of the partners, and who was with Bodine & Sons plumbing concern for many years in Bellows Falls. Today this is one of the most modern plumbing and sheet metalworking establishments in this area. Clark later opened his own plumb- ing business on Main St. as well as a new housing project on Westminster Street on the old Outing Club field with twelve lots for sale. Many new homes have sprung up here with an
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artesian well supplying water and new roads laid out, giving a prosperous look to the village.
In 1945 the F. S. Fuller store was purchased by Harry Adams and David Stearns, just 40 years after Mr. Fuller and F. L. Simonds had bought the hardware business of F. B. Locke and changed the firm name to Fuller & Simonds. Mr. Simonds later sold his interest to Frank Wright who, in turn, was bought out by Mr. Fuller. Stanley Adams and Stearns had been the active partners since 1913 and carried on alone after Mr. Fuller's death in 1944. Present owner is Mr. Adams, Stearns now running his own plumbing business.
The Saxtons River Locker Plant, privately owned by the Saxwin Locker Co., opened in August of 1945 as one of the in- dustries of the Saxwin building purchased from John Alexander by Humphrey Neill in January of that year. It was managed by the Saxwin Valley Products Co., Inc., members of which were Elisha Camp, Humphrey B. Neill and Emmons Cobb. It closed about 1950.
O'Connor's garage was once L. F. White's blacksmith shop. John Snow and William Carey were also "village smiths" and in 1912 Clough and Davis were in the same business. The local livery stable was owned at one time by Fred and D. J. Bemis and the last such business was run by Bert Simonds. In 1910 the old soapstone business which operated for 75 years at the Smith quarries in Grafton, the manufacturing being done in Cambridgeport by Butterfield & Smith, went under the hammer. The sale took place in front of the Vermont Soapstone Corp. of Saxtons River where, at a sheriff's sale, the machinery was disposed of. Soapstone slabs and blocks were sold at the mill and quarry. The first soapstone sink turned out by this firm and used in Saxtons River, was installed in the home of Mrs. Patrick Harty.
In the Bellows Falls Times of November 28, 1918, was a letter pertaining to the old wooden clocks manufactured in Saxtons River about 1840. It was written from Cambridge- port and said that one Deacon Charles Walker there was "the possessor of a clock made in 1849 by Jason R. Rawson in Sax- tons River on the place now owned by Milton Barry on Pleas- sant Street. The first owner (of the clock) was George Walker of Grafton, father of Charles and was remembered by him to be first used in his boyhood home. It now keeps good time and although the machinery is of wood, seems likely to be good for 80 years' more service." One of these old wooden clocks from Saxtons River is now in the office of the town clerk in Bellows Falls but its hands have not moved for many years.
In 1909 the Vermont Fruit Co, opposite Barber Park, manufacturing cider vinegar and soft drinks, was taken over by A. C. Campbell and John Piddock, brothers-in-law, from the estate of Dr. Daniel Campbell, grandfather of Campbell
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Mr. Campbell ran the mill for 18 years until his death in 1927. Piddock died in 1924. The mill was sold to John Knowlton of: the Saxtons River Road and Frank Snow of Bartonsville and it was planned to move it to the latter village. However, fire swept it suddenly but it was rebuilt in 1928 in its new location where it was known as the Vermont Vinegar Corp. or, more popularly, "the vinegar factory." This was operated until March 4, 1931 when flames consumed it again at a loss of $40,000 and it was never rebuilt removing what was probably the last industry from Bartonsville.
Thirty years ago Saxtons River had its own moving pic- tures every Wednesday at 8:15 in the I.O.O.F. Hall, admission 10 and 20 cents. There was always dancing afterward until midnight at 5 cents a figure, with music by Mandigo's three- piece orchestra. Saxtons River has had its own band for many years and about 50 years ago a bandstand stood near where Christ Church is today. Consisting of about 25 men, former leaders were E. P. Taft, George Mark and Ned Pierce. Present leader is Dan Millette.
Among eating places which have flourished were Barrett's Lunch, Jack's place run by Jack Bryant, the Buccaneer, the Sandwich Shop and Dodge's Do-Nut Shop. Present eating places are Effie Gaynon's restaurant in the Frost block and the Cannon Restaurant run by Mrs. Hermon Weston in her home. A variety store and newsstand was run by Oscar Gammell for several years in the brick store. Purchased by Jed Vancor, it was moved into Osgood's Barber Shop and to the stock was added soft drinks and ice cream which the present owner, Mr. Beals, carries today. Osgood's Barber Shop was once owned by Guy Austin who still does some barbering at his shop on Maple Street were he refinishes furniture. In 1950 A. M. Kelton opened a cinder block garage on Upper Main Street for the Kelton Transportation Co. and the building also houses hardware supplies. Furgat's Garage was once Benton's Garage and years ago, the site of Taft's Photography Studio. Dean Lake carries on his Red Barn Studio in the cellar of his home since his studio burned in 1956. The new publishing firm of Major L. L. B. Angas, Inc. which prints the Angas Digests is in the Saxwin building as well as the publishing firm of Hum- phrey Neill. Vermont Treen Ware, making a woodenware product by George Van Schaick, is located in the old Frey mill.
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