USA > Vermont > Windham County > Guilford > Official history of Guilford, Vermont, 1678-1961. With genealogies and biographical sketches > Part 24
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A reporter from the London Daily Express called by transat-
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lantic telephone for an interview and asked the question, evidently in many minds," Could you tell me, sir, did you slay the beast first?" The answer was "YES."
The five sons, two daughters, their families, friends and neighbors worked many hours in preparing the menu. However hundreds of folk who never heard of Guilford before will remember it as the town where they had the big beef barbecue.
Steam Sawmill: The two hundredth anniversary year in Guilford sees the last steam mill of its kind in this area being run at Guilford Center by Elmer Goodnow. Things here are done just as they were a hundred years ago except the logs are no longer brought in by horses. The boiler is fed by slabs from the logs by a full time fireman. Ex- haust from the engine is piped up the stack to create greater draft in order to burn green, wet slabs. There is also an arrangement whereby live steam is poured on the logs to clean them. Unlike the power of gasoline and diesel engines which have to obtain high speed to produce capacity power, the steam engine will walk a saw through a big log when the engine almost comes to a standstill because the slower the engine turns the wider the governor opens allowing more steam to the cylinder.
The steam mill is difficult and expensive to take apart and set up on a new site, but Elmer Goodnow has done this all his life from central Massachusetts halfway to Canada. He has set up and run mills in the following locations in town. The 1st mill was on the Weather- head Hollow road, about 1905. From there he moved to Sunderland, Mass. The 2nd was located below Leon Thayer's on the East side of the road. The next location was on the George Higley place, from there he moved to Deerfield, Mass. The 4th mill was on the Arthur Yeaw place now owned by his son Warren, this time the move was to N. H. The 5th mill in Guilford was located on the road from Packers Corners to West Leyden about one half mile north of the state line. The next was on the Eloise Thayer pasture, from here he moved to the lot just south of where the present mill stands. This mill burned and he moved to the present mill site, at least his eighth in Guilford.
Henry's Milk Transportation: William Petrie started hauling milk 32 years ago. At first it was just for a few farmers near his place and he met a truck that was picking up other milk. It went in 40 quart cans and was taken out of water tanks with water running in them all the time. Some were in barns, some in barnyards or wherever the water tank happened to be. After a few months he started getting milk from more farms, his route then was through Weatherhead Hollow and Green River.
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Soon after that some of the farmers put up milk houses and put in cooler tanks in which they put large blocks of ice in the water to keep the milk cold. Many places had no electricity at this time, so they had no other way to cool the milk. The roads were very muddy in the spring. On some of the roads after the milk truck went through a few times the ruts were so deep the cars couldn't get through. In the winter the roads were plowed with the town tractor and weren't plowed until the storm was over-some places drifted so bad, several men would shovel so the tractor could get through.
After the electric lines went through on back roads, the farmers put in electric milk cooler tanks to put their milk in. The milk was hauled in an open bodied truck with a canvas over the cans in summer and heavy pads in winter to keep it from freezing.
In 1941, William Petrie sold his place to his daughter, Clara and her husband, Robert Henry, where they farmed and kept on with the milk route. In about two years Bob took on another route through West Guilford and West Brattleboro which went to the Windham Co-operative Creamery, now owned by the H. P. Hood Co. At this time they had to have covered bodies on the trucks. He also bought the Rowley Freight and Milk Route. The freight route was from Rutland to Brattleboro and the milk route was form North London- derry to Brattleboro.
After a few years he sold the freight route and kept the milk route for a while. Bob, Jr. helped pick up milk through the summer when school was out. He wasn't old enought to get a license so his mother went with him. Later, the milk route was sold to a man in London- derry. At this time Bob had three trucks and he took on a route in Chesterfield and Westmoreland, N. H. and picked up milk for the Hood plant in Brattleboro in Proctorsville and Chester, Vt. He kept the N. H. route for a few years and sold it, but kept the Guilford and West Bratleboro routes. He now had two trucks and with Bob, Jr. as a driver, they were hauling around 200 cans a day.
In 1954, some of the farmers put in bulk milk tanks as the Spring- field Hood plant was changing to having milk delivered in bulk tank trucks and eliminating the milk cans. Bob bought his first bulk tank truck in 1954, making a trip to Springfield, Mass. every other day as only a few of the farms had bulk tanks then. He had to get a special license to pick up milk from bulk tanks. Bob, Jr. was still hauling a load of milk in cans to the plant in Brattleboro.
The Henrys' sold their place on the hill in 1956 and moved to the Baker place which they had bought in 1951. A bulk tank had been installed there in 1955 and at this time more farmers had bulk tanks requiring the truck to go to Springfield every day.
After Bob's death in 1957, Bob, Jr. and his mother kept the busi-
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ness going and in the fall of 1958 they bought another new truck and tank, as business had increased.
Bob, Jr. took the job of picking up milk for Thomas Dairy in Brattleboro. As this was only a short trip, one of the men that worked on the farm drove until March, 1959 when Gordon "Bud" Henry came home from "service" and he drove one of the trucks. They bought the Londonderry route which had changed to bulk tanks.
In 1960, they bought a route and a tractor trailer which picks up milk in Putney, Bellows Falls, Vt. and Westmoreland, N. H.
They now haul around 500 cans or 40,000 lbs. a day with four drivers and three trucks going every day. They pick up milk in Hali- fax and West Brattleboro, from all the Hood producers from North Londonderry to Brattleboro, and 19 farms in Guilford.
The trailer truck goes to Manchester, N. H. one day and Spring- field, Mass. the next. The other trucks go to Springfield, Mass. every day. The roads are much better now. They are kept open year round and there are very few "bad" places in the spring. The trucks go every day regardless of the weather.
MRS. ROBERT HENRY
Austine Prize Winners of Brattleboro High School from Guilford: The money for these prizes comes from a fund set up by the late Colonel Austine. They are given to the students with the highest scholastic honors.
Harold Johnson 1910
Harriet Paulman Fairbank 1937
Alice R. Bullock 1920
Garnet Hitchcock 1939
Helen Miller Ingram 1920
Eric Barradale 1940
Margaret French Maynard 1924 Laurence Childs 1946
Dorothy Evans Bullock 1927
Anna Needham 1948
Elizabeth Clark Newton
1933
Betty Wohler Yeaw 1952
Guilford Representatives in the General Assembly 1778-1961
1778 Levi Goodenough
1790 Peter Briggs
1779 David Stowell
1791-95 William Bigelow
1780 Levi Goodenough
1796 Peter Briggs
1781 William Bullock
1797 & 98 William Bigelow
1799-1804 John Noyes 1783 William Bullock
1782 William Smalley
1805-08 Gilbert Denison
1784 Lovewell Bullock
1809-11 John Noyes
1785 William Bigelow
1812 Aaron Barney
1786 & 87 Peter Briggs
1813 Jonah Cutting
1788 Benjamin Carpenter
1814 John Phelps
1789 William Bigelow
1815
Aaron Barney
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Official History of Guilford
1816 Willard Martin
1874 William W. Barney
1817 William Bigelow
1876 & 78 Charles E. Alexander
1818 John Phelps
1880 William W. Barney
1819 Willard Martin
1882 Francis C. Taylor
1820 Joseph Boyden
1884
Frank E. Ward
1821
Aaron Barney
1886 Francis C. Taylor
1822
Willard Martin
1888 Sanford A. Smith
1823 Amos Billings
1890 William H. Tyler
1824
Joseph Boyden
1892 Joseph C. Cutting
1825 Willard Martin
1894
George E. Houghton
1826 & 27 Dana Hyde Jr.
1896
John L. Bullock
1828 & 29 Aaron Barney
1898
Charles F. Brackett
1830 Russell Hyde
1900 & 02 John E. Gale
1831 & 32 Ward Bullock
1904
William H. Tyler
1833 Russell Hyde
1906
Joel Flagg, Jr.
1834 Nathan Conant
1908
George P. Miller
1835-38 Ward Bullock
1910
Merton A. Thomas
1839 John Lynde
1912
A. Gilbert Gallup
1840 Ward Bullock
1914
Roy C. Ingraham
1841 Isaac Brown
1916
E. W. Legate
1842 & 43 Elihu Field
1918
Russell B. Thomas
1844 & 45 John Lynde
1920
Earl W. Jaqueth
1846 Samuel L. Hunt
1922
William Baker
1847 & 48
Nathan Porter Chapin
1924
Fred Coombs
1849 & 50
Aaron C. Barney
1926
Arthur G. Beals
1851 & 52
Benjamin W. Stevens
1928
Frank A. Johnson
1853 & 54 Cyrus Carpenter
1930 & 32 William Baker
1855 Benjamin W. Stevens
1934 Charles H. Evans
1856 Samuel L. Hunt
1936 Ralph Bullock
1857 & 58 Charles C. Lynde
1938 Louis A. Quinn
1859 & 60 Levi Boyden
1940 & 42 Merton Clark
1861 William W. Barney
1944 Ethel Jacobs
1862 & 63 Stephen Smith
1946 Frank Brasor
1864 & 65 Samuel L. Hunt
1948 Lillie Young
1866 Stephen Smith
1950 Fay Jacobs
1867 & 68 Charles C. Lynde
1952 & 54 Clifford Baker
1869 Samuel L. Hunt
1956 & 58 John Bullock
1870 & 72 Rodney B. Field
1960 Lawrence Franklin
CHAPTER IX Churches
The White Meeting House: At a meeting of the proprietors of the town of Guilford held at Brattleboro on Sept. 14, 1763, it was voted to choose a committee to view house lot No. 40, for the purpose of finding a convenient place for a meeting house and burying place. This was a fifty acre lot in the geographical center of the town, which had not then been sold, but was owned in common by the several proprietors. The location was nearly one mile south of lot No. 100, where the meeting house and cemetery were afterward established on the hill east of Guilford Center village. We find no evidence that this committee ever filed a report, and are unable to fix the exact date of the erection of the meeting house, but it was apparently prior to 1773, as the town meeting held June 15 of that year was adjourned to meet the "third Tuesday in May, next, at the meeting house." At that time the land was owned by Hezekiah Stowell, who sold to Elihu Field, and it was twenty years before the land was deeded to the pro- prietors of the meeting house. This was done by Mr. Field on July 1, 1793, for the consideration of eleven pounds. The description of the land conveyed is as follows :- "Beginning at a stake and stones for a corner, standing on a course from Lieut. James Houghton's dwelling house East 40 degrees North, and from my dwelling house on a course West, 18 degrees South, and from Gov. Benj. Carpenter's dwelling house on a course East, 32 degrees South, and from the Southwest corner of the aforesaid meeting house on a course 38 degrees West, and from thence running North, 24 degrees East, 16 rods and 16 links to a stake and stones for a corner, and from thence running East, nine degrees South, 6 rods and 10 links to a stake and stones for a corner, standing three rods from the Northeast corner of the meeting house on a course North, 33 degrees East, and from thence South, 32 degrees East 11 rods to a stake and stones for a corner, from thence West 15 degrees South 19 rods and 14 links to the first mentioned corner, containing 154 square rods."
The cemetery was not established there until 1796, when Rev. Elijah Wollage conveyed one half acre and 28 rods for a cemetery. This adjoined the meeting house tract on the westerly side, and has since been enlarged and now includes the site of the meeting house.
The architect of the White Meeting House was William Shepard- son, more familiarly known as "Uncle Bill." It is related that the frame being finished, ready for erection, a large concourse of the
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townspeople were called together for a "raising bee"-an institution very popular in the early days when timber was plentiful and build- ings were made as they should be. After every mortise and tenon had been knocked together, the rafters securely placed and fastened by six inch pins of white oak, and the entire framework completed, staunch and square and plumb, Uncle Bill Shepardson, with the agility of a gray squirrel, climbed to the lofty ridge pole, stood erect, threw his left foot over his neck and hopped nimbly on the other foot the whole length of the ridge pole from end to end.
There is no record of the dimensions of the edifice, but it was a large two-story building, painted white. It had no steeple, there were circular windows in the gable ends. Its greatest dimension was from east to west, the front door being on the south side and a smaller door at the center of the east end. A broad aisle led from the front door to the pulpit, which was in the center of the north side and was reached by a narrow stairway. There were two rows of body pews, and wall pews on three sides. There was also a gallery on three sides, with pews. The seats were hung upon hinges, and were tipped up while the congregation stood at prayers. At the conclusion of the prayers the seats were allowed to fall back with a tremendous clatter. There was no provision made for heating the house, and those who could do so brought foot stoves during the cold weather.
People came from all over town to attend the meetings, often filling the house to overflowing, and in warm weather would be grouped about the doors outside during services. Many came on foot, some on horseback, singly or on pillions, some with ox carts, as no light wagons were used in town until after 1800, and it was many years before they came into anything like common use. As good shoes were expensive, wholly made by hand, and all wished to be decently clad while attending religious services in their honored sanctuary, some of those who traveled on foot carried their "go to meeting shoes" with them, which they put on just before entering the place of worship. Boys and girls usually went barefooted in summer time, not only when about their homes, but while attending school as well. Their worthy parents saw to it that they did not enter the meeting house without shoes. Pity the poor young ones who had to stop at the "last brook", wash off the road dust and confine liberty loving toes in Sunday shoes. The girls had the added chore of buttoning on starched pantalettes.
Among those who owned pews in the Old White Church were Daniel Knight, Abijah Rogers, Job Whitney, Joseph Boyden, Joel Bigelow, Thomas Wells, John Dickerson, Daniel Wilkins, Jonah Cutting, James King, Sr., James King, Jr., Calvin Weld, Amasa Smead, Cyrus Martin, Josiah Rice, Capt. Lovell Bullock, Abel Joy, --- Ake-
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ley, David Joy, Samuel Larrabee, Dr. Dana Hyde, Ebenezer Goode- nough, Thomas Cutler, Luther Weld, James and Edward Houghton, David Stowell, Samuel Baker, Jr., Paul Chase, Simon Stevens, Eleazer Tobey, Isaac Ferrell, Samuel Clark, Jotham Bigelow, Lovell Bullock, Jr., Gilbert Denison, Aaron Barney, Luther Weld, Manassah Bixby, Jr., Joseph Bullock, John Phelps, Paul Chase, Jr., Cyrus Carpenter, James Fosdick, Jeremiah Graves, John K. Chase, Benjamin W. Stevens, Philip Martin, Capt. Joshua Lynde, Capt. Stephen Gregory, William Gregory.
On Dec. 5, 1836 the proprietors of the Old Congregational Church on the hill were asked if they would agree to remove the House to some more convenient place. Jan. 21, 1837 they voted to sell "Old Congregational Church" on the hill, at auction Feb. 18, so as to move to a more central location. On Feb. 25th the Guilford Center Meeting- house Society was organized. The land was given by Edward Houghton May 6, 1837, the present edifice, containing timbers of the original, was erected the same year. The completed cost was $2409.21 including $205 paid for the old church, and $320 for the bell.
On March 11, 1871 the Universalists having become the active group, The Universalist Parish was organized. This information comes from the Association of Universalists, Unitarians and Kindred Religious Liberals, but it has been noted by other authorities that the first organization was in 1838 and the society re-organized in the seventies. This old church has been kept in good repair but like many another country church, "used only occasionally."
In October 1938 a tablet-marked boulder, placed near the entrance of the Church at Guilford Center was dedicated to the memory of Hosea Ballou 2nd. This boulder was taken from the farm in West Guilford where Mr. Ballou was born, Oct. 18, 1796, and lived with his parents, Asahel and Martha (Starr) Ballou and his grandparents Benjamin and Lydia (Horton) Ballou as a child. Although the house was taken down some time ago, Mr. Clarence L. Stickney of Brattle- boro, always keenly interested in the early history and development of the surrounding towns, obtained a part of a door from this house and framed the panel to be hung in the Universalist Church at Guil- ford Center. A card is attached which reads as follows :-
"This Panel from Old Door in House at West Guilford, Vermont, where Hosea Ballou II was born in 1796. First President Tufts College. Overseer Harvard University. Pioneer in Universalist Denomination. 1796-1861"
Rev. Hosea Ballou 2nd, a Universalist clergyman, was a grand- nephew of Hosea Ballou founder of Universalism in America. In the
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Official History of Guilford
Book "Hosea Ballou 2nd D.D." by Hosea Starr Ballou of Brookline, Mass., a nephew of Hosea 2nd, there is much of interest concerning the early history of Guilford and Halifax.
Congregational Church: The Congregationalists organized the first church society in Guilford in 1767-1768, and arranged with that society in Brattleboro for joint support of Rev. Abner Reeves, each society paying one half the cost, preaching to be in Guilford one half the time. It is probable that Mr. Reeves officiated from the beginning, but the record of his service begins in 1770, and ends in 1774 when Rev. Royal Gurley began his pastorate here. (Some references give his name as Rev. Ebenezer Gurley.) This church is numbered among the thirteen Congregational churches organized in Vermont before the Revolution.
In 1818 the new church at East Guilford had been completed and so great a portion of the attendants at the "old white meeting house" affiliated with the new society that the old sanctuary of the pioneers soon fell into disuse. Matthew Hale Smith, the first preacher of the Universalists in Guilford, came here in 1829, and held services in the old meeting house on the hill for a time, but he removed to Hartford, Conn. in 1832.
The present Church building was erected during 1855 and was dedicated to the worship of God the following year. But after a quarter of a century, the membership was so small that it was closed. The first pastor at the East Guilford Church was Rev. Moses G. Grosvenor.
In 1899 the church was re-organized with eleven members devoted to the service of God. This small group slowly increased until about fifty years later the church was again a power for good in the com- munity. The average summer attendance at morning worship was sixty-five. There was a well attended Sunday School and a large active youth group. About this time the Universalist members at Guilford Center united to work with the Congregational members.
This progress was interrupted by a fire which seriously damaged the building. How the Guilford people did rally to re-build the sacred edifice! Help also poured in from neighboring towns. What had seemed like a catastrophe was really a blessing as it showed the love of all for the church.
Again the church is small, but it is still trying to carry on God's work in this community.
MISS HELEN JOHNSON & MISS FAITH FAIRBANK
The Baptist Church: Thompson's Vermont says "In Guilford a Baptist Church was organized in 1770, another in 1772, another in 1773 and a fourth in 1791" and states (1842) "The Baptists are the
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most numerous sect" and names among the Elders Willis, Hicks, Snow, Allen, Packer, Leland, Bucklin, Wilson, Lamb and Bruce. The minister in 1842 was Rev. Milo Frary, not Tracey as in Hemenway's History. It is known that an aged Baptist named Whipple sometimes preached in Guilford and Halifax in 1771. He died in 1789. Rev. Beriah Willis and Rev. Richard Williams occasionally preached in Brattleboro. In 1817, Rev. John Wilson of Guilford baptized 10 or 12 persons in Broad Brook, near the Connecticut River. They united with the Guilford church, though which one is not noted. Elders Josiah Bennett and Jeremy Packer lived near Packer's Corners.
Hemenway states that the first Baptist church in Guilford was organized in 1780, and had 100 members in 10 years; the second Baptist church was constituted in 1781 and its preacher in 1796 was Rev. Whitman Jacobs; the third Baptist church was constituted in 1782 in the northern part of the town, where Rev. Peleg Hicks was its presiding Elder for 18 years when in June 1800, it united with the second church and became the only Baptist Church Society in town; the fourth Baptist church was constituted in 1797, in the southern part of the town, in 1802 Benj. Bucklin became its pastor, and preached for 20 years when it dissolved. (Obviously these two para- graphs are contradictory.)
About the year 1800 the Baptists erected a building for a meeting house a short distance westerly from the Carpenter residence. It was never wholly finished, and was taken down in 1833 and its timbers removed to Brattleboro, and used in the construction of the Valley Mills building on Whetstone Brook, near Main Street bridge. Child's Gazetteer states that the first Baptist Church building in West Dum- merston, erected in 1802, was originally built in Guilford, taken down and re-erected there. "The building was of white oak timber and is the same now used as a store by J. E. Townsend."
Lot No. 178 in the southwest part of town was the location of a Baptist church before 1800. The deed from J. K. Goodenough to Job Goodale, Gill reserved the Meeting House "which was in the SW corner"
#145 Benj Bucklin to Jno. Allen 1817, 11/2 A on west side of road John Hines to Wm Yeaw 1818 1/2 A "corners on Bap Meet House lot John Hines to Peter Briggs & 20 & more others, Members United Bapt. Church Society, 1818 1/2 A-begins 8 in So. of NE cor of back house adjoining the School House wood shed."
This forthright description of the boundary, is on the deed to the land where the present West Guilford Church now stands. Excerpts from the church records follow.
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I can find no records of the Church prior to 1800, but it has come down to us from members of the Church that the old church was on land at the top of the hill, across the road from the cemetery and west of the present Graper home. At that time there was also a road east of the Church and cemetery, running north and south.
The Proprietors book of records of the United Baptist Church and Society (Jan. 31, 1818-Jan. 21, 1866) gives the minutes of meetings held and I will try to select some of them which may be of interest.
"Jan. 31, 1818-At a meeting of the United Baptist Church and Society made choise of Peter Briggs, Nathan Keith, Arad Nichols men to purchase land to set the said meeting house on.
Committee made return of said Church and Society, that the said house should stand a few rods east of the school house in District No. 1, which unanimously met the approbation of the Church and Society.
Voted that two of the committee should go and look of a meeting house and get a sample.
Voted that pew No. I should be reserved for our minister."
At this meeting a Vendue Master was chosen and twelve pews sold, which brought from $15 to $36. In 1867 two of these pews were sold for $86.50, deed made out with seals and a fifty cent revenue stamp, and signed by Sam Hunt, Justice of the Peace. This deed is in excel- lent condition.
"March 4, 1818-Voted to have the House built according to a plan drawn by John Esterbrook, nearly like the one drawn by Stephen Otis Jr.
March 29, 1819-Voted to build a number of horse sheds, voted to begin at the west end of the plot of land next to the school house shed, and build toward the east.
April 12, 1819-Agreed to engage Brother Amherst Lamb to preach and improve his gifts among us for one year from this date.
April 13, 1820-Voted to accept the Meeting House."
In 1841, it was voted to try and buy a Parsonage, however, the next year it was agreed to try and build a house, and a committee was appointed to superintend the building. This building was completed in 1843 and the amount due the committee about $60. This parsonage was sold in 1933 for $400, together with about fifteen acres of land.
The Church records of the Baptist Church of West Guilford date back to 1800 due to the foresight of John Carpenter Jr., who was elected Church clerk in 1830. He copied the earlier records into the Church book which is in use at the present time, but there have been omissions since. From these records we learn that in 1874, through the agency of the Pastor, O. Smith, a Christian lady in Vermont pre- sented a very fine toned bell to the church, on condition that her name be not made public.
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