USA > Vermont > Addison County > Shoreham > History of the town of Shoreham, Vermont, from the date of its charter, October 8th, 1761, to the present time > Part 18
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The Court House having so high a room for the sessions of the Courts, having been much racked by the removal, and being other- wise out of repair, was found to be not only inconvenient, but so cold that it could not be kept comfortable in the cold weather in winter, when most of the Courts were held ; and for that reason the Supreme Court held its sessions, for several winters, at the public houses. The County Court therefore, in the year 1829, ordered SAMUEL SWIFT the Clerk, and SEYMOUR SELLICK the Sheriff, to divide the building into two stories. The Agents accomplished this purpose during that season, finishing the upper story for the ses- sions of the Courts, with one room adjoining for a consultation room, and three rooms below for Jury rooms and other uses, in the style in which it still remains. When finished, the Court Room was said to be the best room for the purpose in the State. The expense of the alteration was $1250,11. The town of Middlebury paid toward this expense $250, in consideration that they were to have the use of the large room in the lower story for a town room, and a sub-
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
scription was made by the citizens to the amount of $113,50. The balance was paid from the funds of the County, received for licen- ses, without any tax, and a large share was advanced by the clerk in anticipation of future receipts.
In the year 1844 the belfry and roof were found to need repair, and other parts of the exterior were regarded nearly as offensive, on account of its style, as the interior had been; and the court or- dered the clerk to make the requisite repairs and alterations. This was accomplished the same season at an expense of $822,70, of which the town paid $137. The balance was paid from the County funds, as in the case of former alterations. By means of these al- terations nothing remains of the first Court House but the frame.
In the meantime the stone jail built in 1811 was found, like the old one, unsafe and entirely uncomfortable and oppressive to pris- oners confined in it, and not in accordance with the philanthropic views, which prevailed; and it had been many times indieted by the grand jury. The legislature, in October 1844 therefore granted a tax of six cents on a dollar of the lists of the several towns in the County except the city of Vergennes, for the purpose of erecting & new jail, provided the inhabitants of Middlebury would, before the first day of February 1845, procure conveyed to the County of Ad- dison a suitable piece of land, to the acceptance of SILAS H. JENI- SON, HARVEY MUNSILL and SILAS POND, and appointed SAMUEL SWIFT and AUSTIN JOHNSON Agents, to superintend the erection. The lot now occupied for that purpose was purchased and paid for by the citizens of Middlebury, and accepted by the above mentioned commissioners. The agents believing that, as the population and business of the County should increase, and a more speedy commu- nication by rail roads should be opened, the number of criminals would increase ; and desiring to erect a prison, which would be ad- equate to such an emergency, and not require to be soon replaced, adopted a plan larger than present circumstances required. They accordingly erected a large brick building, the front of which was designed for the residence of the Sheriff's family, with an office for the sheriff. Through this room is the only communication with the prison from the outside. The prison is in the rear of the build-
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
ing, in which are twelve cells for securing each prisoner by himself in the night, six in the lower and six in the upper range, with a large, well lighted and ventilated room in front of them, for the occupation of the prisoners in the day time. The prisoners in this room are, at all times, subject to inspection, by means of a grated opening, from the rooms occupied by the family. By the same means the least disturbance or noise, by night as well as by day, may be heard. The expense of the cells was much larger than was anticipated. The iron work alone cost about $1500 ; and slabs of strong stone were purchased and hauled from Brandon, for the floors, caps and sides of the cells, from six to eight inches thick, and of the size of the length, width and height of the cells. When the legislature as- sembled in October 1846, the tax had been expended, the agents were largely in debt and the jail not completed. Application was therefore made for a further tax. The representatives from the County, to whom the application is by law referred, consented to another tax of five cents on a dollar,-wholly inadequate for the purpose,-on condition that the town or village or citizens of Mid- dlebury would give a bond to the satisfaction of the judges of the County Court, to secure the payment of all the debts, and the com- pletion of the Jail, and by the act, RUFUS WAINWRIGHT was ap- pointed an additional agent. To him the other agents committed the whole management of the business. A subscription was raised among the citizens, the debts were paid and the prison completed, but the plan was not carried out to its full extent. The whole ex- pense was about $8000. After the completion of this building, the old stone jail house was sold to Mr. OLIVER WELLINGTON, who, after great alterations and at great expense, has since occupied it as a dwelling house.
From the year 1787 to the year 1825, the County Court consis- ted of a chief judge, and two assistant judges, appointed expressly to those offices, and was independent of the Supreme Court. In November 1824, the Legislature passed an act reorganizing the Supreme and County Courts, and providing, that the Supreme Court should consist of a chief judge, and three assistant judges, and that the County Court, "from and after the third Thursday of Oc-
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
tober then next," should consist of a chief judge, who should be one of the judges of the Supreme Court, for each circuit, and two as- sistant judges, appointed as before required by law. And the State was for that purpose divided into four circuits. The number of Judges of the Supreme Courts and of the circuits was afterwards increased to five. To the County Courts, by this act was given "original and exclusive jurisdiction of all original civil actions, except such as are cognizable before Justices of the Peace," "and appellate jurisdiction of all causes civil and criminal appealable to such Court," and " original jurisdiction of all prosecutions for crim- inal offences, except such as are by law made cognizable by justices of the peace ;" and in such cases the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court extended only to questions of law, arising out of the trial in the County Court. The clerk. to be appointed by the County Court, was to be also clerk of the Supreme Court.
At the session in October 1849, the Legislature made a further alteration in the organization of the judiciary system. The act passed at that session provided, that the State should be divided into four judicial circuits, and that one circuit judge should be appointed for each circuit, and these judges were constituted chief judges of the County Court in each County, and chancellors in their re- spective circuits. These were distinct from the Judges of the Supreme Court, and, with the two assistant judges, constituted the County Court. The first circuit was composed of the Counties of Bennington, Rutland and Addison.
The Legislature at their session in October 1857, repealed the law last mentioned, and provided that the Supreme Court shall con- sist of one chief judge and five assistant judges. These judges are constituted chief judges of the County Court and Chancel- lors in the several Counties ; and for this purpose it is made the duty of the Supreme Court to assign one of the judges to each County. This act substantially restores the system adopted in 1824.
By the first constitution of the State, adopted in 1777, it was provided " that the General Assembly when legally formed, shall appoint times and places for County elections, and at such times and places the freemen in each County respectively, shall have the
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
liberty of choosing the judges of the Inferior Court, or Court of Common Pleas, Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace and Judges of Pro- bate, commissioned by the Governor and Council, during good be- havior, removable.by the General Assembly upon proof of malad- ministration." By the amended constitution, adopted by the con- vention in 1786, it was provided, that the above mentioned officers should be annually elected by the General Assembly, " in conjunc- tion with the council." And they continued to be thus elected, until the amendment of the constitution adopted in 1850. Until this time no provision was made in the constitution for the election of a state's attorney or high bailiff. An act passed in February 1779, provided " that in each County there shall be one State's Attorney, and that they be appointed by the respective County Courts." Col. SETH STORRS, then residing in Addison, was ap- pointed by the Court in 1787, the first State's Attorney of Addison County. Afterwards the State's Attorney, as well as the High Bailiff, was appointed in the same manner as other officers.
At the time of the election of the Council of Censors in 1848, the evils of the then existing mode of electing County Officers by the legislature, had become more and more apparent for several years, and had come to be condemned generally by the people. The nomination, according to practice. being made by the County mem- bers had become a subject of trafic between the parties interested, and was subjected to an influence, which could not be made to bear upon the mass of the people. It also occasioned much delay of the appropriate business of the Legislature. Accordingly the conven- tion, which was held in 1850. in pursuance of the recommendation of the Council of Censors, adopted the amendment now in force. This provides, that the assistant judges of the County Court, Sheriff's, High Bailiff's and State's Attorneys, shall be elected by the freemen of the Counties, the Judges of Probate by the freemen of their respective districts, and Justices of the Peace by the freemen of the several towns. The votes are to be given at the freemen's meeting on the first Tuesday of September, to be sent to the next session of the Legislature, and there canvassed by a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. The officers chosen
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY:
are commissioned by the Governor, and hold their offices for one year from the first day of December following.
By an act of the legislature in February 1787, the County of Addison was constituted a Probate District, and Probate Courts were established in it, and until the year 1824, the whole constitu- ted but one Probate District. The Legislature, at their October session in that year, divided the County into two Districts, by the names of Addison and New Haven. The District of New Haven embraces the towns of Addison, Panton, Vergennes, Waltham, New Haven, Bristol, Lincoln, Starksborough, Monkton and Ferrisburgh. The remainder of the County constitutes the District of Addison .*
# Seo .Appendix No. 1. for list of County Cificers.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
CHAPTER III.
INDIANS-INDIAN RELICS.
IN what we have to say of the Indians, the original inhabitants of the County of Addison, it is not our purpose to enter into any learned dissertation on their character, customs or history. Such treatises may be found elsewhere. We regard it as belonging to our province to speak only of their residence in the County, and of their depredations so far only as they affect the County and its set- tlement, and that not in detail. It is but a very short time since we commenced any inquiries on the subject. But from the accounts · we have obtained, during our short examination, we find satisfactory evidence, in the Indian relics found in different towns, that the County of Addison was the established residence of a large popula- tion of Indians, and had been for an indefinite period. The borders of Lake Champlain, Otter Creek, Lemon Fair and other streams, furnished a convenient location for that purpose .*
Previous to the discovery of Lake Champlain, in 1609, the Iroquois, or Five Nations, which together formed a powerful Indian tribe, claimed and occupied an extensive country south of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the River St. Lawrence, and extending to and including Lake Champlain and Western Vermont, and previously had been undoubtedly settled in this County. It is supposed by many, that their settlement extended as far north as the River Sorel, which forms the outlet of Lake Champlain, and that the
* In a conversation, which PHILIP BATTELL, Esq., had. several years ago, with an intelligent Indian woman, she stated that the Indian names of all the streams and waters in this region were familiarly known among the Indians, and that the old Indian, who died at Bristol, as mentioned elsewhere, could have given the names. She said the name of Otter Creek, was Wunageequ'tuc, which the French called La Riviere aux Loutres, both which mean The River of Otters. The name of Lake Dunmore, she said, was Moosalamoo, Salmon Trout Lake.
5
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
river was called the Iroquois for that reason, and Champlain so rep- resents it. But others suppose, that it was called by that name, because it came from the country of the Iroquois. When SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN, the French leader, came up the lake on his tour of discovery, in 1609, the Iroquois had withdrawn from the islands in the north part of the lake, which now constitute the County of Grand Isle, and which the Indians, with Champlain, represented, had been inhabited by them. He says, in his account of this excur- sion : " I saw four beautiful islands, ten, twelve and fifteen leagues in length, formerly inhabited, as well as the Iroquois River, by Indians, but abandoned, since they have been at war, the one with the other." "They retire from the rivers as far as possible, deep into the country, in order not to be soon discovered.". And again he says, "Continuing our route along the west side of the lake, I saw, on the east side, very high mountains capped with snow. I asked the Indians, if those parts were inhabited. They answered, yes ; and that they were Iroquois, and that there were in those parts . beautiful vallies, and fields fertile in corn, as good as I had ever eaten in the country." In anticipation of this expedition, CHAM- PLAIN, had entered into a treaty with the Algonquins, who dwelt along the north bank of the St. Lawrence, between Quebec and Montreal, in which " they promised to assist the stranger, in his attempt to traverse the country of the Iroquois, on condition, that he should aid them in a war against that fierce people ;" and he and the two Frenchmen with him, came armed for the conflict, with muskets. The Indians described the place, where they expected to meet their enemies, and they, as well as the French in Canada, spoke of this as the country of the Iroquois. On the border of the lake, near Crown Point,* as they expected, they met a war party
* Historians generally represent that this battle took place at Lake George. The editor of the Documentary History of New York, says in a note, " The reference in Champlam's map locates this engagement between Lake George and Crown Point, probably in what is now the town of Ticonderoga, Essex County " We find no authority, in Champlain's account for either of these opinions. He says they met their enemies, " at a point of a cape, which jets into the lake on the west side." We know of no other point, which better answers the description than the
.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
of the Iroquois, who defied them. But, when CHAMPLAIN, at a single fire of his arquebus, killed two chiefs and mortally wounded another, and another Frenchman fired from another quarter, they fled in alarm, at the new and unheard of weapons of war, and were defeated.
Previous to this, incessant wars were carried on between the Al- gonquins, aided by the Hurons, a powerful tribe, occupying an extensive country in Canada, extending as far west as the lake from which they derived their name, on one side, and the Iroquois on the other. For many years subsequently, the latter had no aid from European Colonies or European arms. When the Dutch had pos- session of New York, they were too much engaged in commerce, and traffic with the Indians, to take part in their wars. But the wars still continued with great fury, between the French colonists and Indians, and the Iroquois unaided and without fire arms. The latter were particularly hostile to the French, because they had fur- · nished their enemies with their new and deadly weapons. After the English in 1664, obtained possession of New York, they enlisted in the wars, which were still continued between the French colo- nists and their Indians on the north, and the English colonies and their Indians on the south, until the conquest of Canada in 1760. The Iroquois still claimed this territory, and their claim was ac- knowledged by the government of New York. But it does not appear, that after the discovery of the lake and their retreat on that occasion, they ever had any permanent settlement here. The Mohawks and the other confederate tribes seem to have occupied the
eape, which runs up between the lake and Bulwaggy Bay, at Crown Point. Hon. JOHN W. STRONG, thinks the place of this battle was " on Sandy Point, being the extreme north-western terminus of Crown Point, and the entrance of Bulwaggy Bay." In one of his numbers in the Vergennes Citizen on " Local History," after describing the place as such " as would be chosen by the Indians for defence," and giving other reasons for his belief, he says : " The writer, in passing this place, several years ago, was surprised at the number of arrow heads, that lay on the shore and in the water, and on examining closely he found several pistol and mus. ket balls, two French military buttons, a copper coin of the fifteenth century and two clumsey musket flints."
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
region of the Mohawk River, and the territory south of Lakes Erie and Ontario .*
In the mean time, Lake Champlain and its neighborhood was a thoroughfare, through which the hostile parties made their excur- sions in their alternate depredations on each other. In the latter part of the 17th century and the fore part of the 18th, many of these incursions took place. In 1689, while the French and Indi- ans were making fruitless arrangements to invade the settlements in New York, at Albany, and its neighborhood, the Iroquois fitted out an expedition, invaded Canada, plundered and burnt Montreal and destroyed other settlements in the neighborhood. The next year, 1690, the French and Indians fitted out two expeditions. One pro- ceeded into New Hampshire, destroyed the fort at Salmon Falls, killed many of the inhabitants and took many prisoners ; the other proceeded by the way of Lake Champlain, attacked and burnt Sche- nectady, and killed and captured many of the inhabitants. In 1691, the English and Iroquois made an excursion into Canada, through the lake, and made a successful attack on the settlements on the River Richelieu, and killed many of the settlers. In 1695, the French and Indians invaded the territory of the Iroquois, and, after several battles, in which the latter were aided by the English, under Col. SCHUYLER, they were driven back. In 1704, the Eng- lish settlements on Connecticut River, having extended as far as Deerfield, the French and Indians, coming up the lake to the mouth of Onion River, and following up that river, invaded and destroyed that place, and killed and took captive many of the inhabitants.
In the meantime the English had come to the conclusion, that there would be no security from the ravages of the Indians, but by
* It is universally admitted, that the Iroquis claimed the whole of this territory. We think also that their claim extended, along the River Richelieu, as far as the St Lawrence, and that they had a permanent residence here. No history pretends that any other tribe settled here. But it is not improbable, that on account of the wars, which had for some time been carried on between them and the Algonquins, they had been induced to remove their residence further from the neighborhood of their enemies, at least, from the borders of the lake, before CHAMPLAIN's discovery of it. They had at least left the islands at the north part of the lake before that, and CHAMPLAIN's party did not meet any enemy until they reached Crown Point.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
conquering the French, as well as the savages. In 1709 and sev- eral following years, attempts were made, through the lake, to in- vade and conquer Canada. And while the English and French gor- ernments were at peace, for some years previous to 1725, wars were still carried on by the Indians, aided occasionally by the English and French colonies. In 1746, while the French were in posses- sion of Crown Point, an expedition from that place was fitted out by the French and Indians, who captured Fort Hoosick, which be- fore that had been built at Williamstown, Massachusetts, near the southwest corner of Vermont.
During all these expeditions and until the French were driven from Crown Point in 1759, this territory, including the whole of Western Vermont, was exposed to the depredations of the Indians, and settlements in it were wholly unsafe. Even the proprietors of Bennington, who had obtained a charter in 1749, did not venture to commence a settlement of that town until 1761, after the conquest of Canada.
In the short time, in which our attention has been directed to the subject, we have collected such information as we have been able, respecting the Indian relies found in the County, as the best evi- dence of the extent of Indian settlements. Our inquiries have not extended to all parts of the County. They have generally been made of those farmers and others, whom we have incidentally met. And now the printers threaten to trend upon our heels, and we are compelled to stop our inquiries. But such facts as we have obtained, we present below, and we trust the reader will find in them satis- factory evidence, that the Indians once had a permanent settlement here. But the permanent settlement, we think, must have eloscd with the discovery of Lake Champlain, by the French leader, SAM- UEL CHAMPLAIN, two hundred and fifty years ago, and the manu- facture of the implements we describe, of course ended then. There may have been a temporary residence of some tribes, while the French had possession of Crown Point, or during the Revolu- tionary war, while the British had the control of the lake. But we have, we think, the testimony of history, that after the Iroquois were first overcome off by the fire arms, which were used by CHAM-
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
PLAIN and his Frenehmen, they never returned to occupy this region by a permanent settlement. Besides, after the Indians were fur- nished by Europeans with fire-arms and other needed implements, they had no occasion to manufacture them.
The main object of our inquries has been to find evidence of the extent of Indian settlements in the County. But, if our time had permitted, we might have presented some other views of the subject. The want of time also has prevented our giving illustrations of some of the less common manufactures, as we intended. The following are the results of our inguries, and the sources of our information :
Professor HALL, in his account of Middlebury, in 1820, states that on the farm in the south part of the town, on which Judge PAINTER first settled, now owned by WILLIAM F. GOODRICH, on an alluvial traet, near Middlebury River,-and his statement is con- firmed to us by Mr. GOODRICH,-" are found numerous articles of Indian manufacture, such as arrows, hammers, &e., some being of flint, others of jasper. A pot, composed of sand and clay, of curious workmanship, and holding about twenty quarts, has recently been dug up here nearly entire."
ALMON W. PINNEY, states, that in an old channel of the same river, on the old SMALLEY farm, and not far from the same place, the water had washed away the bank and uneovered parts of a broken " camp-kettle," as he called it, holding about a pailful and a half, of the same material as the above, curiously ornamented by - flowers or leaves wrought on the sides. There were also found there half a bushel of perfect and imperfect arrow heads, one of which was four inches long.
ENOCH DEWEY, states, that on his farm, in Middlebury, on which his father was an early settler, two miles southeast from the village, and west of his house, on dry land near a brook between the hills, he has ploughed up on two separate spots, ehippings, or fragments of stone, obviously made in manufacturing arrow heads and other implements, together with a bushel or more of perfect and imperfect arrow heads all of grey flint.
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