USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Springfield > History of the town of Springfield, Vermont : with a genealogical record > Part 6
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56
HISTORY OF THE TOWN
But those hard times passed away, and better times came. Their hardships made then strong, self-reliant, and able to meet the stern realities of life. The settlers were mostly from Rhode Island and Connecticut. Those from Rhode Island were Demo- crats ; those from Connecticut, Federalists. Freemen's meeting was generally a very stormy gathering. The Democrats were, perhaps, a little the stronger ; yet Gen. Morris, Col. Barrett, Dr. Cobb, and Esquire Lewis were Federalists. This lasted until after the War of 1812, when the party feeling gradually lessened. It was at this time that the epidemic, spotted and lung fever, which swept over Perkinsville, visited this place, but with less severity, although in some families several died, and some heads of families were taken. About eighty died in this town, and forty in Perkinsville district. But soon the comforts of life began to appear, and grim want took its departure. We will take a peep into some of those early homes. The good housewife has her web of tow cloth woven, and is ready to make the summer pants for the men and boys, When she sews she may as well have a visit with her neighbor, so she puts on her clean checked apron and starts off. The hours pass quickly and pleasantly, and, as teatime approaches, the lady of the house gets her spider, draws out some coals and puts the spider on them. Then she proceeds to make the shortcake. She takes her cream, then lard, and, perhaps, a lump of hard embers with boiling water poured on and strained, then moulds and puts it in the spider. After baking for a time she turns it up towards the fire, and bakes it until done. It was usually made of wheat or barley. This with a cup of tea constituted the supper. Very little cake was used. Pound and election cake were made at long intervals. They hired their gingerbread made. The receipt was known to only a few. It was a delicious article, and was sold on all public occasions. Supper was usually of bread and milk, or pudding with cold boiled dish, or beans, or whatever was left of the mid-day meal. The Rhode Island women were excellent brown bread makers, and their various dishes made from corn meal were truly surprising. Their toast with cream gravy was made by wetting the Indian meal with milk, a little soda and salt were used. Then a little of the mixture was taken in the hands, and
57
OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
patted until it assumed the shape of a small cracker. These small cakes were fried in lard, split open while hot, and dropped into the gravy. Another dish was made of scalded meal, with salt to season. The cakes were patted thin and fried in lard. These were eaten with butter. Their suet and other Indian cakes and puddings, too numerous to mention, formed a nice assortment with which to gratify the appetite.
The Connecticut women were noted for their nice wheat and rye bread, made with hop and malt yeast, their election and pound cake, also their broths ; but to whom shall the bean porridge be credited ? Many of these dishes have disappeared, and new ones have taken their places, for better or worse one can hardly tell. Barley was sometimes used for cake and bread. Oats were sel- dom used, except when there was a scarcity of other grain, on account of bitterness. What part of New England shall be given the credit of the pumpkin pie? It was a Godsend, coming as it did before small fruits were plenty or apple-trees old enough to yield fruit.
The War of 1812 caused hard times, as we manufactured so little. For everything bought, fabulous prices were paid. The price of good calico was five shillings per yard. Had it not been for our wool, tow, and linen, we must have suffered. The flax- break was heard all winter, and the little linen wheels were about the kitchen from the first of March until the last of May. Then the weaving commenced. In the mean time the younger girls spun the tow. Each one was kept busy. No idlers were al- lowed. The cold seasons were very hard for this people. For three years no corn was raised in North Springfield. I think I saw snow on the hills of Chester the 6th of June, 1817. I hardly know what we could have done, had not our plain lands yielded good crops of rye.
Without canals or railroads, with imperfect roads across our mountains, transportation was anything but satisfactory. A man came from one of the mountain towns for rye. He said his chil- dren had been without bread for days. Fortunately after these cold seasons came years of plenty. Crops were abundant. Corn fifty cents, and rye fifty-eight cents. Then they fattened their
58
HISTORY OF THE TOWN
pork and poultry. Each farmer expected to go to Boston to make his sales. Many started together, and by the time they reached Keene, N. H., their number had largely increased. While spend- ing the nights at the taverns along the road, they held mock trials, and every conceivable device was resorted to for their enjoyment. Their return was anxiously looked for, and many were the luxu- ries brought home,-fresh fish, quintals of salt fish, cakes of loaf sugar, molasses, coffee, raisins, tea, and spices ; also silk dresses for the wives and daughters. A silk dress could be bought for seven or eight dollars, and silks were considerably indulged in. It was then that the farmer could take his ease, and enjoy the comforts and luxuries of his home.
59
OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
POST ROADS, EARLY STAGING, FREIGHTING, ETC.
IN October, 1795, the Legislature of Vermont, at the session at Windsor, appointed Paul Brigham, Lewis R. Morris, and Oliver Gal- lup to lay out a post road from the north line of Windham County to the north line of Windsor County, beginning on the north line of Windham County at the place where the committee from Wind- ham County had laid the road leading through that county from the south line of the State. This road was laid out in 1796, and the original survey is on record, but evidently it was not built until some time afterwards. It was laid from Rockingham line up the river, and crossed Black River by a bridge near the upper end of James E. White's meadow ; from there to the Connecticut, and up that river to Windsor. This road was never satisfactory to the majority of the people of Springfield, as they wanted the road farther west; and in 1799 a large number of settlers petitioned the Legis- lature for a new survey, but without avail. The town of Springfield appointed a committee to make surveys and report to the town. This committee reported that, with few alterations, the county road, heretofore described, would be shorter and better than the road up Connecticut River, and also reported two other routes pref- erable, in their opinion, one of which would lead from Rocking- ham meeting-house by the meeting-house in Springfield, on by the meeting-house in Weathersfield, and join the river road at Willard Dean's in Windsor.
In consequence of the post road being located up the Connec- ticut, there was no post office in Springfield until 1817. The in- habitants went to Weathersfield Bow or to Charlestown for their mail. In 1817, through the influence of Wm. C. Bradley and Samuel W. Porter, an office was secured, and Judge Porter
60
HISTORY OF THE TOWN
appointed postmaster. The post office was in what is now known as the Pingry Block.
EARLY STAGING.
It appears that when the post office was established at Spring- field in 1817, and afterwards up to April, 1829, the mail was carried from Hartford, Conn., to Hanover, N. H., by Brewster & Sargent and Horatio Sargent & Co. Then Pettis & Skinner took it. In July, 1831, the balances in favor of the government began to be deposited in the United States Branch Bank at Burlington, and there were no more drafts on the postmaster in favor of mail carriers. It seems that in 1824 one C. L. Rockwood had a contract for carrying the mails once a week between Charlestown, N. H., and Manchester, via Springfield, Chester, Chester Village, Andover, Weston, and Peru, for $215 per year, and sublet it to Gen. Ful- ler for $150 a year. About this time or somewhat earlier the Springfield Stage Company was organized, and a stage route established between Charlestown, N. H., and Manchester, with a capital of five hundred dollars, at ten dollars a share. The following list of proprietors is preserved : Nomlas Cobb, Davis Bates, Phineas T. Wales, Samuel W. Porter, Noah Safford, Aaron Wales, Geo. Washburn, Luke Williams, John & Charles Chipman, Enos Brown, John Stevens, Paul Clark, Samuel Hall, Philip Safford, Joseph Whitney, Don Lovell, H. T. Wheeler, John White, M. & E. Rogers, Aaron P. Lynde, S. Cady, M. Snell, George Clark, Perez Whitcomb, Moses Bates, Isaac Fisher, Moses Chase, Abel Brown, Jonathan Chase, Leonard Walker, J. W. Durant, J. W. Adanıs, Thayer & Whitney, Jacob Whitcomb, Philip Cook, David Brown, James Whipple, Isaac Wetherbee of Charlestown, Thomas T. Barrett of Chester, and Aaron Leland of Landgrove. The first meeting was held at the house of Aaron Wales, Dec. 31, 1820, and Nomlas Cobb was clerk.
The stage company tried to buy out Rockwood & Fuller without success, and then, through the influence of Judge Porter, and Wm. C. Bradley, then in Congress, procured an order from John McLean, Postmaster General, dated Feb. 6, 1824, directing
61
OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
them to take charge of the route, and to have the same pay for transporting the mail once a week and as much oftener as the stage runs. At the end of the first year Messrs. Nomlas Cobb, Davis Bates, Samuel W. Porter, James Whipple of Charlestown, N. H., Thomas T. Barrett of Chester, and Aaron Leland of Land- grove, bought the interest of the other proprietors and continued the business.
The first stage driver was F. Buzzell. One of the bills shows that the drivers were paid nine dollars per month, and another indicates that the proprietors paid the driver's board. The receipts the first thirteen weeks in 1824 were $113.15, besides mail money. A schedule of mail contracts dated May 17, 1825, requires the mail to leave Manchester every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at four o'clock P. M., and reach Charlestown the day following at two o'clock P. M. ; and leave Charlestown every Mon- day, Wednesday, and Friday at nine A. M., and arrive at Manches- ter the following morning at eight o'clock.
In 1836 Samuel W. Porter, James Whipple, Nomlas Cobb, Simson Leland, and Luke Williams were engaged in running stages from Walpole, N. H., towards Hanover, on the Connecti- cut River, and from Drewsville, N. H., to Perkinsville, Vt., and had twenty-six horses in the business. James Whipple afterward bought out the others, and in 1845 sold the staging to George M. Dickinson of Charlestown, N. H., who carried it on until the Sul- livan County Railroad was built, when he sold the route to Saun- derson & Putnam. They operated the route several years, and sold to Edward Ingham. Later the property was bought by Squire Baker, and he sold out to Frederick G. Ellison, the present proprietor.
FIRST POST OFFICE.
The first postmaster of Springfield was the Hon. Samuel W. Por- ter, who served from Nov. 24, 1817, to July 1, 1828. The whole net income of the office for this term of nearly ten years was $847.03, or about $87 per year. The salary of the postmaster, taking the year 1824 as an example, was $50.61, made up in this
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
way: thirty per cent on letter postage collected, fifty per cent on newspaper postage collected, and two cents each on free letters.
The postage on letters ranged from six cents to fifty cents, averaging twelve and one half or fifteen cents. From Windsor, Woodstock, Montpelier, Hanover, and Rutland, it was ten cents. From Boston, Albany, or St. Johnsbury, twelve and one half cents ; New York, twenty cents ; New Orleans, fifty cents (twenty-five cents if prepaid). Almost the whole of the postage was collectible at the office of delivery, and a large part of it was trusted out, and charged on the book, to the receivers of the letters. From July 1, 1819, to July 1, 1820, the sum of $31.63 was collected for postage, and $22.39 charged on the book, and all collected later, as it all appears to be crossed out. That this book account of postage was the private affair of the postmaster would appear from the fact that a charge, Sept. 22, 1819, of fifty cents for an account book was disallowed by Postmaster-General M. C. Meigs.
A charge of one dollar for a sign for the post office met the same fate. For some reason, probably the high rate of postage and scarcity of money, many letters were not taken from the office, and after being advertised at a cost of two cents each by Simeon Ide in the Vermont Republican and American Yeoman of Wind- sor, they were forwarded to the dead-letter office. In the year 1824, when the population of the town was two thirds as great as now, of 1,089 letters received at the office, with postage amount- ing to $141.57 (an average of thirteen cents each) unpaid, 948 were delivered on payment of postage or charging of same, and 141, or one in six, remained and were advertised. Seventy let- ters, with postage amounting to $9.1772 prepaid, were mailed at the office in the same year to be forwarded to other places. On the 4th of March, 1825, Russell Burke mailed at New Orleans a letter weighing one quarter of an ounce to Luke Williams at Springfield, covering a second draft of exchange for $175, and advising him that the first draft of exchange for the same was sent March 3, by ship " Azelia." March 31 this letter had not arrived. June 30 it was reported " on hand," and uncalled for, Mr. Wil- liams having probably received the first draft of exchange, and got
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
the money, did not care to pay the fifty cents postage for a dupli- cate, and so it was advertised, and the 1st of October sent to the dead-letter office. Nov. 22 the Postmaster General returned the letter to Judge Porter, the Springfield postmaster, as " valuable," and wrote him detailed instructions that " if the person addressed is not found, it be returned to the postmaster at New Orleans, to be delivered to the writer." The judge probably thought it had travelled far enough, so exercised his discretion in " cutting red tape," and put it away among the post-office papers, where it still lies.
The rapidity of transmission in those days is shown by the record of a letter mailed at Washington, D. C., April 12, 1819, and received at Springfield, June 5. Some of the above amounts have been arrived at by taking averages, where the exact figures could not be found in the records. But they are fairly accurate. The attention to details given at that time by high officials is illustrated by the fact that Postmaster-General Meigs wrote an autograph letter of instructions as to the dead letter above referred to, instead of trusting a subordinate officer or clerk to send instructions on a printed form.
FREIGHT BUSINESS.
Jonathan Chase opened a store for general trade in the Chase Block in 1825. It was his custom to go to Boston once in two months or so, with a four-horse team, for goods, his wife keeping the store while he was gone. About 1827 Solomon Randall started a four-horse team. After a year or more, Russell Burke and Aaron L. Thompson, who were in trade in the Brooks store, helped him to increase his team to six horses. Randall was obliged to give it up. Burke & Thompson took the business and James Walker drove the team, until about 1834, when Caleb Taylor bought the business, and ran an eight-horse team. He sold out to Coburn & Davis.
Hamlin Whitmore owned and ran a four-horse team for many years, while in trade here. Samuel Taylor ran a four-horse team to Boston three or four years. Perkins & Duncan, who traded in
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
Wheeler's Block, ran a four-horse team several years. Benjamin F. Dana, who was a clerk in their store, drove it sometimes. Capt. Aaron P. Lynde, who started in about the same time as Caleb Taylor, with three horses, increased his team to six, bought out Perkins & Duncan, and finally ran two eight-horse teams. Edward Putnam and - Sanderson ran a team for some years. Jonathan Martin became interested in the business with Sander- son, and it was moved to Newport, N. H. Finally the property was divided. Martin took his share back to Springfield, and Madison Martin drove the team. Jonathan Martin sold the busi- ness to Ellis, Britton & Eaton in 1867. . They ran it twelve years, and sold it to Levi Rice in 1879. He carried it on several years, and sold it to Lockwood & Lewis, who sold it in 1894 to William H. Loveland, who is using from fifteen to twenty horses in the business.
After the railroad was completed to Nashua, the teams went to that point for freight. The trips were shortened from time to time, as the railroad extended, until about 1846, when the freight came by rail to Charlestown. In 1868 the people of Springfield contributed in money and labor to cut through the hill, and make a road from Cheshire bridge to the line of the road, and Spring- field station was established, where most of the freight now comes.
HOTELS.
In early days, when travel was wholly by teams, many farmers kept public houses, and there was no lack of taverns. The two first in this town were, probably, the one on the Christopher Ellis place, kept by Joseph Little, and one on the site of the present town farm, kept by Simon Stevens. Joseph Little sold out to Lieut. Roger Bates in 1778. There was a tavern at Eureka very early called the Gaylord Tavern. Leonard Walker kept tavern on Parker Hill very early, also the Parkers. Phineas White kept tavern in Hardscrabble, where Henry Burr now lives. There was a tavern in Spencer Hollow, on the farm now owned by John R. Gill. The first tavern at North Springfield stood on the corner where the late Sylvanus Newhall lived. Later Joel Griswold
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
HOTEL STABLE
7
SPRINGFIELD HOUSE.
66
HISTORY OF THE TOWN
kept a temperance hotel at the North Village. There was a tav- ern on the Common where Walker Newton's house stands, kept by Lester Fling, and later by James McAllister. Probably this was the first hotel in the village. The Browns also kept hotel on Seminary Hill. It is said that. Col. Jonathan Williams built the first hotel on Main Street, where the present one is, about 1800. It was a small affair at first, and Moses Fairbanks was probably the first landlord, soon after 1800. After him came David Oakes, and then Col. Williams came in, and he was followed by Russell Burke. Morey Lee kept it next, and he was followed by George Johnson. Edwin Durrin was in the hotel about 1827, and from that time up to 1867 the different landlords were, Benjamin Sawyer, Hamlin Whitmore, David D. Winchester, Henry H. Mason, Jonas B. Spencer, Josiah Spencer, D. C. Gibbs, Fales & Eaton, Moses F. Chase, - Howe, Edward R. Backus, and Francis Long. In 1867 the property was purchased by George O. Henry, and he kept the hotel until 1884, when he sold it to a syndicate of some six of the leading business men of the village. Mr. Henry was a strict temperance man, and he clearly demon- strated the fact that a hotel can be kept in the best manner and made to pay without the sale of intoxicating drink. No liquor was sold on the premises during the seventeen years that Mr. Henry was proprietor of the hotel. This house was first called the Black River Hotel, and afterward the name was changed to Springfield House.
After Mr. Henry sold the property to the syndicate, they em- ployed at different times as managers, - Conrad, Frank Barney, Jr., and W. F. Miner. In 1889, through the efforts of Adna Brown and some others, the Springfield Hotel Company was formed. The old building was torn down and the present hotel building was erected, which in all its appointments is excelled by few in the State. The present managers are Eddy & Davis.
In 1816 there were at least six hotels in Springfield,- one at North Springfield, kept by Carlisle, two in the village, one on Parker Hill, one on the farm now owned by D. O. Gill on Connecticut River, and one on Seminary Hill kept by Brigadier
------
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
Brown. Henry. Whitcomb, who has done nearly all the work of repairs on the hotel buildings which were torn down in 1891, states that the whole cost of repairs on the hotel from the time it was built until taken down was not less than fifteen thousand dollars.
The Adnabrown, built by the Springfield Hotel Company in 1889, is one of the best appointed hotels in the State. It is built of brick in the most substantial manner. The house has all the modern improvements, including electric lights, steam heat, elec- tric bells, etc. There are first-class accommodations for seventy-
' so H Walker & to Besten
THE ADNABROWN.
five guests. The sanitary arrangements are of the best. The rooms are large, light, and airy, and all furnishings are excellent and in the best taste and style. Messrs. Eddy & Davis, the present managers, are liberal caterers, and the cuisine is under the personal supervision of Mr. N. S. Eddy, whose ability in this line is well known. He was at one time manager of the Welden, at St. Albans, also of a winter hotel at Jacksonville, Fla., and later the Junction House at White River Junction. Mr. E. A. Davis, the junior member, was formerly a commercial traveller, and later assistant cashier in the National Bank at White River Junction, which position he gave up to assume charge of the Adnabrown.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN
BUSINESS STATEMENTS.
In the year 1853 the business men of Springfield petitioned for a bank, and in sup- port of the petition made affidavits in regard to the amount of business in town as follows : -
Holmes, Whitmore & Co., manufacturers of satinet . $65,000
Adolphus Merriam, manufacturer of satinet
.
25,000
Allen Shepard, manufacturer of paper . 40,000
David M. Smith & Co., manufacturers of clothespins 40,000
Fullerton, Martin & Co., manufacturers of cotton warp and sheetings 30,000
S. M. Bates, manufacturer of shirts . 20,000
Woolson & Parks, manufacturers of machinery 15,000
John C. Holmes, manufacturer of machinery . 2,000
Alpheus Batchelder, manufacturer of shoe pegs 1,500
Abiel Smart, manufacturer of ox bows and axe helves . 1,200
F. B. Gilman & Co., manufacturers of machinery . 1,500
James F. Brown, manufacturer for Merriam 5,000
Mitchel & Shepardson, iron foundry . 18,000
George Kimball, manufacturer of horse rakes and builder
10,000
F. A. & G. W. Porter & Co., manufacturers of machine cards 6,000
Henry H. Mason, manufacturer of trusses and supporters 8,000
Burke, Church & Others, manufacturers of sythe snaths 12,000
Selden Cook, manufacturer of boots and shoes 5,000
F. W. Johnsou & Co., manufacturers of boots and shoes 7,000
F. W. Porter & Co., jewellers and druggists 12,000
Luke Taylor, manufacturer of mop heads 1,5000
Thomas Taunt, manufactures for Holmes, Whitmore & Co. 8,000
Samuel Rollins, tanner 5,000
Thomas D. Brown, tanner
3,000
W. Davis, merchant tailor
5,000
J. O. Morgan, merchant tailor . 3,000
Geo. Washburn, harness maker .
5,000
Henry Harlow, harness maker .
2,000
Thompson & Dana, merchants . 50,000
Cook & Boynton, merchants
25,000
Fay & Forbush, merchants
Johu White, merchant 15,000
7,000
Leverett M. Snell, merchant
8,000
Burke & Lockwood, merchants .
8,000
Uniou Store No. 196, merchants
6,000
Edmund B. Lee, merchant.
6,000
John Chipman, hat store
3,000
Charles Labaree, grocer 15,000
Whelden & Fisher, dealers in lead pipe and stoves, workers
in tin, sheet iron, and copper
25,000
O. M. Whipple, drover 30,000
...
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OF SPRINGFIELD, VT.
Phin. Bates, drover . . $30,000
Jos. Colburn, wool buyer . . 17,000
James Lovell, wool buyer . 8,000
Sanderson, Putnam & Co., livery, teaming, and staging 15,000
Daniel Cushing, dealer in flour, graiu, and plaster . 5,000
Johu Taylor, butcher . 10,000
Geo. W. Porter, merchant .
5,000
Henry Safford, builder 2,500
George W. Kimball, Jr., sleigh and wagon ironer 2,000
R. T. Johnson & Co., sleigh and wagon ironer
7,000
Smith K. Randall & Co., stoue cutters
11,000
Charles Hawkins, builder and manufacturer of doors and sash 4,000
October 10, 1853. $671,200
Statement of the Quantity of Merchandise and Produce brought into and taken from Springfield, in one Year, from March, 1845, to March, 1846. Collected for the Committee of Statistics by Samuel Whitcomb.
Tons.
By Coburn & Davis, for various merchauts aud other .
330
Adams, Bundy & Co. (exclusive of freight by Coburn & Davis) . 20
Adams, Bundy & Co., on hand, to be sent in March, 1846 20
Davidson & Parks 20
Spafford & Davis 80
Jonathan Chase (exclusive of public freight) . 27
Whitmore & Williams, wool and other articles.
23
John Holmes 20
A. & W. T. Brown, tannery 30
Johnson & Nourse, foundry 50
Daniel Adams
38
Jonathan Martin, cotton mill .
26
Ira & Isaac Davis 15
Porter & Daua (exclusive of freight by Coburn & Davis) 7
R. & N. Burke (exclusive of freight by Coburn & Davis) 25
George Washburn, 150 casks of lime, 600 pounds each . 45
Abner Field & Co.
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