USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Manchester > Manchester, Vermont : a pleasant land among the mountains, 1761-1961 > Part 11
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CHAPTER XIII
Town Welfare
A FUNCTION of local government which has undergone vast change since the early days of Manchester is the care of the poor and indigent. In the early 1800s and for many years, such individuals or families were warned to leave town. This was a device apparently intended to relieve the town of expense in caring for the poor. The warning was generally "served" by the constable, who had to "make his return thereon." If the warned did not leave and stayed to become paupers, there was no responsibility upon the town to look after them because they had been advised to move along. The town meeting of March 1837 voted to direct the town clerk to record the old warnings of "notice to quit" which were then on file. There are about 100 such notices covering the period from 1802 to 1834 recorded in Volume I of the Town Records.
Another early method of relieving the town of expense in the care of the poor was called "vendue." It was used a number of times. A town meeting March 12, 1811 voted that the Selectmen "set up Constant Nikerson at vendue and sell him to the best ad- vantage to the town." Another town meeting in 1818 voted that Joseph S- and Hannah S-, town paupers, "be set up at vendue, the bidder to be holden to support them for one year if the select- men shall choose, payment to be made quarterly." Joseph S- was struck off to Thomas Johnson at $75 and Hannah S- to William Brown at $58. Opium was to be furnished by the town. A meeting the following year voted that the treasurer pay Johnson $3 for extra
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clothing for Joseph S- and in 1823, $12 in favor of Sarah Smith for opium and extra services rendered by her to Hannah S -.
On March 6, 1821 William R- was put up and struck off to John Brooks at seventy-five cents a week and another year he was bid off by Thomas Wait at $1.50 weekly until the Selectmen could take him away. An 1821 town meeting directed the Selectmen to "dispose of clothing and other articles delivered to the town, being the property of Perry Dyer, late deceased, a transient person." The meeting voted that all remaining paupers be set up at vendue to be maintained through the year without expense to the town. What this "sale" of paupers indicated is not clear from the records. The purchaser, agreeing to take care of the pauper at vendue, probably figured that the services of the person so bought would more than compensate for the board required and the amount paid to the town.
Citizens kept a rather close check on the Selectmen as to what they were to do, a procedure which applied to other functions of government as well as care of the poor. In 1812 a tax of one and a half cents on the dollar was voted for support of the poor. The 1814 meeting voted that the Selectmen include an article in the next warning "to see if the town will provide a home for the poor of the town." A meeting March 5, 1822 voted a tax of one cent for support of the poor and that the Selectmen hire a house in which the pau- pers of the town "shall be placed and provided for." An 1828 town meeting directed the Selectmen to draw orders for the support of the poor.
Apparently the question of housing the poor was a recognized problem for many years and one in which some citizens, notably Joseph Burr, a wealthy bachelor, were seriously interested. In 1828 the Selectmen were authorized "to raise a sum not to exceed $500 to be appropriated with such sum as Joseph Burr's executors shall appropriate for purchasing a farm for the support of the poor."
Townspeople were evidently aware that Joseph Burr was making some provision in his will for a poorhouse or farm, but they had no inkling of the amount. His bequest, for those days, turned out to be sizable. Burr had directed his executors, Joel Pratt and John Aiken, to use $1,200 for the purchase of a poor farm, which they did De- cember 7, 1829, as recorded in Volume 11 of the Land Records.
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MANCHESTER, VERMONT
The house is shown in Beers' Atlas of Bennington County as "town farm" in 1869. It is now the residence of Donald F. Riker.
As years passed, the town farm evidently did not prove adequate. The 1881 town meeting warning included an article to see if Man- chester would purchase a town farm; the article was subsequently dismissed. The 1882 warning carried an article to see if the town would appoint a committee to investigate the practicality of buying a town farm with increased facilities for keeping and providing em- ployment for the poor. There is no record that this committee ever reported.
With passing years, however, the need for that form of poor relief appeared to decline and in 1942 there was only one inmate at the town farm. The town sold the farm in 1946 and the proceeds were put into the Joseph Burr fund, the income to be used for poor relief in town.
The office of overseer of the poor seems to be mentioned for the first time in Manchester records in 1832, when a committee was elected to settle "with the overseer." In 1843 it was voted that the Selectmen serve as overseers of the poor and again in 1845 and 1857. The custom of electing an overseer of the poor annually prevailed until 1941, when the town manager system was adopted. Since then the town manager serves as overseer.
The Manchester District Nursing Association, under the spon- sorship of the Manchester, Manchester Center, Manchester Depot, and Bennington County Improvement Associations, was formed in 1913. It was managed by an executive committee of seven with two members from each of the first three organizations. The secretary- treasurer, H. N. Morse, represented the Bennington County group. Mrs. Loveland Munson was the first president.
The 1914 yearbook listed an advisory committee of five local physicians and a district nurse, Miss Edna Batchelder. In the years 1919 and 1920 there were a total of 233 cases with 1,439 visits by the nurse. The nurse made fifteen visits to schools with the medical inspector and 208 pupils were examined.
The Nursing Association was supported by private contributions until 1927, when the town voted an appropriation of $300, which was raised to $500 in 1928 and remained at that figure until 1933, when it dropped to $400. The $500 appropriation was restored in
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1934, increased to $600 in 1935, to $800 in 1939, and then to $1,000 in 1943. In the next two years the town appropriated $1,200, which was raised to $1,500 in 1947. For the next nine years, $1,850 was voted, followed by $2,100 for three years. Votes on these in- creasing appropriations were in the affirmative by substantial ma- jorities. This seems to indicate that Manchester citizens take a serious view of the community's social responsibilities.
During this same period, a change took place in the organization. The Manchester Welfare Association was organized in 1942, incor - porated the following year, and in 1944 the Nursing and Welfare organizations merged as the Manchester Welfare and Nursing As- sociation. The emphasis of the association's social service is to help the individual to help himself, and the scope of its work makes it a true community institution. With a few changes, the program of the association as expressed in the Manchester Journal, July 19, 1945, is essentially what it is today. Few towns the size of Manches- ter can avail themselves of such services from a local organization :
1. A maternity program which renders assistance to expectant moth- ers and directs their care after the baby arrives.
2. A well baby clinic with supervision of child care to school age.
3. A program of school health inspection through high school which aids in the detection of physical defects and their correction.
4. Bedside care of sick persons is provided when necessary and classes have been held in home nursing.
5. A graduate registered nurse is provided to serve the community.
6. Among clinics maintained are: Well Child; Dental; Psychiatric; Chest; Orthopedic; Immunization.
7. Financial assistance is offered in correction of eye, ear, nose, and throat defects.
8. Social service: consultation on family problems; organization of canning groups, sewing groups; school milk and hot lunch program participation; Christmas baskets; loans for emergencies; direct relief for food, fuel, and clothing in emergencies or when the wage earner is tem- porarily dislocated; co-operation with outside organizations in the in- vestigation of local people.
Thus it can be seen that this legally incorporated organization has rendered all types of aid and assistance for which the need may arise among Manchester residents.
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MANCHESTER, VERMONT
The Manchester Welfare and Nursing Association receives no money from any state or federal source. Some seventy per cent of its financial support comes from donations, and during the year it conducts a number of money raising projects. In 1943 Mrs. Estelle Anderson left a fund of nearly $75,000 to the Vermont Children's Aid Society for Manchester's underprivileged children. The Wel- fare and Nursing Association receives about a half of the income of that fund each year to use in its own program, while the balance is spent directly by the state society.
The Welfare and Nursing Association is managed by a board of trustees composed of fifteen members, all of whom, as well as the officers, serve without remuneration. The officers (1960) are: Miss Mary Rogers Warren, president; Mrs. Walter H. Shaw, first vice-president; Mrs. William A. Griffith, second vice-president; Mrs. Edwin L. Bigelow, clerk; Anton G. Hardy, treasurer. The asso- ciation employs a public health nurse and an executive secretary.
The level of welfare exercised by the Welfare and Nursing Asso- ciation today with an average annual expenditure by the town of $9,169.17 for direct relief represents a tremendous advance from the town meetings in 1800 which voted to auction off paupers and to "introduce smallpox into the town of Manchester by inoculation on the first day of November next."
CHAPTER XIV
Manchester in Later Wars
§ War of 1812
N the period between 1776 and 1812 some 123 Manchester men are said to have served in militias.1 In 1812 war was declared against England and the northern frontier was again threat- ened. On July 6 Manchester Selectmen called a special meeting "to see if the town would raise money to furnish the magazine of the town with ammunition ... and also furnish ... the detached militia ... with necessary arms and equipments for the defence of the country."2 The citizens voted a tax to do so. One of the com- mittee appointed to take charge of Manchester's military stores was Richard Skinner, later Governor of Vermont. Apparently there was some opposition to the plan. A month later, a meeting took place to see if the town would rescind the vote to raise the tax. The attempt was unsuccessful. War taxes of Bennington County that year totaled $95,358, of which Manchester's share was $9,012.
For two years the drum of the recruiting officer sounded in our street, and successive squads of volunteers and militia went through their maneuvers on the green.3
Some of the thirty-four to thirty-six men who went from Man- chester4 were in the regularly organized state militia which marched
1. From the Whipple Collection. See Appendix.
2. Manchester Journal, March 23, 1871, p. 2.
3. Loveland Munson, The Early History of Manchester (Manchester, 1876), p. 61.
4. See Appendix.
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north in the fall of 1812. Their company commander was Captain Richardson of Londonderry and their regimental commander Colo- nel Stephen Martindale of Dorset, who had seen service in War- ner's regiment at Bennington at the age of sixteen.
Abram C. Fowler, the village schoolmaster, exchanged the ferule for a musket and won a commission in the regular army for his bravery at the Battle of Plattsburg ... Daniel Olds, grandson of Gideon Ormsby, was killed in a skirmish at Chateaugay ... John Harris, a private in the reg- ulars, fell in the desperate night battle at Lundy's Lane.5
Public sentiment concerning the war was evenly divided between the "peace party" (Federalists) and the "war party" (Republicans and Democrats). Both struggled for political mastery. An election was held in Bennington County in the spring of 1813 to see if war with Great Britain should be continued or if peace should be re- stored at any price. Manchester's vote was eighty-seven for war; seventy-three for peace.6
In the fall of 1813 a number of Manchester men enlisted in the regular army or volunteered for three months' service. The latter were transported to Burlington in wagons after mustering and electing their officers in East Rupert. Captain Weed of Rupert was company commander and the regiment was led by Colonel Isaac Clark of Castleton. Their only engagement was a skirmish at Mis- sisquoi Bay in which they captured over a hundred of the enemy including the British major, Powell. On their way home after dis- charge, the volunteers met their former prisoners returning to Canada.
In 1871 an act was passed by Congress entitling the surviving soldiers of the War of 1812 to pensions. Only seven men from Man- chester were left to qualify-John S. Pettibone, Benjamin Munson, Alvah Bishop, Leonard Sargeant, Truman Kimpton, David Rey- nolds, and Artemus Gleason.7
The period between 1813 and the Civil War was peacefully marked by "the grand old days when the farmer, the mechanic, and the woodsman abandoned toil and hied away to the 'muster' for a
5. Munson, Manchester, p. 61.
6. Lewis Cass Aldrich, History of Bennington County (Syracuse, 1889), p. 136.
7. Manchester Journal, March 23, 1871.
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season of jollification to eat Yankee gingerbread and drink new cider and boast of the prowess of the American eagle."8 The great event of the year was "June training" held the first Tuesday of June, when all males in Manchester between the ages of twenty and forty were required to drill until sundown. There were two com- panies-the artillery at the Village and the infantry at Factory Point.
The captain was supposed to post in a conspicuous place a warn- ing giving the place and hour for assembling. In the Village, Cap- tain Benjamin Munson once failed to name the day and gave the hour as simply "nine o'clock." The wags of the company, taking advantage of the omissions, were determined to have some fun at the Captain's expense. The custom was to awaken him on training day by firing a shot under his window. This was done in authorized fashion except that the hour was 9:00 p.m., twelve hours earlier. Captain Ben took in the situation, put on his uniform, called the roll, and drilled the men all night. The clowns decided that the laugh, after all, was not on the Captain.
The Vermont Militia in 1837 consisted of three divisions, nine brigades, and twenty-seven regiments. Commander of the First Divi- sion was Major General Martin Roberts of Manchester and under him, commander of the Second Regiment was Colonel Walter J. Shephard, also of Manchester. This regiment included a rifle com- pany made up of men from Manchester, Dorset, East Arlington, and Sunderland. Six years later, it was reorganized to include also men from Sandgate, Rupert, Pawlet, Danby, Wells, and Mt. Tabor. The seventh company of this regiment was limited to men from "all that part of Manchester east of the top of the west Mountain."9 In 1843 Solomon Bentley was a major in the Second Regiment, Moses Harrington was a Brigade Inspector in the Adjutant General's de- partment, and Daniel Roberts, Jr., was a Division Judge Advocate in the Judge Advocate's department. These men were all Manches- ter residents.10
8. From an unidentified newspaper clipping in Burr and Burton Seminary histori- cal files.
9. An Act for Regulating and Governing the Militia of Vermont (Montpelier, 1837), p. 58.
10. Militia Law of the State of Vermont (Montpelier, 1844), pp. 15-18.
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MANCHESTER, VERMONT
§ The Mexican War
NICHOLS BARNARD, Pierrepont Raymond, and Benjamin S. Rob- erts of Manchester participated in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848.
§ The Civil War
GLORY TO THE NORTH
(Sung October 6, 1862 on the departure of Captain Josiah B. Munson's Volunteers from Manchester)
Cheers for our Banner as we rally 'neath its stars, As we join the Northern Legions and are off to the wars, Ready for the onset, whatever be our fate,
And we'll conquer as we go.
Manchester's role in the Civil War was little different than that of a hundred other small New England communities. It reflected as in a mirror the patriotic color and agonizing tragedy of that bitter struggle between the States.
In July 1861, after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, a military company was organized at Factory Point with the accompaniment of soul-stirring airs played by the Factory Point Cornet Band. The company, in which some fifty men enrolled, sought immediately to prepare itself in drill and discipline prior to regular enlistment in the Vermont Volunteers. Josiah Burton Hollister was elected cap- tain; H. D. Young, first lieutenant; and J. H. Carpenter, second lieutenant. A committee was appointed to obtain arms.
Anti-secessionist feeling was running so high in Manchester that Dr. Ezra Edson, advertising in the Manchester Journal for lumber workers, warned "No persons opposed to the General Government in putting down the present unhallowed rebellion need apply."
In August the recruiting office opened officially with Journal ed- itor, Henry E. Miner, as recruiting officer to enlist men for the Fourth and Fifth Regiments of Vermont Volunteers. This first re- cruitment was made quickly, for patriotic spirit ran high. Andrus L. Bowen, newspaper columnist, said:
When the First Vermont went south, we all wanted to go, young and
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MANCHESTER IN LATER WARS
old. We thought it would be only an excursion to subdue the rebellion; how mistaken we were, only the four years following could tell.
Privates in that first group were paid $18 monthly plus rations from the day of their enlistment, with $3.50 monthly clothing al- lowance and $100 to be paid at discharge. Officers received more and were elected by their company; regimental officers were ap- pointed by the governor. The State of Vermont offered an extra $7, an added lure to recruits. By the end of the enlistment period, ninety-three men had enlisted in Manchester.
Meanwhile, an assembly of citizens armed with spirited remarks and a great show of patriotism gathered at the Court House to take measures to provide for the wants and comforts of men volunteering in Manchester. Not only was the public called upon to subscribe funds, but parts of uniforms not furnished by the government were to be made by Manchester ladies. The Hon. M. Hawley was ap- pointed government agent for the town under a legislative act passed to provide for the families of Vermont citizens mustered into United States service.
James Hicks, Company A, Second Regiment, one of the first four boys from Manchester to enlist, died shortly after reaching camp. The body was returned to Manchester and a large cortege made the solemn walk to Factory Point Cemetery.
The disaster at Bull Run made increased armed forces necessary, and two more regiments were called from Vermont. The north shire of Bennington County was to furnish one company. With spirit still high, 100 men were quickly recruited. According to Dr. Wyman:
The company was rendezvoused at Manchester village, fed at Vander- lip's, and those who did not go home nights were lodged in the Court House. . .. The hall in the old schoolhouse at Factory Point, now Adams Hall, saw a good many nights of intensive drilling . . . and on the pleas- ant nights there was much marching about the streets to the music of two bands. Charles P. Dudley was elected captain, a splendid selection, as he had seen service in the First Vermont and was most capable. W. H. H. Peck was chosen first lieutenant and Sam E. Burnham, second lieu- tenant. 11
11. Edmond L. Wyman, M.D., Memorial Day speech printed in the Manchester Journal, June 5, 1919.
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MANCHESTER, VERMONT
This, then, was the ill-fated Company E, Fifth Regiment, First Brigade. Raised from Manchester and environs, organized August 30, 1861, and inspected by Fifth Regiment surgeon, W. P. Russell of Middlebury, Company E was mustered into the United States service September 16 at St. Albans. It was composed mostly of young unmarried men who averaged nearly twenty-five years in age and five feet eight inches in height. They took the name of "Equi- nox Guards" in honor of Manchester's mountain.
In addition to a reception and supper given them by the commu- nity, the "Guards" were entertained by the Rev. and Mrs. James Anderson of the Congregational church. Led by Captain Dudley, the company handsomely marched to their cake and coffee in the Anderson garden through a flag-festooned arborway. Mrs. Ander- son, who had taught many of the boys in Sunday School, made a motherly speech. It was a poignant moment and one which they re- called many times in the months that followed.
When it was time for the "Guards" to join the rest of the regi- ment for the St. Albans' muster, they formed opposite the Equinox House and the order of march was given. Preceded by the Manches- ter Cornet Band and followed by a train of horse-drawn vehicles and citizens on foot, the sad company marched toward Manchester Depot. Tears fell as the "Guards," their bright bayonets gleaming in the sunlight, boarded the train amid a wild waving of hands and handkerchiefs. The cheers, blessings, and prayers of the whole community went with the train that pulled slowly out of Manches- ter that day-
May they return ere long, unharmed and covered with glory, to lay down the weapons of their warfare, and cultivate the arts of Peace once more, among the Green Mountains and valleys of Vermont.
Solomon Bulkeley of Dorset, official letter-writer for the com- pany, kept the home towns informed of its activities via the pages of the Manchester Journal. He wrote of their emotions as they proceeded south into enemy territory; he pleaded for warm blankets, food, and linens. Orlando Burton, who succeeded him as scribe, reported seven of the company ill or dead of sickness before they even went into battle. In February 1862 Lieutenant Burnham returned to
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Manchester as a recruiter to fill any regimental openings in the en- tire Vermont Brigade.
Company E participated in twenty-five battles and fifteen major engagements, some of which were Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, An- tietam, and Rappahannock Station. But it was on June 29, 1862 in their fourth battle, at Savage's Station, Virginia, that Company E became indelibly printed in the memory of Manchester. The entire regiment, which rendered "important and memorable service ... in half an hour suffered the greatest loss of men killed and wounded ever endured by a Vermont regiment in a single action."12
Because of poor communications, the first hint of trouble re- ceived in Manchester was a letter from Levi C. Orvis, Jr., to his sister. It was reprinted in an "EXTRA" edition of the Manchester Journal:
Fortress Monroe July 4, 1862
My dear Sister :
I have got dreadful news to communicate. (I presume it has not reached Manchester yet.) In the last fight before Richmond, all of Co. E 5th Vt. Vols. were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, with the excep- tion of seven. Orlando Burton was killed instantly by a grape shot; Willard Bennett was mortally wounded and left on the field; Isaac Burton is wounded, not very badly in the arm. Joseph Leonard is wounded twice. . .. Samuel Burnham is not hurt. Capt. Dudley is sick. .. . He was in the fight but was not well at the time. I saw all the Com- pany that are left. . . . They are a sober set of boys. .. .
A message from Lieutenant Burnham came on July 6-"I am in command of all that is left of Co. E present fit for duty-seven men !"
Shocked Manchester could hardly believe the bitter news. Forty- four of fifty-nine men had been killed or mortally wounded. From the Cummings family alone, three brothers-William, Edmund, and Hiram-died of wounds, the latter two in a prison camp; a fourth brother, Silas, was killed in battle; and a fifth, Henry, was wounded and imprisoned. Their cousin, W. H. H. Cummings, also a prisoner, died of a shattered leg. This was "the greatest mortality
12. G. G. Benedict, Vermont in the Civil War, I (Burlington, 1886), p. 187.
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in any one family in the Union, for either a single battle or during the war."13
Honorable mention was given to Sgt. Isaac Burton for seizing and carrying safely the regimental colors after they had been shot from the hands of the color bearer.
The gallant Captain Dudley was "one of the bravest of Vermont's brave. ... Few deaths in the whole course of the war occasioned deeper sorrow among the Vermont troops."14 Distinguishing him- self at Bank's Ford and at the crossing of the Rappahannock, Dud- ley rose in rank to lieutenant colonel, a commission which was given him posthumously. The only remaining field officer of the regiment and thus in command, he was mortally wounded May 10, 1863 at Spottsylvania.
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