USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Springfield > History of the town of Springfield, Vermont : with a genealogical record > Part 4
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John Mark, an eccentric character, built a rough stone house on the brook west of the Bragg place about 1845. He also put up a frame for a shop and built a dam. The building was soon after washed away by a freshet.
James Martin, whose widow married a Gaylord, kept tavern at the Gaylord place in 1793. Ashbel Wells was in trade in the Wells & Newell store in 1791, and Joseph Selden a little later. Michael Lincoln & Co. were in trade here in 1802, and they moved to the Common in that year, into the Goodrich house, which stood near the site of the present hearse house. This was the beginning of mercantile business in the village.
In 1801 there were thirty-three taxpayers in Eureka. Five
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
families lived on the brow of the hill south of the place now owned by C. Horace Hubbard.
There was a potash on what is now called the Nichols place, on the east side of the road near the brook.
The territory skirting the eastern slope of Rattlesnake Hill, so called, where now (1894) there is only the family of Mrs .. Achsa Grow, was once a thickly settled and prosperous commu- nity. The road up the hill northerly from the house of John R. Gill in Spencer Hollow, formerly passed by Mrs. Grow's on into Weathersfield by the place of Albert Sargent. This road was discontinued when the present road from Eureka Schoolhouse to the Bow was built, but in early times a good number of families lived on it, the houses having disappeared years ago.
WELLS & NEWELL'S STORE, EUREKA.
One of the noted buildings in the early settlement of this town in the vicinity of the Crown Point Road was Wells & Newell's store. It stood on the corner, south of the Dr. Hubbard place, nearly opposite the old burying ground, and had a frontage of forty feet and a depth of twenty-four feet, two stories high, and finished with the best of pine lumber. The upper story was used as a dwelling, except two corner rooms. That in the northeast corner, with windows eighteen inches square, was the jail, and that in the southwest corner was the court room. The building was well lighted in front by a row of four windows above and below, and the winding stairway was nearly in the middle of the house. The lower floor was the store, a rendezvous for chat and gossip scarcely second to the tavern itself. That this building was well put together is shown by the fact that, when torn down, there were taken from it three hundred pounds of hand-wrought spikes and two hundred pounds of small nails for boarding purposes. Near the top of the stairway in this building was a concealed vault, neatly closed by a sliding panel, the screws of which were deftly hidden with a covering of putty. Mr. James Whitney, when assisting in taking down the building, was requested to shove up the mysterious panel and find what it was so cleverly hiding. After much effort the panel was moved and a recess
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
revealed in which were found eight dollars in pewter money and as much more of genuine coin. When the plaster was removed, appearances indicated that rats had destroyed quite an amount of counterfeit paper money. A perfect sample of this was about four inches long and two in width, one side being blank and the face having upon it the denomination, " two dollars," and a picture of an Indian standing erect in his canoe as it passed rapidly down a swift stream, which to the initiated might imply that this cur- rency must be rapidly passed along. Through Mr. Whitney one of these bills has been presented to the Boston Museum, and is perhaps the only one that can be found at the present day.
In 1847 as Elijah and James Whitney were building a wall in their east lot they had occasion to move a stone so heavy that it required six men to turn it over. When this was done, however, there was found beneath it an oblong space bricked up, making a vault about two feet by eighteen inches, in which was a stamping outfit for making pewter money, but water and time had so corroded the moulds that they crumbled at the touch. Money was made in these moulds from 1788 to the War of 1812, and, although it is a dense shadow to throw upon any body of men, it is said that the soldiers were allowed, as a circulating medium, as many pieces of this counterfeit money as they had rounds of ammunition. One of the counterfeiters was called Bolton, and was a witch-hazel rod diviner. It is said that he was shut up or hid himself in a cave, near his house, which was connected with this bogus-money manu- facture, and was found dead when they opened it to let him out; but a more probable supposition is that he took himself off to regions unknown.
PARKER HILL AND HARDSCRABBLE.
After Sartwell's Hill and Eureka, the next settlement was on Parker Hill, about four miles south of the present village. It took its name from Lieut. Isaac Parker, who settled here about 1790. The name in early days only applied to the little hamlet of a dozen houses or so on the top of the hill, but it has since been given to a larger area in that part of the town. This settlement was on the county road, so called, from Rockingham through
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
Springfield and Weathersfield over the hills to Windsor, which, next to the Crown Point Road, was the most important highway in this section. Parker Hill became quite a business place before anything was built at the village, or Lockwood's Falls, as then called. There were two taverns, a store, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, and a shop for making sleighs. Leonard Walker was the first blacksmith. He afterward had a store and also kept tavern in the house where Leon Cutler now lives. It is supposed that the first Masonic meetings in town were held in this hall. Leonard Parker also kept tavern. Leonard Reed carried on the shoe business, and Gilbert Evans also had a store after Leonard Walker. The Universalist Society held the first meetings here, the meeting-house being used for schools also. Russell Streeter was the minister and schoolmaster, and also worked at the shoe business. William Thayer had a shoe shop and tannery between Parker Hill and Hardscrabble. Martin Snell, Russell Streeter, Sherebiah White, and Peter White all worked in Thayer's shoe shop. Later Charles Holt and George Putnam made sleighs at Parker Hill. The Harlows had a brickyard here quite early, and it is not certain at which of four places bricks were first made, whether here, in Spencer Hollow near Levi R. White's, on the brook. in the vicinity of the town farm, or at North Springfield. The house on the McIntyre place, where Silas Cutler now lives, was built by Ebenezer Fletcher. He also built the barn, which was the highest barn in town and has since been lowered. A man named Lockwood was killed at the raising of this barn.
Hardscrabble also became quite a settlement not long after that of Parker Hill. Phinehas White kept tavern where Henry Burr lives. Benjamin Britton had a store in Hardscrabble, and also Isaac Reed, soon after 1800. Bartlett Damon had a blacksmith shop there, and Simeon Damon made chairs. Daniel Thompson, brother of Aaron L., was a blacksmith in Hardscrabble. There was also a gristmill, and Elias Damon had a sawmill near Allen Woodward's.
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WEST HILL.
Soon after the Lockwoods settled at the falls, where the village now stands, settlers began to locate westward on the hill, in what
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
was at one time school district No. 11. Joseph Messenger, who came to the falls in 1785, located in the northwest corner of the district. Daniel Howe came in 1778, and settled on the top of the hill. Benjamin Aldrich came in 1786. Israel Taylor, Smith Holman, Silas Bemis, Paul Clark, and Riley Gilkey were early settlers in this part of the town. Silas Bemis lived on the farm since owned by the late J. M. Fullam. Asa Langsford once lived in a house not far from that of Daniel Howe, which was afterward owned by Isaac Howe, son of Daniel. Isaac Howe, who is now (1894) living at the age of ninety-two, says that the Langs- ford house was gone before his remembrance, and that he knows of at least forty house sites, between the Chester road and the road to Scrabble, where there were houses in early days. Rev. George E. Lewis says there are six farms in what was the eleventh school district that now have no buildings on them. Seth Wood- ward settled in the western part of this district in 1786, and Josiah Litchfield in 1788.
Benjamin Lewis came here in 1808. He and Josiah Litchfield built the road which leads from where the schoolhouse stood down to the Chester road. The people of this section knew the value of good schools and of churches, and sustained them. (See sketch of Reformed Methodist Church.) The schoolhouse, which stood between the Fullam place and that owned now by U. G. Nourse, was built in 1812. Ranie Finney taught school in an old house on the Fowler place, afterward owned by Horace H. Howe. Simon House lived on the farm now owned by Lyman Whitcomb. David House also lived in this district. Jedediah and Samuel Ward were twins, and lived in a log-house east of Daniel Howe's, on land afterwards owned by Quaker Field. Hale Sartwell and Eleazer Sartwell once lived on this hill, but moved over to the Tower Hill.
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. THE FALLS .
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
SPRINGFIELD VILLAGE.
IN early days the brook entered the river near what is now William H. Wheeler's store. The land on the east side of the river, the present site of Main Street and its buildings, from the Methodist Church nearly all the way to Albert Brown's residence, was a swamp; the banks above were full of springs. It was a most uninviting place for the location of a village. Great pine and hemlock trees cast their dense shade over the river, which rolled in power and grandeur, unobstructed by the hand of man, spanned only by the arch of glowing colors formed in its spray by the setting sun. Here William Lockwood, who came to town in 1774, locating on the Seymour Lockwood farm, and bought land west of the falls, recognized the natural facilities for business, and with his stalwart sons constructed a dam on the west branch as it was called, near the toy-shop dam, and built a sawmill. This was in 1774. A little later they built a bridge over the falls by fell- ing tall trees across the chasm for stringers. The date of the building of this bridge can only be approximated by the record of 1796, when it was voted to condemn Lockwood's bridge, and build a new one. William Lockwood then lived opposite the James Lovell place, once called the Esquire Wood place. Wil- liam Griffith built the first frame house in the village in 1791. It stood on the river bank near the Kimball blacksmith shop, and was carried away in the freshet of 1869. He also built, about the same time, a fulling mill on the island, near the Graham wheelwright shop. In 1797 Col. Jonathan Williams bought Griffith's fulling mill and operated it. In 1800 he built the hotel, and in 1803 a hat shop where Leland's Block now stands. Amasa Houghton built the trip-hammer shop on the west side of the
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
river, just above the island, and built a dam on the rocks to turn the water into the west branch. His house stood where the Parks & Woolson machine shop is. It is said that he contrived a little device for running Mrs. Houghton's spinning-wheel by water power. He was a man of great ingenuity. Dr. Hastings, of Charlestown, said : " He can make anything. I intend to have him make my garden seeds. It might trouble him to put the fuzz on the carrot seeds, but I think he would do it."
In 1798 Jesse Langsford had bought land of the estate of Col. Levi Hall, and with his brother built a house and chair shop. It stood in the garden of the George W. Porter place, just above the John C. Holmes house. His chairs were famous, some of them being in common use up to this day. Later he sold out and moved to what was afterwards the Father Smiley farm.
At the beginning of this century the Lockwoods had cut down many of the trees on the west side of the river; but most of the village site on the east side was a dense forest. A quarter of a cen- tury later the great stumps were referred to in deeds as lot corners.
Samuel M. Lewis had put up a shop on the east side of the river, now Wheeler's store. Lester Fling and Lewis & Seymour, in 1795, put up a gristmill, where Cobb & Derby's mill stands, and a little house for the miller, near the fountain. Samuel M. Lewis built a house where F. G. Ellison's house is, which was, after many years, cut in two and moved up the brook, being the Jackman house and the Proctor house. Mr. Lewis's office and woodshed were on the site of the Washburn Block. A small log- house stood where the hotel is. These were the only improve- ments made in Main Street previous to 1800. There were no roads where the village now stands, only bridle paths where freight was sometimes carried on drags or ox sleds. Henry Lockwood's house near the sawmill, Jesse Langsford's, Amasa Houghton's, and Elisha Brown's on Seminary Hill were the only houses in the village on the west side of the river. The population of the town at this time was 2,032.
Col. Jonathan Williams had built in 1795 what was so many years the Crain house, on the site of Adna Brown's house, and sold it to Peter Nourse, a tailor. This house was moved to a spot
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
opposite R. L. Lovell's house, where it now stands. Thomas Stoughton, a harness maker, lived in a little log-house just below the Common Schoolhouse. Here were born Henry and Edward Stoughton, noted lawyers. Horatio G. Hawkins, a carpenter, lived in a log-house on the Common. Michael Lincoln, who kept store in Eureka in 1800, kept store in the Goodrich house, near the hearse house, on the Common. A little later he was at Brad- ford Harlow's, and had a potash and distillery with Samuel Lock- wood. Asahel Draper, who had formerly lived in Eureka, had a blacksmith shop on the Common, and lived on land of David Reed's now owned by B. F. Dana, near Miss Grace Chipman's house. David Darrah kept tavern in Wales's Tavern, now Sparrow's Block, as early as 1802. Daniel Houghton bought the shop that is now Wheeler's store, dammed the brook, and made spinning-wheels. In 1804 John F. and Daniel Brooks built the Brooks store on the site of Woolson's Block, since moved up the Brook Road, and occupied as a store by M. W. Newton. Daniel built the James Martin' house, and a potash and black- smith shop near by. In 1805 Francis Goodhue, Elliot Lynde, and Daniel Rice had a store on the Common, near the hearse house.
When the meeting-house was located on the Common, Lester Fling bought land of William Bragg just north of the site of the contemplated meeting-house, and almost under the eaves of the sanctuary, on which to build a tavern, having a license to sell liquor. The people remonstrated against this, and requested the town authorities to arrange with Mr. Fling and Mr. Bragg for another building lot for a tavern farther away from the meeting- house. Failing to accomplish this, they made an exchange with Mr. Fling, deeding him a building lot just south, or a little east of south, of the present site of Walker Newton's house, on the west side of the Common, where Mr. Fling built the first tavern in the village in 1795. A public house was kept here for many years. William Bragg lived in Henry H. Mason's tenement house, north of the cemetery, now occupied by Henry Leonard.
In 1796 Dea. Joseph Selden, who had kept a store on Hubbard's corner, opposite the cemetery, in Eureka, since 1791, bought land north of the Common, and, in 1798, land between Hiland Bou-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
telle's house and the covered bridge and extending to the river. Mr. Boutelle's house was built by Elliot Lynde in 1802. It was for many years owned by Selden Cook, and earlier was the home of Vice-President Morton in his boyhood.
The first sexton was Benjamin Clark, who lived at the corner of the cemetery, where the Cady house was. His wife led the singing at the old church with Col. Jonathan Williams.
In 1800 or thereabouts a house was built north of the Pingry Block, near the river, where Daniel Houghton lived. In 1807 James Whipple and Elliot Lynde bought of Daniel Houghton the Wheeler store, which Lewis & Seymour had built for a shop, and traded there three years. Then Mr. Whipple bought the B. F. Dana land of Phineas Reed, and built a house. He also bought a building, which had been used as a lawyer's office, in the angle in front of Hiland Boutelle's house. He lived here for a short time, and then moved it to a point near Miss Grace Chip- man's house, and there opened a store.
Up to 1812 there was no road where Main Street is below the falls bridge. The travel from Charlestown turned north at the west end of Cheshire bridge, passed Col. John Barrett's house, and followed the Crown Point Road to the tavern on the Chase farm, now H. M. Arms's place ; thence it passed by the Stoddard Tower and Dea. Bates's farms to the village. The travel from Bellows Falls came through Rockingham Centre, striking the county road near the Stoddard farm, then on to the hill road above Scrabble, and, going by the Jerry Wood place and John Hall's, passed to Elisha Brown's on Seminary Hill, then by Brad- ford Harlow's, and, swinging round the north brow of the hill, came down a little west of A. M. Allbe's and the Messer place into the present road.
The need of more direct and easy communication was urgent. A survey of a road up Black River from Cheshire bridge had been made the year before. The influence of Isaac Fisher, Samuel M. Lewis, and other public-spirited men carried the project to suc- cess, and the road was built as far as Weathersfield and Chester lines. It is said to have cost the town sixteen hundred dollars, a large sum for those days, and that Abraham, Timothy, and Oliver
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
Putnam took the job. The bridges were already built. The one below Morris's Mills, not far north of the present Nathan White bridge, was built by Isaac Fisher, and was called the Fisher bridge. Some parts of the road, especially that known as Gill's dugway, above Morris's Mills, and that section along the banks of the river above the village, involved great labor. Many farmers turned out with their help and teams, giving their labor in addi- tion to their share of the tax.
With the building of the cotton factory, by Isaac Fisher, in 1811, of the woollen and cotton factory by Col. Williams in 1812, and the opening of the new road from Cheshire bridge to the falls of Springfield Village, the manufacturing industry of Springfield, which has since gained such comely proportions, giving prosperity to the town, and sending the products of its inventive genius and its skill to all parts of the world, may be said to have had its birth.
Eli Haskins carried on the tanning business in 1800, near the Coleman Haskins place. Stephen Morse started a tannery at the cab-shop site in 1807. In 1813 he sold it to Levi Carlisle. Later it was owned by David Brown, his son William T., and Albert Brown. In 1850 the yard was given up. Eli Ames had a tan- yard near Gilman & Townsend's in 1820, and William Thayer one on Parker Hill the same year. Abel Page ran a tanyard in the hollow west of Charles Johnson's (the W. S. Lovell place) in 1827, which was continued by Joshua Davis and by Thomas Brown. Fred Barnard had a tanyard at the North Village in 1839.
Early in the century, Isaac Fisher had a machine shop where the present cotton mill stands. This was burned in 1831. In 1817, Don Lovell carried on carding and cloth dressing in the gristmill. In 1819 he erected the present woollen mill, where he continued custom work and the manufacture of cloths until 1836, when he sold out to the Village Falls Manufacturing Company. Noah Safford had a foundry, which was afterwards burned, near where Graham's shop is. On the corner, in what is now Slack's shoddy mill, was John Holmes's lead-pipe factory, with Horace E. Hawkins's furniture shop in the upper story. North of the
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
bridge, where Sanders's furniture shop was, and Barney's marble works are, was a blacksmith shop in 1812, owned by Luke Parsons, and later, a sandpaper shop run by Daniel Adams, Hiram Spaf- ford, and Vespasian Messenger. Still farther north was a linseed- oil mill. Across the road were the cotton mill and F. A. Porter's card factory. Hiram Hawkins and Smith K. Randall made shoe pegs, in 1835, near where Gilman's shop now is. The business was run later by Isaac G. and Ira Davis, by Alpheus Batchelder who moved it to Graham's shop, and by John and John C. Holmes, who moved it to White River Junction. Asahel Draper had one of the first blacksmith shops in Eureka, if not the first. Later he had one on the Common. Arthur Field had a shop on the brook where he made hoes, and George Kimball had one on Main Street. Noah Safford made straw cutters opposite his house below the Whitmore house.
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VIEW OF SPRINGFIELD VILLAGE.
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
NORTH SPRINGFIELD.
WRITTEN BY MRS. LOUISA GRISWOLD FIELD. *
I OFTEN think, as I call to mind the exertions our early friends made, shall we be willing to do as they did ? To take upon our- selves the responsibility of so great labor for the good of our com- munity, without recompense ? Their church, schools, and library were mostly, if not wholly, supported by subscription. They had no church land, or town to assist in building their churches, or taxes on their farms to pay for the support of the minister. No, even the graveyard was owned by the community, each man buy- ing his own lot. These things made them self-reliant ; and if any improvement was suggested, if approved, they had only to see if they could afford it.
The Freewill Baptists settled a minister quite early (Elder Place, who lived and died here), holding meetings wliere most convenient, sometimes in their houses and sometimes in barns. Richard Lee and Elder Rolph (or Rolf) used to preach, also many itinerant preachers. After the schoolhouse (which stood on the spot where the Baptist Meeting-House now stands, and burned about 1813) was built, they held meetings there. After a time Oliver Cook, Daniel Bacon, and others built a meeting-house, which was called the Christian Church. It stood many years, and was burned by an incendiary. The Baptists built a house of wor- ship, with the assistance of other denominations, in 1815 on the hill. A portion of 'it now stands, and is owned by Mr. Chedel. Walking in some Sabbath, one could see on the right side of the broad aisle the pew of the Freewill Baptist deacon, and west of
* This article was written in the years 1881, 1882, and 1883. It was finished in 1883, when Mrs. Field was in her seventy-sixth year.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
that the pew of the future Congregationalist deacon. At the head of the west aisle was the pew of a stanch Universalist; while the two corner pews were occupied by a Baptist and Congregation- alist. It was like this all over the house. Each pew was filled with a goodly number of old and young. For some years there were no means of heating the house, as stoves were not then in use, not even in dwellings, but one was sure of a cheerful fire and seats, where all could warm themselves, and the old ladies could renew the fire in the little pans in their foot-stoves, at Dr. Webster's. . His doors were always kept open for the accommo- dation of the church-goers. As he usually led the singing, the work of keeping the house so comfortable must have fallen to the lot of Mrs. Webster. In after years stoves were put in. One thing we have to be ashamed of, Dr. Webster has no stone to mark his grave. He did not die with us, but was brought here and buried by the side of his wives.
Next to Dr. Webster's was Obadiah Streeter's shoe shop and house, where Romanzo Weightman now lives. I will next speak of the house recently taken down, occupied at an early day by Capt. Redfield. In this house the library was kept. Books were taken out every Saturday. In the barn the summer school was kept by Miss Belknap, after our first schoolhouse was burned. As every village has its haunted house, so this was supposed to be haunted. Large numbers went there to hear the groans, etc. The casings were torn away, but no satisfactory causes for the strange noises could be found.
I will now commence at Kendrick's Corners. Davis Griswold's cider mill was built when the settlers raised apples more than sufficient to supply their tables. It was quite a large building, finished off at the top to store the apples. Sometimes in summer, meetings were held there. It was a kind of landmark, being one mile from the bridge over Black River when the road was used between the Farnham and Swift houses. The next house (Purdy Haywood's) was built by Russell Lockwood about 1828. Next was Charles Wescott's. He was an early settler from Rhode Is- land, a very decided man. It is said of him that he was wild in his youth. At one time when he and his companions were hav-
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