USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Bennington > Memorials of a century. Embracing a record of individuals and events, chiefly in the early history of Bennington, Vt., and its First church > Part 9
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There was a severe drouth in this town, and in the time of it came the day appointed for the ordination and in- stallation of the Rev. Absalom Peters, then the youthful pastor-elect of this church and society. The venerable Mr. Haynes was present, and had assigned to him, as his part in the public exercises, the concluding prayer.
There were other able divines to perform the more con- spicuous and weighty duties of the occasion, but a hearer 1 related to me that Mr. Haynes' concluding prayer was the particular part of the exercises that he retained a vivid impression of. Mr. Haynes made impressive remembrance in his prayer of the retiring pastor (Mr. Marsh), - of whom, doubtless without intention, the preceding speak- ers had omitted to make mention ; also, he earnestly sup- plicated that the long-continued and distressing drouth might come to a speedy end. His words, as related by another hearer 2 were, "O God, wilt thou unstop thy bot- tles, and pour the waters upon the earth?" It began to sprinkle a little as the meeting was dismissed, and soon came the much-desired plentiful rain. On returning from the ordination exercises, Mr. Samuel Fay, at whose house he put up, and who was accustomed to relate this anecdote,
1 Gov. Hall. 2 Mr. Samuel Fay.
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REV. EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D.D.
said to him : "Well, Mr. Haynes, your prayer was an- swered." - "I thought it would be," was Mr. Haynes' laconic reply.
Another gentleman 1 recollects the following expressions of Mr. Haynes : In prayer, " O Lord, we are so selfish we spoil everything we do ; " in a sermon, speaking of the power of temptation, and the distinction between tempta- tions that are sinful and those that are not, "I acknowl- edge you cannot prevent a temptation entering your mind, at all times. Neither could you always prevent a bird fly- ing down unawares upon your head, but you could prevent its making a nest in your hair.".
THE REV. EDWARD DORR GRIFFIN, D.D., is remembered as one of the distinguished ministers who have occasionally occupied the pulpit of the Bennington First Church. His commanding form - being some six feet, seven inches in height, and of well-proportioned stoutness - need not be here particularly described. Pleasant anecdotes are related of his being duly mindful, upon his arrival in town to ex- change, or to fulfil some special ministerial appointment, that in the respect mentioned he was not an ordinary man. Upon reaching the house where he was to be entertained, he was accustomed to see, first, that the faithful beast who had borne him hither was well cared for; secondly, that the place in the pulpit from which he was to deliver his dis- course - that is, where the manuscript was to be placed - was, by such contrivances as could be extemporized, suffi- ciently elevated ; thirdly, that the bed upon which he was to repose for the night was suitably supplemented, so as to be long enough for so tall a man to stretch himself upon it without discomfort, -for all which attentions he would
1 Mr. Seth B. Hunt.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
return graceful acknowledgments with a dignity peculiar to himself.
But when once in the pulpit, and engaged in his favorite work of preaching " the glorious gospel of the blessed God," who else could equal the majestic eloquence of Dr. Griffin? Of two or three excellent anecdotes illustrative of this, related to the writer of this notice, one shall suffice. It shall be given in nearly the same words of the friend who related it.1 Let him be, as it were, heard to speak : " In the fall of 1830, a most beautiful day in October, news came that Alonzo B. Stiles was dead. Men stood appalled at the suddenness of such an event ; and one would say to another, 'Is Stiles dead? It is impossible !' But so it was. He had undertaken to drive a pair of high-spirited horses tandem; something gave away, he was thrown out, his head striking upon a rock, and killed. If not killed instantly, there was no consciousness after the blow. He was a young man of singular beauty, very accomplished, and very much admired, and had many friends. He was in the employment of the ' Old Furnace Company.' We had no settled pastor. His friends, and particularly the proprietors of the 'Furnace,' sent down for Dr. Griffin to preach the sermon. They appointed Sunday as the day, and as three or four days intervened there was ample time to spread the notice. Many from the adjoining towns were accustomed to have business at the 'Furnace,' and they knew Stiles ; they all came. The meeting-house was crowd- ed. Dr. Griffin took his text from Ecc. ix. 12 : 'For man also knoweth not his time.' The sermon was preached to the young. The lesson which he inculcated was, The duty and importance of youth preparing for death. As the ser- mon drew near its close, leaning his towering form over that old pulpit, - he had a way of lifting very gracefully
1 Mr. Aaron L. Hubbell.
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AN IMPRESSIVE APPEAL.
his glasses, - leaning over the desk, he said : 'My dear young friends, procrastination is a rock around which the bones of shipwrecked millions are whitening for eternity!' As he spoke so impressively upon the subject of prepara- tion for death, its duty and importance, it was astonish- ing to see the countenances of the audience. I sat with my back to the minister- the old square pews - and looking a large portion of the audience in the face. I have often thought, I have no doubt that many then and there fully resolved to lead a Christian life.
" That death seemed to make a great impression upon the young people ; and there was seriousness all that winter. Along in June of the succeeding spring it was resolved to hold a three-days' meeting." The summer of 1831 will be remembered as the season of one of the two greatest revi- vals in the annals of this church.
The grave of Stiles is in the church-yard. On the slab is this inscription : " In memory of Alonzo B. Stiles, son of James and Abigail Stiles. Born at Cavendish, Vermont, September 9th, 1805 ; died in this town (in consequence of being thrown from a wagon), October 14th, 1830, aged 25 years 1 month and 5 days."
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CHAPTER X.
THE LAND-TITLE CONTROVERSY.
T the time our first settlers purchased their lands in this town, probably they had no intimation that any claims would or could be advanced prejudicial to their titles as derived through the Governor and Council of New Hampshire. " A claim of New York had been asserted to Governor Wentworth by letter from Governor Clinton in 1750, . but the correspondence which had taken place between the two governors does not appear to have been published, and was wholly unknown to the settlers."1 The pretext laid hold of by interested parties for claiming jurisdiction for the Province of New York as far eastward as Connecticut River, was an " untenable" charter granted by King Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664. " Prior to the proclamation of Governor Colden," Dec. 28, 1763, " setting forth the claim of New York to extend to the Connecticut River by virtue of this charter, one hundred and twenty-four of the one hundred and thirty land patents granted by Governor Wentworth had been issued, only six of the whole number bearing date after Dec., 1763." 2 Our Bennington settlers, and others, had already made valu- able improvements upon their lands when this proclamation took them by surprise.
" That prior to the king's order of July, 1764, New York had never for a single moment exercised jurisdiction to any part of 1 Hall's Early Hist. Vermont, p. 76. 2 Ibid.
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CHARTER TO THE DUKE OF YORK.
Connecticut River; that New Hampshire had been repeatedly rec- ognized by the king and his ministry as extending westward to Lake Champlain, and to a line running southerly from that lake to the north-west corner of Massachusetts, the present boundary of Vermont; that in all the English and American maps of that period - and they are numerous-New York is represented as bounded on the east by the last-mentioned line, and that such line was universally understood, both in Old and New England, to be the boundaries between the provinces of New Hampshire and New York." 1
As to the charter granted by King Charles II. to his brother the Duke of York, in 1664, it was well charac- terized by Williams in his history of Vermont as an in- adequate and blundering transaction. In evident igno- rance of the premises, and without any attempt at exact- ness, it really gave the Connecticut River as an eastern boundary, and the east side of Delaware Bay as a western boundary, within which the Duke of York could take what was not already chartered away. Otherwise it would also have given to the Duke of York portions of Massachusetts and Connecticut ; but these States never allowed this charter to deprive them of a square rod of their territory. It also, for other reasons, had no validity in law against the set- tlers on the New Hampshire Grants.
"All the lands from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." "This grant was inconsistent with the charters which had before been granted to Massachusetts and Connecticut ; and neither of them admitted it to have any effect with regard to the lands which they had settled or claimed to the west of Connecticut River; and there were no principles which apply to human affairs by which this grant would bear a strict examina- tion. If it be examined geographically, the bounds of it were contradictory, indefinite, and impossible. If it be subjected to a legal construction, the whole of it, upon James's accession to the throne, merged in the crown; and at his abdication passed
1 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 146.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
to William, his successor. If it be considered as an instrument of government, it did not establish any colony or province of New York, or any power to govern any such province." 1
That, however, which made the New York pretext much more formidable was the order in council, referred to in the above quotation, obtained by the New York interest from King George II., under date of 1764.
As to this order in council, it was extensively believed, though probably without foundation, to have been obtained by applications falsely represented to be in the name of the inhabitants of the grants.2
But this order in council was interpreted by the settlers as simply decreeing prospective jurisdiction to New York as far east as Connecticut River. This the king had a right to do; as, in chartering these provinces of New York and New Hampshire, the right of altering the boundaries of jurisdiction was reserved to the crown. Had the New York officers so interpreted the king's order, probably all controversy would have been at an end. The settlers were not disposed to revolt against the jurisdiction of New York upon such an interpretation of the order in council, though such jurisdiction was not agreeable to them.3 Certainly they at first appear to have had no thought of resisting it by force.
1. Williams's Hist. of Vermont, p. 213. See also Answer of Ethan Allen to Governor Clinton's Proclamation, State Papers, pp. 85-93; and Early Hist. of Vermont.
2 Williams's History of Vermont, 1794, p. 215. In a note on this page : "The inhabitants complained that a petition was presented to the king, signed with their names, but unknown to them." In their first petition to Congress (see State Papers, p. 62), Jan. 7, 1776, they give this account of this petition to the king. "We have often heard, and verily believe, it was in your petitioner's names." On the subject of the surreptitious names to that petition to the king, see also an article from the "Connecticut Courant," April, 1772, cited in Mr. Houghton's published address, delivered in Montpelier, Oct. 20, 1848.
3 " The petition of Mr. Robinson, in behalf of his constituents, to the king had not only asked for relief against New York patents, but also to have the jurisdiction of the territory restored to New Hampshire."-P. 98, of Hall's Early Hist. Vermont.
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RESISTANCE TO THE NEW YORK CLAIMS.
But the New York government were not satisfied with an immediately commencing jurisdiction, and with such emoluments as might arise from lands not previously sold ; they insisted on their right to all the lands that had pre- viously been sold in the territory in question by the New Hampshire government, and to retrospective jurisdiction, and, of course, to satisfaction and due punishment of of- fenders for all acts in the past that had been committed in violation of their claimed authority.
" By the principles of the English constitution, the lands in both New York and New Hampshire were vested in the king, both being royal provinces. Their boundaries, also, might be fixed and changed by him at pleasure. It could not be material to him or to the public through which of his servants his grants were made, and it would be difficult to find a reason why a grant obtained in good faith from the government of one province should be declared void merely because the land, by the subsequent settlement of a dis- puted boundary, should happen to fall within the newly established jurisdiction of the other." - Early Hist. of Vermont, p. 119. With regard to the legality also, see pp. 119, 120.
The settlers here resisted this claim with indomitable determination and spirit. Matters continued to wax more serious until they were resolved that all the claims of New York, both to retrospective and prospective jurisdiction, should be resisted to the end. The result was, they came ere long to the determination to have an independent State ; and they pursued this determination with a purpose and vigor which, under the circumstances, were natural, if not at all times legal. But that they had law and equity on their side in the main, there are many substantial reasons for believing. So Gov. Wentworth appears to have thought, for he reconfirmed their course by a new royal proclamation under date of March 13, 1764, counter to Gov. Colden's. That the king was displeased with the course of the New York government in respect to the Ver-
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
mont lands is evident from the fact that, notwithstanding the preponderating influence of that interest at court, Samuel Robinson, Esq., the agent of the settlers, without prestige and without money, obtained an order in council of his Majesty, of July 24, 1767, prohibiting the Governor of New York,
" Upon pain of his Majesty's highest displeasure, from making any further grants whatever of the lands in question, till his Maj- esty's further pleasure should be known concerning the same." 1
Whether the settlers were able to fathom all the depths of the subject-matters in controversy, or not, one has but to read Gov. Hall's volume - so large a portion of which is devoted to the exhaustive examination of its merits - to see that the New York claim cannot bear the test of such an examination either in law or equity. Not to attempt any extended consideration of the question here, two or three arguments of more obvious force to the minds of the settlers may be stated, and reference is here more particu- larly made to the Bennington settlers, because it is of them this volume more particularly speaks.
Their utter surprise at Gov. Colden's first proclamation claiming their lands has been already alluded to. This sur- prise overtook them after they were well settled here, had made many valuable inprovements on their lands, having first bought them in good faith, paying what was to them a large price, for their means were generally scanty and they . had made great exertions and endured much hardship to open to civilization and to plant with Christian institutions this wilderness. These lands along their Green Mountain .
1 See Slade's Vermont State Papers, p. 20. That this order in council of his Majesty was constantly and in a high-handed manner disregarded by the New York officials, and as constantly and earnestly recalled to their attention by the home government, see Hall's Early Hist. Vermont, pp. 94, 99, 105, 106, 108, and elsewhere.
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LOGIC OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
valleys were, with God's blessing, upon their sturdy exertions and sacrifices, putting forth signs of prosperity, progress, and wealth. Now all was to be swept away from them. They were to be left destitute, penniless ;1.and, more than this, their prospects for the future were an utter blank. They would not know which way next to turn. Let it be borne in mind they were already a numerous and powerful com- munity. By that law of necessity which inheres in man's dependence, to a certain extent, with his choices and God's providence combined, upon the destiny he has already en- tered upon, they were compelled to accept as a logical con- clusion the justice and expediency of revolt against the jurisdiction of New York, whatever that jurisdiction was as determined upon in the king's order of 1764. They did not accept this alternative until compelled to do so by a course of events which told them instinctively they could not err in so doing. They felt that justice on their side must be at the foundation of their cause. The lands under New Hampshire had been chartered in townships to numerous per- sons, holding some three hundred and thirty acres each. The New York patents were employed to place oftentimes whole townships and even more in the possession of spec- ulators, and fees in proportion into the pockets of officials. The covetousness with which the New York officials and speculators eyed the rich alluvials of the Green Mountain tributaries to the Hudson knew no bounds.
Some few statistics, which bear upon this point, may be noticed. Twenty-six thousand acres on the Battenkill, to John Taber Kempe, attorney-general of the New York prov- ince, James Duane, a prominent New York city lawyer, and Walter Rutherford, a merchant speculator. To said Duane,
1 " And when the latter," the New Hampshire claimants, "applied to the New York governors for a confirmation of those not thus granted, such enormous patent fees were demanded as to make it impossible for them to comply."- Early Hist. of Vermont, p. 115.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
afterward, fifty thousand acres more. Dunmore, colonial New York governor for eight months, contrived surrepti- tiously to make to himself a grant of fifty-one thousand acres of Vermont land, besides granting four hundred and fifty thousand acres to speculators, and getting the fees for the same. Tryon, his successor, provided himself, in like manner, with a township in Vermont of thirty-two thou- sand acres, besides making grants, and getting fees for the same, contrary to law, of two hundred thousand more. Afterward this Tryon was absent from his post for a little more than a year, and Lieutenant-Governor Colden filled his place. He at this time issued patents for about four hundred thousand acres of Vermont land, - fees to himself, not less than ten thousand dollars. "The whole quantity of Vermont land patented by New York up to the period of the Revolution, besides that embraced in confirmatory charters, exceeded two millions of acres, more than three quarters of which had been granted in direct violation of the king's order of July, 1767, and of the 49th article of the standing instructions of the crown." 1 Governor Colden, during one of the periods of his administration, which lasted little more than a year, by hurrying such land pat- ents through his office, pocketed in patent fees twenty-five thousand dollars.
The New York provincial government was aristocratic in feeling and policy. It declared such sympathies at court - strongly siding with the king, against the republican character of the settlers on the grants, as matters were tend- ing to a rupture with the mother country. Parties in the interest of the New York speculations upon the grants, contemptuously stigmatized the settlers as " fierce republi- cans," denounced across the water their " illiberal opinions and manners as extremely offensive to all loyal subjects of
1 Vermont Hist. Mag.
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ARBITRARY MEASURES OF NEW YORK.
the king." Had the New York jurisdiction, and the policy which the New York provincial government seemed deter- mined to indissolubly wed with it, not been resisted, they would have established their lordly manors here, and become patroons of the Walloomsac and the Battenkill.
" All the officers from the highest to the lowest, -from the judges of the Supreme Court down to constables and superinten- dents of highways, were appointed, either directly or indirectly, by the central executive authority in New York city. The town meeting, that school and nursery of republican equality, in which the men of New England had been accustomed to elect all inferior officers, and to consult and legislate upon their local affairs, was an institution hardly known in that province." 1
The measures by which the New York officials sought to accomplish their scheme were of the most arbitrary descrip- tion. They divided the New Hampshire Grants into counties, and appointed county officers ; sent men to survey the lands of the territory in question.
There was a long story of writs and trials of ejectment.
" If we do not oppose the sheriff and his posse he will take im- mediate possession of our houses and farms; if we do we are im- mediately indicted as rioters; and when others oppose officers in taking such, their friends so indicted, they are also indicted, and so on, there being no end of indictments against us so long as we act the bold and manly part, and stand by our liberty." 2
1 Vermont Hist. Mag.
2 Letter of Ethan Allen and others to Governor Tryon; see State Papers, 24-29. " Silas Robinson is believed to have been the only settler in the Grants whom the Yorkers, as they were styled, were ever able to arrest and punish as a rioter, though great numbers were accused and indicted as such." He "resided on the main road about two miles north of the Bennington village, at the place now occupied by Stephen Robinson. Early in the morning of the 29th of Novem- ber, the sheriff (Ten Eyck) and his party (John Munro and others) went to his house, and coming upon him when he was off his guard succeeded in taking him prisoner; and by returning with great speed, before notice could be given to his neighbors, they were enabled to carry him off to Albany, where he was detained in jail until released on bail the following October." - Vermont Hist. Mag.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
These ejectment trials were appointed to be held in Al- bany.1 In them the question of the validity of the New Hampshire charters was not allowed to be discussed ; the charters were not allowed to be read to the jury. They were at the outset authoritatively judged to be null and void. The Vermont communities were pronounced to be a mob. In 1774 the government of New York passed an act of outlawry, " the most minatory and despotic of any- thing that had appeared in the British colonies," 2 against those who had resisted the attempt to dispossess the set- tlers of the lands they had occupied and improved under grants from the New Hampshire government. All crimes committed on the Grants were, by a statute of the General Assembly of New York, subject to be tried in the county and by the courts at Albany. At the same time a procla- mation was issued by the Governor of of New York, offer- ing a reward of fifty pounds a head for apprehending and securing Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and six others of the most obnoxious of the settlers.
To satisfy New York those who had bought and settled upon and improved lands under grants from the govern- ment of New Hampshire, must buy them over again from the Governor of New York, or from the speculators he had sold them to, at prices many times over more than they had paid for the original purchase. The fees to the Governor of New Hampshire for grants of townships were. about one hundred dollars ; under the government of New York they generally amounted to two thousand, or two
1 " The integrity, too, of the court in the above-named decisions (Albany trials of ejectment) may be questioned."- Early Hist. Vermont, pp. 120, 121.
2 Williams. - " An act which for its savage barbarity is probably without a parallel in the legislation of any civilized country."- Early Hist. Vermont, p. 180. See a full account of the act, and the responses it provoked on the part of the Green Mountain Boys. - Ib., pp. 180-186. See, also, Slade's Vermont State Papers, p. 48.
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FEELING IN EAST VERMONT.
thousand and six hundred dollars. In instances not un- common their possessions had been sold away to new pur- chasers by the New York officials before the occupants under the New Hampshire charters had time to rebuy them themselves of New York, if they would.
In addition to all this, there were for a time numbers of individuals and combinations of men on the east side of the Green Mountains, who lent their sympathies and aid to New York; some, doubtless, from the conviction that on account of having committed themselves in some way to the New York interest, they had little to hope for them- selves if the cause of the settlers against New York should win, and others from the belief that the cause of New York was too powerful to be successfully opposed.
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