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 4
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Solomon Barnum, from Lanesboro, Mass., settled a little north of the farm on which Deacon Stephen Barnum lived, about 1789, and died some years since in Elizabethtown, N. Y.
Amos Stanley, from Lenox, Mass., settled on the farm now owned by his widow, Anna Gardner. He accumulated a handsome prop- erty during his life ; was a consistent christian, distinguished for his benevolence ; left a handsome legacy to the Congregational So- 5
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
ciety, and as he had no children, he gave directions, on his death-bed, that, on the death of his wife, a large portion of his estate should be devoted to benevolent objects.
Nehemiah Wallace, from Pownal, Vt., settled on the farm on which Jasper Barnum now lives, as early as 1789. He sold to Jehiel Beadle, in 1814, when he left town.
Jeremialı Brown, from Long Island, settled on the south-west corner of Daniel Newton's farm about 1790, and afterward built the house in which Edward Harrington now lives, and lived there several years. He died in Benson.
Isaiah Wallace, from Pownal, settled on the farm now owned by Jasper Barnum, in 1788.
Samuel Hemenway, Esq., from Shrewsbury, Mass., came to Shoreham in 1792; settled on the farm now occupied by Edson A. Birchard. He died January 26th, 1813, aged 58 years. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace, and an influential man in town. His wife, who was much esteemed, died March 11th, 1842, in the 80th year of her age.
Abraham Lawrence, with his son Aaron Lawrence, Esq., from New Jersey, settled on Five-mile Point about 1798 ; owned a large farm; sold it in 1834 and went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they both died at an advanced age.
Allen Hunsden and John S. Hunsden, his son, from Salem, N. Y., settled on the farm upon the Lake shore, now owned by Charles Hansden, in 1800. They both died in 1833. John S. Hunsden- represented the town in the State Legislature three years.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
CHAPTER VI.
SETTLEMENT AT THE CENTER AND AT RICHVILLE - LARABEE'S POINT - WATCH POINT.
GEORGE LEONARD built the first house in the village, which was of logs, as early as the year 1786. It stood where Levi Wolcott's house now stands. About 1798, he built the framed house after- ward occupied by Rev. Mr. Beardsley and Dr. Needham, now owned by Edwin J. Severance. Mr. Leonard was a German by birth, and a soldier in Burgoyne's army. By trade he was a tailor, the only one in town for many years.
Joseph Collins built a framed house near the present residence of Mrs. Everest, in 1799. Oliver Howe built a framed house, near where Ebenezer Bush, Esq., now lives, about 1795.
Isaac Flagg built a framed house where the parsonage of the Con- gregational Society now stands, as early as 1794; Jonathan Bate- man lived in it several years. About 1818, Col. North built the parsonage-house and occupied it till he removed from town, as else- where stated, in 1831.
Joseph Miller built the large tavern-house in the village, in 1800, and sold it to T. J. Ormsbee in 1802, who occupied it as a residence and store, till 1804. It afterwards had several owners. Robert R. Hunsden owned it from 1828, and kept a public house there till his death in 1845.
William Larabee, the first physician in the village, built a house where Samuel O. Jones lives, in 1803, and sold it to T. J. Orms- bee, about 1805.
Elisha Lewis built the house in which Rev. Lathrop Birge now lives, in which he carried on his trade of saddle and harness making.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
Spaulding Russell built the house in which Ashbel Catlin lives, about 1815.
Hezekialı Beardsley built the house in which Mr. Decelles lives, in 1809, and sold it to Samuel H. Holley, Esq., in 1810, and then built the house where Levi Wolcott now lives. Ashbel Catlin built the store now occupied by Hunsden and Hall, in 1833.
Kent Wright built the brick store now owned by Edwin S. At- wood, about 1838.
Twenty-three acres, on which the Congregational and Universalist Churches and the Academy stand, were given to the Town by the Proprietors for the purposes of a common, sites for churches and other public buildings, and a burying-ground. It was cleared by Ebenezer Turrill, Esq., in 1786, at the expense of the Proprietors. A few persons were buried on it, but it soon ceased to be used for that purpose. It is a beautiful location, rising gradually from the east and west to a moderate elevation at the centre, on which the public buildings stand. Beyond these, as the ground rises to the south, a few residences are placed. At the north, the street, on which the village principally is built, extends, at a right angle with the range of public buildings, to the east, till it meets the main north and south road or turnpike through the town. A plank walk has recently been built through this street and over the public ground past the buildings referred to. Young trees have been set over the common during the present year, 1859, in addition to a few of older date which were growing there. A spirit has been manifested which gives good assurance that a spot, to which the associations of so many are destined to be attached, will not be neglected.
The occupation of the water-power at Richville, has been spoken of in a previous chapter. Thomas Rich purchased the land around the falls at the upper dams in 1785, and built a house a little east of the school house, south of the valley, and moved his family into it, in 1786: The same year he built the saw-mill.
Jacob Atwood built a log house about four rods south-west from the late Francis Atwood's dwelling house in 1788, and moved his family into it in the summer of 1789. The same year the mill- house was burned, in which he had a portion of his goods stored
UNITED STATES HOTEL, LARRABEE'S POINT, VT.
HI. S. GALE, PROPRIETOR.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
and four bushels of salt, then worth four dollars a bushel, all of which were consumed. The house took fire from the adjacent lands, which were all in flames. As all the men were at the grist and saw-mills, endeavoring to save them, no efforts were made to save the house. Two or three years after this, Jacob Atwood built a forge at the north end of the lower dam. This was soon burnt down and rebuilt. Blacksmithing was soon commenced by him in the same building. Soon after this, a large building, with four fires, was erected about four rods below, furnished with two setts of bellows, worked by water, and a trip-hammer. Russel Harrington started smithing in the same building, using two of the fires, and built a dwelling house on the side hill, north. People then came here for smith's work from Crown Point, Bridport and adjacent towns.
Nathaniel Atwood worked at smithing for Jacob, and lived in a house near the present site of Thomas Atwood's barn. There were then two other dwelling houses on the flat.
Ebenezer Markham built a nail and trip-hammer shop in 1797, on the north side of the upper dam, afterward used for clothiers' works. Two large logs were thrown across from the nail shop on the north side of the river to the saw-mill on the south side, which were used for a foot bridge for nearly twenty-years.
In 1797 a house was built by John B. Catlin, where Davis Rich's house now stands, which was soon burnt by the slacking of a quantity of lime contained in the building. About this time, Ira Hickok built a part of the house in which Clark Rich lately lived, and used it for a nail shop. The place had at this time a consider- able business : a forge, supplied with ore from Crown Point, a black- smith's shop with four fires, a nail shop and two stores for country trade. It has continued to be a resort for milling and other busi- ness in which water-power is employed, and for trade.
Samuel Beman is said to have kept a tavern in a log house at Larabee's Point. He was here, as elsewhere stated, both before and after the Revolution. Thomas Rowley also returned to his farm at this place in 1783, and lived with his son, Nathan. The place was then known as Rowley's Point. The late John S. Larabee,
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
then a young man, bought out Rowley in 1787, kept a tavern and established the ferry. He built an addition in two stories to the house, and'made it a prosperous and popular establishment. This house was burned about 1838. The brick house in which Judge Larabee lived in his later years, was built by him some years pre- viously ; the stone store and wharf in 1823. For a few years the tavern was kept in the small house opposite the old site. The ele- gant Hotel now occupied by H. S. Gale, was built by Samuel H. Holley and B. B. Brown, in 1847. The first tavern in town would seem to have been at this point ; the best early business was from the winter travel on the Lake. The first store was here in 1789, as is elsewhere noticed; goods were landed here early for in- terior places, coming in part by water. Since 1809, the steamboats of Lake Champlain have always touched here, a stage, in later years, meeting them from Middlebury. A quarry of fine, black marble has been wrought with profit. This has long been a well known point with travelers to Lake George and Ticonderoga. and is one of the most attractive andings on Lake Champlain.
Watch Point is two miles north from Larabee's Point, and has also a ferry. The building of the wharf at Watch Point, was com- meneed about 1825. A small store-house was commenced the same year, and business on a small scale was done by William S. Higley, until about 1828. The wharf was afterward enlarged, and business was done by Turrill and Walker from 1828 to 1831, and continued from 1831 to 1834 by M. W. Birchard, by whom the business of slaughtering and packing beef was commenced. John Simonds purchased the place in 1835, and by him the business of packing beef for market has been extended and continued to the present date, 1859, constituting one of the leading business enterprises of the time in the State. The steamboats have sometimes touched at Watch Point; a stage was run here for a single season. The store for trade has been continued of late years.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
CHAPTER VII.
RELATION OF TICONDEROGA TO THE SETTLEMENT - ESCAPE OF HIALL AND KELLOGG-EVENTS OF TIIE WAR.
THE position of Ticonderoga had, of course, an important rela- tion to the early settlement of Shoreham. The fort was built by the French, then the possessors of Canada, in 1756, and left by them, together with Crown Point, on their retreat before Lord Am- herst, in 1759. After the conquest of Canada by the English, which occurred in 1760, and was confirmed by treaty in 1763, gar- risons were maintained in care of both forts, which offered some ad- vantages to the settlers in procuring supplies and mechanical work, and furnished a market for some of their products. An accidental fire occurred at Crown Point about 1773, by which the magazine was exploded and other damage occasioned. The garrison there was subsequently reduced and the business associated with it dimin- ished. The visit of Major Phelps, before alluded to, in farmer's dress, shows that the terms on which the people lived with the gar- risons were familiar and friendly. The mention of Major Skene's boat, in the same narrative, suggests another idea of business and occupation in the neighborhood. The transit by the lakes was hab- itual, especially by Lake George, both for purposes of intercom- munication and trade.
The capture of Ticonderoga, as before related, occurred May 10, 1775. Command of the lake was at the same time secured by the Americans, and preparations were shortly commenced for the inva- sion of Canada. Stores were forwarded from the south to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, at both which places boats were built and collect-
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ed for the expedition. General Schuyler, as first in command, had the charge of conducting these preparations. Two thousand men were assigned to his division, of whom one thousand sailed from Crown Point, August 21st, with General Montgomery. Reinforce- ments and supplies continued afterwards to arrive. April 26th, 1776, Rev. A. R. Robbins, afterwards on missionary duty in Shore- ham, arrived at the Fort, as chaplain with the troops, having cross- ed Lake George with one hundred large batteaux in company. This gentleman accompanied his regiment, descending the St. Law- rence with the reinforcements, till met by the news of the relief of Quebec by the English fleet of war vessels, May the 4th. The re- treat was favored by the wind, which detained the English shipping, but, attended by sickness and disorder, was full of misery. The chaplain arrived at Ticonderoga at six P. M., May 23. A great force had formed in Canada, under Sir Guy Carleton. They were detained by the want of shipping on the Lake. In the meanwhile Ticonderoga became the chief point of rendezvous for the Ameri- cans. Mount Independence was occupied, the two shores being con- nected by a bridge, floating, but held by piers of wood. Lieutenant McClintock, of one of the New Hampshire regiments, writes from here July 23d, attributing the failure of the expedition to Mont- gomery's brave temerity and his neglect of the Canadians. He says thousand of bushels of grain will be lost on this lake, on account of the retreat of the army. Gen. Gates was now in the command.
General Arnold reached the fort October 15th ; General Carlton followed him to Crown Point, and alarms from scouts of the enemy were occurring daily. Though much distressed by sickness, the force of General Gates was competent in numbers to man the works of the fort, requiring from eight to twelve thousand men. General Carlton retired, however, in November down the lake, and the American force was immediately reduced. The New Hampshire officer was at the affairs of Princeton and Trenton, during the win- ter. June 14th, 1777, being returned, he writes that some in au- thority have much to answer for, for the neglect of the post ; that the people at large seem to have lost the generous spirit with which they entered upon the struggle. He writes from Stillwater, Au-
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gust 19th, "We had forts and lines requiring twelve thousand men, and had not three thousand effectives. A retreat was determined on by the general officers in council the 5th of July, and about day- break on the morning of the 6th, we began it." The troops under St. Clair must have numbered near four thousand in all, chose of General Rurgoyne, still in the best condition, exceeded seven thou- sand.
The new settlers in Shoreham did not generally retire till the ad- vance, up both shores of the lake, of the army of Burgoyne. The retreat at that time was universal, only two men of the inhabitants remaining during the following winter, and but one during the sec- ond winter subsequent. The retreat in general was sudden, also, in some cases families fleeing from instant danger, with bread half baked in their hands. Their simple valuables were sometimes bu- ried, their crops and implements and often their cattle left. As fam- ilies retired to their former homes or other places of refuge, the men, in a larger proportion than usual, may have joined the army. We have a trace of one of them, Elijah Kellogg, in the following letter of Elias Hall, late a worthy and respectable citizen of Cas- tleton, published in the Voice of Freedom, at Brandon, April 29th, 1847. Others, no doubt, belonged to that eloud of rebels, of which Burgoyne complained, which hung upon his left in the Grants of New Hampshire. The relation is simple, and illustrates the spirit with which the efforts and misfortunes of the period were met by those whose all was implicated in the strife.
CASTLETON, April 20th, 1847.
Mr. Edutrr : DEAR SIR,-You will find in Morse's Universal Geography, Vol. 1, page 504, an account of General Burgoyne's conveying a quantity of ammunition and stores, a number of can- non and a portion of his troops to the summit of Mount Defiance. You will also see that it there states that he raised them to that position by means of brass tackles, over rocks, from tree to tree, and over dens of rattle-snakes, to the summit, which commanded the works of Ticonderoga. You will also notice that this eircum- stance was in itself a justification of St. Clair's retreat, from the faet that he saved a State although he lost a post to save it. 6
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
In 1777, I was taken a prisoner at the battle in Castleton,* with my brother and Elijah Kellogg, in the month of July, the 6th day. We were taken to Ticonderoga, and confined in a barn in company with some three or four hundred others, with double sentries to guard us on the outside.
What I wish to lay before your readers is this :- I was one of those who helped to get a single cannon on to the top of that sum- mit, and this was drawn by a span of horses, instead of being hauled up by tackles, and our business was to lift at hard places. A kind of a road was made on the north-east side, instead of the south, as stated by Mr. Morse. This took place on Friday, August 10th, 1777. On Sunday, the 12th, we had to do some work, such as landing stores, hauling in boats, &c. We were allowed to go off at some distance, if we had a guard, and we accordingly went to a spot of woods. While taking this walk, we found that our guard had not got his musket loaded, and on our return, Elijah Kellogg, my brother and myself ran for the woods, and secreted ourselves as it was nearly dark. At our escape, we were loudly hailed to return. We crossed the path which led to the spot where the cannon was placed, at a distance of forty rods, I should judge. A halt was made when we arrived at the height of the land, to devise the best means of making good our escape, and we accordingly made an ar- rangement to go off the declivity and follow down the lake, until we should arrive at a certain place two miles below, where we in- tended to make a raft and cross over to Vermont. With much trouble we descended the steep, by letting ourselves down by means of bushes, and dropping from rock to rock, until we found ourselves at the bottom, by the lake shore. The windings were intricate, and attended with some danger ; yet it was a trifle when compared with . our former condition, and the prospect of escaping from bondage and of seeing our friends, were strong incentives for running many hazardous risks, saying nothing of the state of our little patriot band, who were suffering for want of our assistance. As I have stated, we had made our calculation to go down by the lake shore for some two miles and construet a raft. But fortune favored us. for we had gone but a short distance, when we found two boats lashed together and drifted ashore. We cut them apart, and with muffled oars made preparations for our escape. You might suppose no danger at-
*The affair thus spoken of, occurred between a foraging party of Burgoyne's ar- my under Captain Frasier, and some twenty Americans from a recruiting post at Castleton. On the side of the latter, a Captain Williams of Halifax, Vt., was killed, Captaln Joh Hall of Castleton, wounded; his two sons and "another man" taken prisoners. St. Clair encamped the same night on the ground of the skirmish. Lieut. Elias Hall, the writer of the letter in the text, died not long after its date at the age of ninety-four. He had an officer's pension from Covernment, and was a worthy representative of the heroic timc.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
tended us now. But the Royal George lay in the middle of the lake below us, with ample means to take us back again, or to de- stroy us at pleasure. But we silently passed down on the west side of them, under the cover of night. for half a mile below, and cross- ed over to the east side where we landed, pushed off our boat, and lay down, with no British sentries for protectors ! and slept till break of day, when we again took up our march, and arrived in Castleton a- bout eleven o'clock the same day. Ourmother was overjoyed to see us, as she had feared we should have been carried to England. Yet a sor- ry season awaited our return. The first expression of joy was hardly passed, when the sad and monrnful intelligence of our father's death gave fresh grief to our hearts. My father received a wound in the lower portion of the abdomen and died of the wound a few weeks after. My mother had all her furniture taken away, and was thus plunged from a state of comfort and plenty to want and destitution. The British drove off five cows, a yoke of oxen and same young cat- tle. About this time I became a volunteer in General Gates' army, where I remained until Burgoyne was beseiged and taken.
At the surrender of Burgoyne, I was in a manner satisfied for my loss and injury. I was standing near the staff or head-quarters, when Burgoyne, at the head of his army, rode out for a surrender ; and a noble sight it was too. I soon after went to Massachusetts and stayed until the next March, when I came home to Castleton : and long may I remember the time when I again entered the log hut which my father built, for I wept like a child. The main part of the northern army joined General Washington's troops soon af- ter. When General Burgoyne surrendered, there was but one can- non on the summit before mentioned, and had not been. I think I can bring many witnesses in regard to the possibility of conveying stores to that position on the summit of Mount Defiance. Thus far I have stated facts for your readers, as I have long thought that the statement first mentioned should be corrected by some one.
I have other information of a similar, and some of a different character, that, should it be acceptable, may be hereafter transmit- ted to your readers.
I remain, with much respect, your humble and obedient servant.
ELIAS HALL.
P. S. Elijah Kellogg was uncle to General Amos Kellogg, who died at Pittsford some time since. E. H.
After the advance of Burgoyne down the Hudson, an attempt was made for the recovery of Ticonderoga by a side movement from Manchester of reinforcements of militia under General Lincoln. The posts on LakeGeorge were taken, the commanding positions oc-
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
cupied, and the fort itself and work at Mount Independence sum - moned to surrender. General Powell, the British officer in com- mand, resisted the summons, and the Americans, without heavy can- non, were compelled to withdraw. The British finally withdrew their stores from the fort, with the retreat of St. Leger's expedition, in October, 1781, on the news of the fall of Cornwallis, yet they retaining the command of the lake with vessels of war, and a strong force in Canada, the settlement was not resumed at Shoreham till the war was over.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
CHAPTER VIII.
CIVIL HISTORY-PROCEEDINGS OF PROPRIETORS AND TOWN MEET- INGS.
THE Records of the Town afford but little matter of general in- terest, but present very fully the usual routine of business from time to time. The Proprietors' Records are more inviting to curi- osity, as exhibiting the proceedings of an earlier condition of socie- ty. Such selections have been made from both these sources of in- formation, as seemed in themselves to contain something of impor- tance or to indicate something of character.
There is no record of any meeting of the Proprietors previous to the one mentioned below :
At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Township of Shoreham, legally warned, holden in Clarendon, at the house of Elihu Smith, Esq., 28th of April, A. D., 1783, Col. Ephraim Doolittle was chosen Moderator to govern said meeting.
Voted, Thomas Rowley, Proprietors Clerk ; Voted, Mr. Daniel Hemenway, Treasurer ; Voted, Asa Hemenway, Collector of Taxes.
Voted, To allow and approve of the survey of the outlines of the town already made, and also the survey of the square of one hundred acres to each right, or share of land in the middle of the town ; the survey of said square and the lots contained therein, are hereby confirmed as the first division, being seventy-two lots of one hundred acres each, with the allowance of five acres of each lot, for the use and benefit of the town forever for highways, if needed.
Voted, To lay out to each proprietor a lot of twenty-six acres adjoining the lake shore, twenty-six rods in width north and south, and one half mile in length east and west, the Governor's right and the public rights excepted, called the second division.
Voted. That those Proprietors who have made improvements on the lake shore, shall have their twenty-six acres to cover their im-
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
provements, and no more, in equal width with the other lots for their draft in said division, in proportion to one right of twenty-six acres as above mentioned.
Voted, To lay out a third division of one hundred acres to each right or share of land in the township of Shoreham, to be laid out in parallel lines with the lines of the lots that are laid out in the first division, adjoining the lots laid out in the first division.
Voted, To lay out a fourth division of one hundred acres to each right or share of land in the township of Shoreham. to be laid out in parallel lines with the lines of the first and third divisions, and adjoining the same.
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