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 9
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Pardon King, entered the army as an artificer under Captain Jonathan Stark of New Hampshire, was in the Niagara campaign, in the battles under Brown and Scott, at the sortie of Fort Erie was wounded in the ancle by the explosion of a shell, from which he has never fully recovered; was discharged at Greenbush at the close of the war, and is now living in town at the age of 73.
Aaron Morse, entered the army for five years, was stationed at Burlington ; died in St. Lawrence County, N. Y.
David Older, was one of Captain Holley's recruits.
Francis Puan, enlisted under Captain Holley.
John Rich, went into the service for five years, and died in Green- bush, N. Y.
Samuel Rich, acted as Lieutenant under Captain Holley ; was stationed at Burlington, General Hampton commanding. Died in St. Lawrence County, N. Y.
John B. Reed, enlisted under Captain Holley, lost his left hand at the siege of Fort Erie.
Silas Rowley, enlisted for one year; fought at La Cole, and on Chateaugay river.
Lewis Smith, was one of Captain Holley's company.
Philip Smith, attained the rank of Lieutenant.
Samuel Smith, engaged for eighteen months; was killed in the battle of Bridgwater.
Amasa Snow, enlisted as sergeant, was under Wilkinson on the St. Lawrence. and in the battles of the Niagara frontier.
Eli Snow, brother of Amasa, acted as recruiting sergeant, saw no active service. He died in this town.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
Calvin Stewart, was sergeant in the light troops; in the Indian slaughter, on the Chateaugay, was wounded in the neck.
John B. Taylor, enlisted as corporal, saw much severe service, returned sick to Greenbush at the end of the war, and was honora- bly discharged.
Horace Tower was killed in the sanguinary battle of Bridgwater, and was buried in " the corn-field," as the soldiers were accus- tomed to denominate the grounds where the slain were interred.
William Wait, resided on Five Mile Point, entered the army, was at the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. During the fifty days' seige of Fort Erie by the British and Canadian forces, his head was taken off by an eighteen pound shot, while Corporal Reed was shaving him, whose left hand was cut away by the same ball. The day of his death, Wait was oppressed with a belief that some calamity awaited him, and was constantly asserting to his comrades that he should never live to visit home and the scenes of his child- hood again.
Horace Witherell, was with General Wilkinson on the St. Law- rence, and in most of the battles under Brown and Scott on the Ni- agara frontier ; returned and resided here many years before his death, which occurred in 1858.
Seymour Wolcott, was connected with the Second Regiment, Light Artillery; acted as gunner at the mouth of Otter Creek, May 14, 1814, in the repulse of the British flotilla at that point. In March, of the same year, he had directed one of the two field pieces in the affair of the Stone Mill, and remained alone to give the enemy the last gun. He served also at the Beaver Dams, Lit- tle York and the capture of Fort George. He died at Little Falls.
Most of the soldiers who entered the regular army from Shore- ham, belonged to the Eleventh Regiment, U. S. Infantry. This regiment received the highest official praise of the commanding Generals at Chippewa, Bridgewater and Fort Erie. Nothing more brilliant in military service has been knowu than this celebrated campaign, for discipline, alertness and gallantry in the field. In these brief notices, the realities of military service are brought home to the apppreciation of townsmen of another generation.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
They may recall the severe hardships of the struggle which pre- ceded, even a generation earlier, of which so few personal notices can now be supplied.
A company of volunteers from Shoreham was stationed upon the Canadian frontier, during the disturbances preceding the war, oc- casioned by the system of non-intercourse. This engagement was for six months ; a portion of the service was in gun-boats. In the spring of 1814, a sufficient number of men to form a company vol- unteered from Shoreham and Bridport as part of the force required to protect the building of the American naval vessels at Vergennes. This company was commanded by Captain Gray, of Bridport, Lieu- tenants Bosworth and Merrick, and was twice called out. Some of them were present at the affair at the mouth of Otter Creek.
The Battle of Plattsburgh connects itself with the history of all the patriotic communities of this portion of Vermont. Before the news arrived in town that the British were approaching Platts- burgh in force, General Timothy F. Chipman, then a Brigadier General in the militia of Vermont, received a letter from General McComb, commanding the United States force at Plattsburgh, so- liciting volunteers. General Chipman replied, that he should be ready at all times to start at the order of Governor Chittenden, his Commander -in Chief.
Friday, about mid-day, September 9th, 1814, two days" before the battle, the news came through the central part of the town, that the British were advancing rapidly upon Plattsburgh. Friday af- ternoon, couriers were sent out into the remote districts of the town to scatter the news and rouse the people to a sense of duty. Some left the plough in the field, where there they had been preparing for fall sowing, started Friday afternoon and traveled all night.
At this time, there were three military companies in town, one of cavalry and two of infantry, belonging to the regiment compris- ing Shoreham, Bridport and Addison. The company of horse, of which a few members belonged in Bridport, was organized in 1802, and was commanded in 1814, by Captain Nathaniel North, Ebene- zer Bush being Lieutenant. This troop started for Burlington on Saturday morning, going in citizens' dress and taking their own
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horses. General Chipman and Elisha Lewis, his aid, rode with them. There were two full companies of infantry in town, the East, commanded by Captain Halladay, the West, by Captain Samuel Hand. The two were merged into one for the expedition, Captain Hand commanding, and Captain Halladay being Lieutenant. All the men that were liable to do military duty, and many who were exempt from it, volunteered and went. But few men were left at home. In the Cutting District, Benjamin Healy, an aged man, was the only one remaining. The people were cheerful, and all engaged in assisting to prepare their friends to leave carly next morning. The women were busy getting provisions and clothes in readiness, and as the horses required were many of them unprepar- ed, the blacksmiths worked incessantly night and day to fit them for service. Friday night, there was very little sleep in Shoreham, and many anxious hearts ; before dawn, the town was all alive. The farmers went with their teams to carry the infantry and their sup- plies. The provisions taken were of the most substantial kind, be- ing chiefly pork and bread. A few of the men took equipments at home, but the majority obtained them from the United States de- posit at Vergennes.
The cavalry and infantry reached Burlington Saturday evening. Sunday morning, September 11th, there were three vessels in readi- ness to take men on board to cross to Plattsburgh. Two of them were already filled with others ; the Shoreham men, now fully sup- plied with provisions and ammunition, embarked on the third. At the same time the sound of the British long guns, as their fleet rounded Cumberland head, came booming over the placid lake. So distant as was the scene of action, the troops of Shoreham arrived too late for any part in the collision on shore. They were near enough to the engagement between the fleets to see the flashing of the guns, and when the smoke lifted, the vessels in clear view. After the firing ceased, the side of victory remained still uncertain to them, till a little sail-boat, with the stars and stripes floating, came bearing down towards them under orders from the commodore, and announced the result of the battle and directed them where
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
to land. The place was in Peru, four miles south of Plattsburgh. They passed the night in barns, but formed carly in the morning, their captain dirceting them to eat as they marched, and met the news of the British retreat a mile from Plattsburgh. They were attended into camp by a party of regulars, which had come out to escort them.
One company of nine men, from a distant part of the town, left Shoreham Monday, and went as far as Vergennes, another party of six as far as Addison, before they received reliable intelligence from the battle. The booming of cannon, fired to celebrate the victory, was heard in the town, but as no tidings had yet been received from the scene of action, those at home apprehended that the sounds came from the guns of the enemy advancing through the lake, and were in great alarm for themselves and their absent townsmen. Re- liable news came at length, and these fearful anticipations were dis- sipated. Old and young gave themselves to glad congratulations, and as rapidly as the good tidings were spread through the country by couriers, all participated in the rejoicings of those nearer the scene of victory.
On Tuesday or Wednesday, the volunteers re-crossed the lake in rough weather, and returned home in a violent rain storm. General Chipman took a severe cold on this journey, from the effects of which he suffered until his death ;* his Brigade Major, died from a similar cold, soon after reaching home. The rally from Shoreham was a patriotic one, of a whole community at the call of their coun- try, at the alarm of invasion approaching towards their homes. The town was then more populous than now, but if the spirit re- mains and all answer to the same obligation, Shoreham will never blush to recall with interest the part she took in this stirring episode of war.
*On his arrival at Plattsburgh the command of the Vermont Volunteers had been conceded to General Chipman, as due to his rank, with the army title of Colonel. Sée Biographical Sketclics.
Gen. C., Ebenezer Bush and S. H. Jenison were present at an interview with Gov. Chittenden at Burlington, in which he expressed no disposition to hinder the cross- ing of the volunteers, but that he had no authority to order the militia out of the State. This view was held by many at that period.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
The following lists embrace the names of volunteers from Shore- ham, of the different classes mentioned, so far as they have been re- covered :
SIX MONTHIS' MEN.
John Robbins, Captain, Ezra Rich, John Knox, Jeremiah Cutting,
Russell Ames,
David Cudworth,
William Reynolds, Benjamin Bissell,
Ebenezer Willson, David Dameny.
[Two brigades of volunteers were authorized by the Legislature of 1812, their terms of service to expire May 1, 1813 ; there were previously detachments of the militia stationed on the frontier. Three of the individuals above named, served on the Growler, sloop-of-war, their term of service expiring before the capture of that vessel, June 2d, 1813.]
VERGENNES VOLUNTEERS.
James Willson,
Nathaniel Willson, Jehiel Gates,
Kent Wright,
Jonathan Willson,
Nathan Ball,
Elliott Armstrong,
John Knox,
Austin Woodford,
Chauncey Armstrong,
Ebenezer Dutton, Davis Rich,
Charles Oliver,
Silas Brookins,
Samuel Robinson,
Benjamin Healey,
Dat Williams, Alexander Reynolds,
Joshua Healey,
Joseph Tame, David Reynolds,
PLATTSBURGHI VOLUNTEERS .- CAVALRY.
Nathaniel North, Captain,
Noah Jones,
Ross Barrows,
Ebenezer Bush, Lieutenant,
Asa Sunderlin, Oliver Harnden,
Asa Jones,
Waterman Sunderlin, Samuel Northrup,
Samuel Moore,
Sewall Wood,
----- Keep.
Jacob Elithorpe,
Benjamin Landers.
INFANTRY.
Samuel Hand, Captain,
Marshall Newton, Corp'l. John G. Smith,
Theo. Halladay, Ist Lieut.,
Ariel Wolcott,
Ezra Snow,
Andrew Wright. jr. 2d "
Thomas Atwood,
Benjamin Larrabee,
John Robbins, 3d “
Joseph Ball.
Gary Damon,
George Cutting, Ensign,
Joseph Tame,
Elisha Bascom,
Jacob Atwood, Sergeant,
Farrington Ramsdell, John Knox,
John King,
Luther Bateman, “
Stephen Smith,
Levi B. Harrington, “ Davis Rich,
Reuben Couk,
Charles Oliver,
Aller.Annsden, jr. Corpor'1
Samuel Culver,
Daniel Baird,
Gross Gates,
Thomas Bateman,
Joseph Atwood,
William Baily,
Gideon M. Leonard,
Jabez Knapp,
David Culworth,
Daniel Stickney,
Elliott Armstrong,
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
John Pond, Gad North,
Harvey Page,
Horace Cotton,
Ashley Cooper, Amasa Atwood,
Charles Bacon, Thomas Turner, Jonathan D. Hunter, Alanson Hunt,
Orestes Hard,
Jolın Hoyle,
Nathan Bingham,
Amos Wheeler.
Elijah Wright, Philip Reynolds, Ezra Rich,
Darius Cooper, David Reynolds, Silas Rowley,
Manoah Hunter,
William Gaylord,
Hiram Rowley ,
Truman Barnum,
Jonathan Wright,
Ebenezer Dntton,
Hiram Allen,
Daniel Fenn,
Elisha Robinson,
Joseph Hunter,
Edmund Newton,
Ansel Barber,
Aaron Wheeler,
Jeremiah Cutting,
Benjamin Tower,
David Ramsdell,
John Child,
Benjamin Healy, jr ,
Lewis Hunt,
David Ward,
Chauncy Armstrong,
James Willson,
John Chellis,
John Royce,
Erastus Mazouson,
Horace Ball,
Ashley Leonard,
Levi Landers,
Joseph Smith, 2d,
William Cooper,
Henry Halsey,
Parker Atwood.
Jeremiah S, Healey, Amasa Moses, Joseph Smith, 1st,
John Cozzens,
NEWTON ACADEMY.
UNIVERSALIST CHURCH.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
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HISTORY OF SHOREIIAM.
CHAPTER XXI.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY - MEETINGS-PLAN PROPOSED - CONGREGA- TIONAL CHURCH - MINISTERS - MEETING-HOUSES - BAPTIST CHURCHI-METHODIST CHURCH-UNIVERSALIST CHURCH-MINIS- TERS AND STATISTICS.
A considerable number of the carly settlers of this town were either officers or soldiers in the contest between the Colonies and the French and Indians in Canada, or in the war of the Revolution. This period, it is well known, was very unfavorable to the interests of religion in this country. Not only had religious principle lost much of its power over a large portion of the people of New Eng- land, but loose and skeptical sentiments became very common among the officers and soldiers in our armies. Several of those who were most active in promoting the settlement of this town, having spent considerable time in the service of the army, in those wars, had lit- tle regard to the sentiments or piety of their fathers. There were, however, a few of the early settlers who were devotedly pious men, under the influence of religion, and were disposed to favor its in- stitutions.
Before the Revolution, it does not appear that any religious meet- ings were held in this town ; but a few years after, ministers of the Congregational and Baptist denominations occasionally visited the people and preached to them. The earliest preaching of which I have any account, was by Elder Samuel Skeels, a Baptist minister. He came here about the year 1788 or 1789. He remained here about three years. He preached the sermon at the funeral of Eb- enezer Bush, Senr., in the winter of 1791. He purchased a lot of
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
land on which Eliakim Culver afterward settled, now owned by Samuel Jones. He labored to the acceptance of the people. He left this town about 1792.
After this, there was no stated preaching for some time; but the people were in the habit of assembling together on the Sabbath for worship, in private houses in the winter and in barns in the sum- mer. Deacon Stephen Cooper and Deacon Nathan Hand, who were Congregationalists, and Deacon Eli Smith, who was a Baptist, usually conducted the meetings, and led in the devotions ; and, gen- erally, a sermon was read by Thomas Rowley, Esqr., or Deacon Smith.
A few devotedly pious men were accustomed, at that early period, to meet in social religious circles in private houses, and frequently traveled several miles on foot, in the darkness of night, through the woods, to attend them. These meetings contributed much to pro- mote the interests of religion at that early period. While there was no minister, and no church had been organized, there was a season of special religious interest, in which a considerable number of persons became hopefully pious. During this period, the different religious denominations worshipped together with a commendable degree of harmony. For several years the people were favored with occasional preaching by traveling ministers. Among those who occasionally visited the town, were Elders Sawyer, Green, and Chamberlain of the Baptist denomination, and Marshall and Haynes, the black preacher, of the Congregational order.
In the year 1792, a Congregational Church was formed on what was formerly called the half-way covenant scheme, by a minister whose name cannot now be ascertained, consisting of fifteen mem- bers, seven males and eight females. This organization was never efficient, and continued but a short time. In the year 1791, the Rev. Joel West preached for some time in this town. On the 9th of January, 1792, in a Town Meeting, a motion was adopted-
" That Rev. Joel West be requested to preach in this town for the term of four Sabbaths from this date, on probation, provided a subscription be raised to his satisfaction in compensation for bis ser- vices."
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
On the 24th of January, a Town Meeting was held, and acted on the following articles in the warning :
2d. " To form a religious constitution according to the rights of Christianity, to govern such inhabitants, and if they please to give Mr. Joel West a call to settle with them as their minister. and to invite him to join them in such religious constitution or compact."
3d. "To agree on measures for his support."
4th. " To choose a committee of the inhabitants and church, or separate committees from each body, to confer on measures respect- ing uniting said bodies in one compact, and report their doings to the town and church for their acceptance, if they please."
The only action taken on these articles, at this meeting, was the appointment of a committee of six persons-" To form a Religious Constitution agreeable to the Rights of Christianity "-consisting of Ephraim Doolittle, Thomas Rowley, Josiah Pond, Thomas Bar- num, Doctor Page and James Moore. Not more than one of this number was at that time a member of any church, and the proba- bility is no one of them was. The meeting adjourned to January 31st, 1792. At the adjourned meeting held on that day, the com- mittee chosen at the previous meeting, reported the form of a Re- ligious Constitution, the design of which was to embrace all the in- habitants of the town without any distinction of religious belief. This was adopted by a vote of the town, and the remaining articles were laid over to an adjourned meeting, to be holden on the 28th of March, 1792. No further action of the town is to be found on the Records, and the presumption is, that it was impracticable to raise the money by subscription to pay Mr. West for preaching four Sab- baths on probation ; and that the different sects in town could not be brought into union in one society on common ground.
The design of those who favored this measure, doubtless was to unite all the people in one society, and thus prevent the multiplica- tion of sects, as set forth in the 9th article of the constitution, which is in the following words :
"That all the suitable means ought to be attempted, to collect all the inhabitants of this town into this society ;. but if there must, of necessity, be any other religious denomination, there shall be a standing committee of this society to treat with such denomination,
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
on measures for maintaining harmony between the societies on prin- ciples of equality."
Rev. Joel West is said to have been a Methodist minister, and a worthy man; and the attempt was made to unite the Congregation- alists and Baptists, and the people generally, in one society for his support ; a measure which, on trial, probably found little favor with any of the denominations in town, and which, therefore, was soon relinquished as impracticable.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCII.
The following extract from the Records, will show the time of its organization, and its progress for a few years while without a pas- tor :
" In March, 1794, the people were favored with the labors of Rev. Ammi R. Robbins, and Rev. Peter Starr, * Missionaries from Connecticut. On the 25th of this month, fifteen persons were added to this church, and the present Articles of Faith and Cove- nant were adopted. In 1797 there were four persons added to the church, and seven in 1793. In the latter part of the year 1802, a revival of religion commenced and continued into the year 1803. A revival also commenced in the latter part of the year 1804, and cont.nued during the whole of the year 1805."
Not long after the church was formed, Paul Menona, a native Indian, whose wife was a daughter of the celebrated Sampson Occum, preached for them two or three years, and received his support from voluntary contributions of the people. They built a house for him in the valley a little north of Penn Frost's dwelling house, where he lived some time. He is said to have possessed superior powers of native eloquence ; had a ready command of language, a sweet, melodious voice ; was sometimes agitated to tears in his ad- dresses, and more frequently drew tears from his auditors. Like many of his race, he was occasionally beguiled by the intoxicating cup; but always manifested, after undue indulgence, the deepest
*Rev, Ammi R. Robbins, of Norfolk, and Rev. Peter Starr, of Warren, were Pas- tors in those towns respectively, in Litchfield County, Connecticut, for more than fifty years. They were brothers-in-law, the latter the father of the late Hon. Peter Starr, of Middlebury.
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
contrition, and was thought by all classes to have been a sincere christian.
He went from this place to the vicinity of Lake George, where he resided and continued to preach many years, and there he closed his life, which was generally regarded as in the main upriglit, notwith- standing the few instances of aberration alluded to.
The church was occasionally favored with the preaching of Mar- shall, Haynes and Bushnell, previous to the year 1800, and after that time, at intervals, by missionaries from Connecticut. When without a pastor, they uniformly met together for public worship on the Sabbath. From 1795 to 1800, they generally hold their meetings in the log school house near the dwelling house of the late Andrew Birchard.
Rev. Evans Beardsley was ordained first Pastor of this church, December 26th, 1805, and was dismissed May 9th, 1809. At the time of his settlement, the church numbered sixty members. Du- ring his ministry seventeen persons were added to the church. As a preacher, he was said to have been sound in the faith, but dry and metaphysical in the manner in which he handled his subjects. His usefulness, he thought, had become impaired by a disaffection which had sprung up between him and his people, in consequence of which he requested the church to unite with him in calling an ecclesiastical council for the purpose of dissolving the pastoral re- lation. After patiently examining the allegations of both parties. the council found nothing to criminate the character of the pastor, and expressing their unanimous opinion that he had given no just cause of disaffection with his people, they gave him honorable tes- timonia's as a minister "in whose labors any people might be hap- py." After his dismissal, he preached several years in the western part of the State of New York, were he died.
In the autumn of the year 1809, Rev. Samuel Cheever was em- ployed to preach, and continued his labors until 1812. At the time of his coming, there was much alienation of feeling existing among the members of the church, which appeared to many to por- tend a permanent division, and to peril its very existence. In the
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HISTORY OF SHOREHAM.
latter part of the month of November, or the fore part of Decem- ber, 1809, a meeting of the church was held, when there was, to the surprise of every one, the most manifest tokens of the pres- ence of the spirit of God in their midst. Every mind was deeply solemnized, in view of the omnipresence of that Being who searches the heart, and by a personal sense of guilt. Instead of complaints and criminations against each other, as had been witnessed in their meetings for months before, each one began to confess his sing and ask forgiveness of his brethren. The whole season was spent in humble confessions, mingled with many tears that fell from al- most every eye, and ere the meeting was closed, the church felt it to be their duty to make a public confession in the congregation on the ensuing Sabbath. When assembled in the house of God on that day, the members of the church presented themselves in a body in the broad aisle, and a confession was read by Mr. Cheever, to which the assent of the church was given. The effect on the congregation was electrical. Many were deeply convicted of sin, on that day. Soon after, evening lectures were appointed, and numerously at- tended, in private dwellings in different parts of the town, several times during the week. The meetings were thronged, and the minds of nearly all who were present were deeply solemnized, and the cases of conviction and conversion were numerous through the winter and ensuing summer. Mr. Cheever has been described by many of the older people as a fluent, animated, pungent preacher, whose discourses, always delivered extempore, were peculiarly adapted to awaken the thoughtless, and convince the sinner, and lead him to the Saviour. The revival of religion under his labors was the most extensive of any with which the town had be fore been favored, and in its influence over the religious interests of the town, the most important one which has ever occurred. It was remark- able not only on account of the numbers hopefully converted, but for the unusual proportion of heads of families, and persons of standing and influence, who were subjects of the work. On the 4th of February, 1810, sixty-one persons were added to the church, and March 26th, the same year, forty-six, and before the close of the year eight more, making an addition to the church in 1810 of one
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