USA > Vermont > Windham County > Guilford > Official history of Guilford, Vermont, 1678-1961. With genealogies and biographical sketches > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
$500 REWARD
(Then follows a cut of three men on horseback, the leader whipping his horse, his hat in the air, and headed "To Texas" as indicated by a placard on a tree by the wayside, and his pursuers calling "Stop Thief.)"
A reward of $500 will be paid for the arrest of the thieves, and recovery of the money and U.S. Bonds stolen from the house of Ira Kent, of Guilford, between 7 and 8 o'clock, on the morning of April 26.
Two men were engaged in the robbery, between twenty and thirty years of age. One medium height, dark complexion, dark hair, black whiskers, no moustache, black eyes, long Roman nose, long thin face, the fore finger on one hand is gone above the first joint. Dark clothes, new, bought at Shelburne Falls on the 26th or 27th. Coat and vest black tricot, pants dark check cassimere, purple ground with black
200
201
Official History of Guilford
lines and red spots. The other is medium height, sandy complexion, light hair red whiskers around the face and chin, blue eyes, rather round favored and pug nose, dressed like the other. One wore a soft hat and the other a stiff brim. One half of the above reward will be paid for the arrest and conviction of the thieves.
Guilford, Vt., April 27,1870
IRA KENT
The property stolen was seven U.S. bonds, known as 5-20s, of $500 each; three 5-20s of $100 each; ten twenty-dollar bills, sixty five-dollar bills, twenty-five ten-dollar bills, all U.S. treasury notes; also ten na- tional bank notes of $50 each; twenty national bank notes of $20 each; fifty of $5 each; twenty of $10 each and twenty five of $1 each, making a total of $5925.
It was at once suspected that the robbers were brothers from Massachusetts, one of whom had worked for Kent. However both were missing and made good their escape. The 14th of the following July they returned to Franklin County where they were recognized by a man named Pike who notified the authorities. Officers Bryant and Thayer, with two other men were led to the house where the fugitives were sleeping. The officers entered the bedroom, removed two loaded pistols and awakened the men who remarked that with their pistols in hand they would never have been taken alive.
The Vermont officers were notified and Deputy Sheriff C. F. Esta- brook of Guilford took them to Brattleboro where a preliminary hear- ing was had before Justice Kittredge Haskins, who held the men in $6000 bail for appearance at the September term of Windham County Court. Being unable to raise sureties they were taken to Newfane Jail. They were tried and convicted at the September term of court, sentenced to serve ten years each at Windsor. Neither served his full sentence; one died May 26, 1874 of lung fever; the other was afterward pardoned on account of ill health. When taken they had about two hundred dollars in gold upon them, and papers which indicated that they had purchased lands in Virginia to the value of about $2000 only a portion of which was recovered. Ira Kent was a shoemaker, and had a little shop on the south side of the road near his farm house. At the time of the robbery he was about 78 years old.
The property stolen represented the accumulations of a lifetime of industry and thrift such as was seldom met with, even in the early days, before the practice of saving had lost its popularity. It is somewhat significant that in 1869, the year before the Kent robbery, one of the brothers was indicted by the Windham County grand jury for ob- taining certain goods under false representation from Joseph Steen, of Brattleboro, among which were "four dime novels." Whether the perusal of these served to aggravate his already distorted ideas of property rights is open to conjecture.
202 Official History of Guilford INDUSTRIES LISTED ON THE JUNE 1, 1870 CENSUS REPORT
Workers
Total Wages
Production Value
Blacksmiths
Joseph Wilder Edward Starkey
2
$ 400
$ 1,500
1,000
Brick Yard
G. & J. M. Houghton (200,000 brick)
4
500
1,400
Carriage Factory-wagons and sleighs
Frank Ashcraft
2
200
950
Children's Carriages
C. A. Dennison
12
9,000
16,000
(4500 carriages)
Edwards & Smith
12
4,000
12,000
(also velocipedes)
Sanford A. Smith
4
600
6,000
(3000 carriages)
S. & S. H. Smith
19
6,000
22,000
Grist Mill-ground corn, rye, barley & oats
Henry M. Clisbee (594,000 bushel)
742,000
Saw Mills
Davis & Gale (50,000 ft. lumber)
750
Philip Franklin
2
600
(40,000 ft. lumber)
(10,000 broom handles)
300
Samuel Yeaw
750
(50,000 ft. lumber)
Slate Manufacturing
Brattleboro & Guilford Slate Co.
12
8,000
9,000
Wait & Johnson
20
15,000
16,000
Orin Weatherhead
7
2,500
4,000
Children's Carriage Manufacturing and all mills were operated by waterpower, varying from 15 to 30 horse power.
203
Official History of Guilford
How the Gauger Ran the Still: About the year 1812 Isaac Barber set up a cider brandy distillery near his farm house on the county road, now U.S. Highway No. 5, in school district No. 3, on the west side, adjoining the south line of the Gale farm. This was equipped with a three-barrel copper kettle, and was operated for a time until about 1860, when the building was converted into a dwelling house, and occupied for some years by the Barbers, later by Hiram Pierce, Samuel Bardwell, Hugh McNelis, and other later tenants. The property was later owned by Alfred Brown, and the house was taken down about 1900. A new set of buildings was erected there by Hollis Newcomb, who sold to Henry Nelson, who now owns the place.
In 1870 Charles F. Estabrook, who had removed from Green River Village to the Elihu Field farm, sold that place to John L. Simonds, and now-1939-owned by Charles A. Whipple. Mr. Estabrook soon afterward built a new distillery near the south line of the Gale farm, on the west side of the old highway, just beyond the old blacksmith shop of Ephraim Gale, later used as a sugar house, and now standing.
The new distillery was about 24 by 50 feet, and two stories high at the east end, the westerly half being a walled cellar for half its length of basement. The lower part held ten wooden tubs or vats, holding forty barrels each, the upper floor holding 12 or 15 tubs of smaller size, about twenty barrels each.
The working equipment consisted of a copper kettle of nine barrels capacity, and the Barber kettle, both set in solid masonry of brick and stone. The larger kettle was brought from the old Jacobs distillery on Broad Brook-which had produced the liquor which named "Brandy Bridge" still known by that name-and was located about three miles west of Guilford village on Broad Brook.
It is supposed that the tubs and condenser, or "worm" as it was called, came with the kettle. It was made of block tin, that is pure metal, and was a coil of pipe of two-inch diameter, the coil being about 30 inches inside and four feet high. It weighed 400 pounds and was said to have cost four hundred dollars. It was placed in a large wooden tub, where cold water ran in at the bottom continuously, the heated water at the top overflowing kept the coil temperature low enough to condense the steam from the boiling kettles the product running out at the lower end of the worm in a small continuous stream as brandy, into a cask placed to receive it.
Until very recent years there were thousands of bushels of "cider apples"-ungrafted natural fruit and culls from better grades of grafted fruit, and it was unusual to find a farm place without from one to forty barrels of cider in the cellar, which was somehow prevented from going to vinegar, as a general rule.
The new distillery made a market for the cider, which was de-
204
Official History of Guilford
livered here at a price sometimes as low as 80 cents a barrel of 32 gallons. The barrel of cider when fully fermented would average to make three gallons of brandy of "proof" quality, 50 per cent alcohol. Some of the farmers, instead of selling their cider, would take their three gallons of brandy and pay the cost of making, at $1.20 per gallon, of which 90 cents went to the government revenue tax collector, or gauger, as he was called, who tested the distillery product and affixed to the barrels the great green revenue stamps showing that the tax had been paid, using paste and a stated number of large headed tacks for each stamp.
Two runs of the still were made, one early in the fall for the early made cider and one the following spring, before the cider began turning into vinegar. To satisfy the government regulations the run must be continuous, and the furnace closed and sealed by the gauger, who tied the furnace door with red tape, sealed with hot wax, duly impressed, and no one but the gauger might cut the tape.
That, however, was sometimes done by mice, without serious results. It took just eight hours to fill and completely run off the 9 bbl. kettle of cider, so the capacity of the still was 81 gallons of proof brandy each day of 24 hours. There came a time when the gauger was not satis- fied with the production, so the proprietor asked him to come out, see the kettle filled and handle the firing and the entire operation himself to his satisfaction, and the officer accepted the invitation. The top opening of the still kettle was about twenty inches across, and the cap, otherwise known as the alembic, or steam dome, was carefully fitted to this opening, which was made tight by pressing a paste made of rye meal and water, into the space between the two parts; This paste was hardened by the heat of the kettle and made a steam tight joint. Immediately above, the cap was bulged, or enlarged for about two feet, and was then tapered and depressed to a connection with the worm in the condensing tub, that joint being made tight in the same way as the larger rim had been.
To hold this cap in place against the pressure of the steam two props were used, one end resting on the top of the cap, the other or upper ends were placed tightly against the under side of the roof boards, next to the rafters. At that stage of the heating of the kettle, when the contents were first about to break into steam, the lighter alcohol, known as fusil oil would escape first, and the expansion came so suddenly that the distiller's practice was to draw the furnace fire, or run it very lightly, until ebullition was fully commenced. This part of the program was not explained to the gauger, who had aspired to the position of expert distiller without having taken the preliminary degrees, and he fed the dry, split rock maple wood into the fire box as fast as its capacity would permit.
205
Official History of Guilford
As soon as a gentle simmering told the distiller and his usual helper, who stood close by, that the time for discretion had arrived, they passed the wink and strolled out at the easterly door, to see if there might be any sign of rain coming. They were hardly outside when there came a tremendous "poof", the cap props went up through the board roof and the building filled with potent steam.
The great copper cap fell upon the masonry with a tremendous clatter and the gauger very promptly joined the weather observers on the outside. This ended his tuition, so he was allowed to graduate with- out honors. The roof was repaired in a short time, and the kettle had not fully cooled when operations resumed. Some loss was entailed but that was made good when the next official visit was made by the gauger.
This was the only Registered Distillery in this federal district and was numbered 1. A large wooden sign board was procured from the old Wesselhoeft Watercure building at Brattleboro, and re-painted "Regestered Distillery No. 1". The orthography of the artist would indicate that his task was done at some time subsequent to the be- ginning of operations at the still.
The entire period of operation of this establishment was during the reign of prohibition in Vermont, but all being quiet no inter- ference was made by state officials, although much retailing of liquors was done by hotels of this region, which might be assumed from the fact that one hundred empty whiskey barrels were bought at one time from a Brattleboro hotel proprietor, for the Guilford distillery, which was last operated in 1882, and was taken down a few years later.
Graves Seminary: March 2, 1872, Willard Graves of Mendota, Ill., with Selectmen of Guilford. 38914 Acres, deed. lands in Cook Co., Ill., being the S. E. quarter of Sec. 13, the East half of the N. E. quarter of Sec. 13, and the N. W. quarter of Sec. 13, all in Township #36, north of Range 13, east of the 3d principal meridian, containing 3891/4 Acres.
Knox Bullock, W. W. Barney & Chas. C. Lynde, Selectmen, as trus- tees. To give bonds. Vacancies in board to be filled by voters of the town. Lands leased to Thos. Lewis for 5 yrs. to Mar. 1, 1877.
Trustees to receive 21/2% of income for their services.
After 5 years the town to elect 5 trustees to become incorporated under Vermont laws, all to give bonds, and receive funds, and to lease said lands, not over 10 years at a time, to continue to lease same for 25 years from date hereof.
After 25 years lands to be sold in lots of not more than 10 acres each, and not more than 40 A. to a customer, at not less than $50. per acre. Proceeds of sales to be made a fund for a School building, on a lot of not less than 1 acre, within the town of Guilford, to be selected
1
206
Official History of Guilford
by voters at an annual meeting, three fourths of funds to be applied to erection of such building. Balance to remain as fund. School to have donors name.
Recorded Book 8, Page 586, Cook Co., Ill., Records. Recorded Book 18, P. 572-573-574-Guilford.
In 1879 it was reported that the town had dropped the "Graves will case". Evidently the heirs believed they could use Mr. Graves' estate themselves.
The Freshet of 1869 was not as might be supposed an abnormal spring thaw but occurred during the first days of October. Nor was it a local storm. Today we would probably call it "Donna" or some other girlish name. It was reported as covering the eastern seaboard from the middle Atlantic states to Canada and stretching to the Mis- sissippi River. The water was said to have risen at the rate of six feet an hour on the first day. Little wonder that stories have come down to us of great boilers floating on the raging torrent like corks. In Guilford mills were destroyed, roads washed out and bridges swept down stream. The bridges at this time have been likened to giant dominoes set up so that a touch on the first sets up a chain reaction, each one as it falls giving a death blow to the next. The greatest loss was the Green River bridge and it took several town meetings before it was voted to replace it.
Green River Covered Bridge: The covered bridge at Green River is the only one left in Guilford. According to the town records, several attempts were made each year, after the freshet of 1869, to get a vote to rebuild the Green River Bridge. Finally in June 1872 it was voted to build the bridge, that it should be a covered bridge and to be com- pleted by Nov. 1, 1873. The 1874 Town Report gives the total ex- pense of the bridge as $7,081.09. A few of the items are as follows: Henry Stowe, land damage $10.00; M. H. Day (an outsider), for masonry $4,670.55; Marcus Worden (who lived where Everett Thayer now lives) for woodwork $1,670.54 and sign boards $8.00.
Local help was under the practical supervision of Marcus Worden, who was famous for solving his mathematical problems, by the "Rule of Three." It has been passed down to us by old timers, that the sides of the bridge were laid out and pinned together beside the village street. Little is known as to how the sides were raised and set in place, and the roof built, but Lawrence French remembered that his father worked on the bridge, and that only those with a steady head were allowed to work in the high places. As the town derrick is stored in the bridge, it was probably used in the "raising."
Why did they build a covered bridge? It was not to protect the
207
Official History of Guilford
traveler or to keep horses from shying at the sparkling waters below, but to protect the framework of the bridge from rotting. This has proved true, as the bridge is now in its 88th year and is still sound.
A recent Vermont Life pictures a bridge similar to this one, and calls it the Town Lattice Truss type bridge. It gets its name from Ithiel Town of New Haven, Conn., who originated this type of bridge in 1820. It is easly recognized by the tightly criss-crossed pattern of the planks, and the protruding wooden pins, where the planks cross.
In 1953 a New Haven, Conn. paper showed an interior picture of Green River bridge, with its mail boxes. It called it the only place in the world where you have to drive through the Post Office to get from one side of the town to the other.
We now have drive-in refreshment stands and drive-in theaters, but this is a drive-in Post Office, where you can reach out and mail a letter from your car. Longfellow described a covered bridge as a "Brief darkness leading from the light to light."
The Rule of Three mentioned is defined as "the application of the doctrine of proportion to arithmetical purposes by which we are en- abled to find a fourth proportion to three given numbers, that is a number to which the third bears the same ratio as the first does to the second." This was used by drawing a scale model. What was used more often by old time builders was the corollary which states that "a line drawn to the sides of a triangle, is parallel to the base if it divides the sides proportionately." This was used in connection with the rule for making a right angle, the old 6-8-10- method or as the arithmetic books said "the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides."
Broad Brook Grange No. 151: In 1874, Deputy D. E. Boyden came to Guilford with the aim of establishing a Grange in town. He made his headquarters at the home of Orson Thayer. Although there was considerable opposition to secret orders, Broad Brook Grange was organized on November 28, 1874. Orson Thayer was elected Master and served for thirteen years. The charter members consisted of fifteen men and twelve women. These members were extremely faithful and many times had to walk several miles to attend meetings when the roads were impassable for horses to travel. At this time the meetings were held at the town hall.
These early Grangers studied the Grange ritual work, but they also devoted a great share of their programs to discussion of farm problems. Back in 1878 the Cooley System of Separating Cream from Milk was discussed. In 1896 they were disturbed because electric cars had come to Brattleboro and they were wondering if they should be allowed on the highways. Women's suffrage was another early subject.
208
Official History of Guilford
For a few years they discussed, frequently, Rural Free Delivery which is perhaps the best known of all the noted achievements of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.
For a while meetings were held at the homes of various members instead of the town hall. These included the Thurbers who lived at the Springs Farm, Wards, and the Sibleys who ran a store at the Cen- ter. Then in 1887 the members purchased the Fessenden place from Mr. Parmenter. The house was used as a Hall. The membership had increased and the young people had formed a Dramatic Club and held dances. Gradually the Hall became too small, was cluttered and in need of repairs.
After seven years it was voted to erect a new building. This was brought about through contributions of money, promises of labor and of building materials. A year and a half after the vote was taken the cornerstone was laid on October 14, 1895. The work progressed rapidly so that the Hall was occupied in February and publicly dedicated March 11, 1896. Within 10 years the building was debt free, which helps to illustrate the old fashioned grit and hard conscientious work of early Grangers.
Aside from regular meetings the Grange has been prominent on other occasions. As far back as 1884 the Grange was interested in the Guilford Fair! That year and later they held exhibitions of farm products, handicrafts, relics, antiques and heirlooms. In 1910 a re- ception to newcomers about town was held. The Grange Hall has been the scene of many receptions to the newly married and for wed- ding anniversaries.
During the years 1930 and '31 the Grange was inactive. However on March 9, 1932 a special meeting was called by State Master Law- rence, and Broad Brook Grange was re-organized. Perhaps the term should have been "re-activated" as there had been occasional meet- ings, the quarterly dues had been paid regularly and the Grange had retained its original charter. Much credit is due Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Fitch who, after the death of Clayton Weatherhead, Master, saw to it that the organization was not lost.
In August 1950 the Grange Hall was badly damaged from a fire believed to have started from defective wiring. While the Hall was be- ing repaired the meetings were again held in the Town Hall.
For many years the annual town meetings were held at the Grange Hall because of the inadequacy of the Town Hall. Since the erection of the new Central School in 1957 the Town Meetings have been held there.
Throughout the years the Grange has contributed to many worthy causes including the Cancer Drive, Red Cross, Tuberculosis Associa- tion, Vermont Children's Aid, Brattleboro Community Ambassador Fund, Camp Thorpe for Crippled Children, and the Educational Aid
209
Official History of Guilford
Fund of the State Grange. For the past several years the Grange has worked together with the Guilford Men's Club for the March of Dimes and the Christmas Baskets for the elderly and the shut-ins. Each year the third Friday in October is reserved for the 4-H Achievement pro- gram.
Broad Brook Grange has carried out many Community Service Projects through the years. It has taken more than its share of prizes offered by the Sears Roebuck Foundation for Community Service. Since 1953, the first year we reported our work, this Grange has re- ceived six state awards, including Ist in 1955, second in 1960 as well as third, fourth and fifth. With every Grange in Vermont competing this meant many hours of work. In one year alone 3640 hours of com- munity service work were reported. This year, 1961, marks the com- pletion of a project which has been followed for several years, the compiling of the Guilford History.
Grange Masters and the year they took office were as follows:
Orson Thayer
1874(-1886)
Louis Quinn 1932
F. E. Ward
1887
Clifford Squires 1936
F. G. Taylor
1889
Arvine Boyd 1938
F. E. Ward
1894
Emery Evans
1942
F. R. King
1898
W. H. Fitch
1944
Merton Thomas
1900
John Clark 1946
Lewis Jaqueth
1903
Marguerite Evans
1947
Lyman Huntley
1907
Arvine Boyd (bal)
1947
Roy Ingraham
1912
Emerson Thurber
1948
Earl Jaqueth
1915
Harold Jaqueth 1949
Bert Whittemore
1917
Hugh Evans 1951
W. T. Fitch
1921
Clifford Baker
1952
Louis Quinn
1922
Emerson Thurber
1953
Frank Houghton
1924
Robert Gaines
1955
James Whittemore
1925
Roy Thurber
1958
Clayton Weatherhead 1927
Harold Bradeen
1959
The Fortunate Runaway: For many years prior to 1880 two large freight wagons, with bow tops covered with black enameled canvas and drawn by four fine sleek horses, always black or dark bay and in well matched pairs, loaded with whips and cigars from Westfield, Mass., passed over the road leading from Bernardston to Brattleboro several times each season, going, presumably, as far north as Windsor, Vt.
They were owned by the Moseley Brothers, one of whom, called Ed, drove one of the teams much of the time. After a time powder and later dynamite was added to their cargo, as railroad freight rates upon the explosives were exceedingly high. They made no retail sales,
210
Official History of Guilford
but supplied the merchants upon their route at regular intervals.
During the latter part of the period covering this enterprise Mr. Moseley contracted a malarial disorder, fever and ague, it was called, and would sometimes be taken with a severe chill while on the road, and to guard against these unwelcome experiences he carried quinine with him, to be taken when he felt the chill coming on. Late in the summer of 1880 he was on his way north with a full load, mainly then consisting of powder and dynamite and soon after he left the slate-rock woods he felt a chill threatening him, so stopped his great wagon at the Gale farm and hanging his team reins upon a hook at the side of the seat, went to ask for water to mix his quinine with. To do this he stepped inside the house, and almost immediately his four great mettlesome horses started, and with no one to check them ran, gather- ing speed as they went, and disappeared in a tremendous cloud of dust as Mr. Ed Moseley came hurriedly from the doorway. By the greatest of good fortune they reached the village of East Guilford without mishap, and turning in at the hotel yard, as was their custom, they slackened somewhat, and plunging under the horse-shed the lead- ers each took one side of a supporting post, 7x7 inches, which was struck by the wagon tongue and broken off. It was never replaced, but was sawed off square just below the braces and an iron truss put in place to support the weight of the shed. Mr. Moseley followed on foot, as fast as he was able, expecting constantly to hear an explosion like the crack of doom, with nothing left of his beautiful team excepting possibly an occasional horse shoe rotating about the limb of one of the great maples. With the quinine, the hasty walk of a long half mile and the anxiety, the chill was effectively disposed of.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.