USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Wallingford > People of Wallingford, a compilation > Part 14
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PEOPLE OF WALLINGFORD
write to me & I can send them to you & save 15 to 17 per Cent in the case you can perhaps borrow of Mr. Hall until I can send it to you or you can buy on Credit-Give my love to your Wife to Sis- ter Lois & the whole of your family-
I remain your affectionate Brother etc Israel Munson
Mr. Isaac Munson, Wallingford, (Vermont)
Boston Jany. 11 1815
Dear Brother
Your much esteemed favor of the 25th of Dec is at hand-I was glad to learn that your family were in the enjoyment of tolerable good health-You observe that provisions are as high at Walling- ford as they are at New Haven when you have them for sale it will be an advantage to you-Mr. Tucker handed me your letter & this will be handed to him to carry to you
Boston Jan. 27th 1815.
Dear Brother
Mr. Tucker went from here last week by whom I send sundry articles for you-I hope he will be with you the first part of next week I wrote a letter to you by him & also one to Sister Lois to which letters I would refer you-I have sent by a sleigh a Quintal Codfish a Bbl Salmon, one keg Gin one Keg New England Rum, these are [for ] the use of the Farm & are to be left at the Store of Messrs Stone & Bellows Merchants at Walpole on Connecticut River for which you will go or send & also for the Salt which is now there-The Gin you will find of good quality & about 12 or 15 pr Cent above proof-The Salmon I think you will find very good they cost 15 Dollars the Codfish cost 6 Dollars the new Rum about 140 Cents per Gallon the Gin about 130 Cents per Gallon -I have been told the best way to manage with Salmon is to soak them in skimmed milk to freshen them instead of water before boiling them will make them almost as good as fresh Salmon-I have not heard from you since Mr. Tucker brought a letter from you-I wish to hear from you often I want to know how you go on with your business how your Marino Sheep are doing-I fear you will lose some of the Lambs from their Ewes-unless they are
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LOUISA MUNSON, 1812-1886, WIFE OF P. GOODYEAR CLARK
P. GOODYEAR CLARK, 1805-1890
THE MUNSON FAMILY
kept in very warm places, when they bring forth their Lambs they will loose them which will be as much as to loose two or three Calves-do write me often myself & William Thatcher are in tolerable good health, give my love to your wife, family & Sister Lois
Your affectionate brother Israel Munson.
Mr. Isaac Munson
Wallingford (Vermont)
In a letter dated March 30, 1815 Israel instructs his brother to build a barn; and to move and repair the old house. In a letter dated June 28, 1815 Israel says: ". . . . I suppose you have sheared your sheep after putting aside what wool you want for your own family . . , I suppose Merino may be worth one Dollar and twenty five Cents to one Dollar and fifty Cents per İb."
Again, under date of March 27, 1816, he writes: "With respect to Robert Edgerton's land . . . if he will not sell & it will answer to put a stone wall for a fence . . . . I think it will be best for you to let Mr. Edgerton hire the wall built but I hope he will be able to get it done for one Dollar a rod"
April 6, 1822, Israel writes: "A short time since I was in New Haven where I heard that you had been on a visit with your daughter Sarah & son Isaac & where I learned that your daughter was in company with her husband Mr. Robinson Hall, on this occasion I congratulate you & them, I hope this connection may prove happy to all."
Dear Brother
Boston April 9, 1823.
. I herein enclose a Deed of the Farm on which you live to you as a gift, you will therefore immediately after you receive it leave it with your Town Clerk or the proper person to have it recorded & after you have received this letter acknowledge the receipt of it-give my love to your children & to Sister Hill-
I remain your affectionate brother Israel Munson.
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There are many other letters but these quotations are sufficient for the present purpose.
One might wonder how Israel came to choose a farm for his brother in Wallingford, Vermont, but we find among the names of the proprietors that of Samuel Munson of New Haven. This may be Esquire Munson of whom Israel speaks in one of his letters to his brother. No doubt Israel's attention had been drawn to the grants made by Governor Wentworth to residents of New Haven, particularly in the township named for Wallingford, Connecticut.
From these letters can be seen the interest that Israel took in his brother Isaac's welfare, and the extent to which Isaac was in- debted for assistance in becoming established on this farm in Wallingford. When Isaac took possession of the farm the house was located just north of the driveway and was wood frame con- struction. Later, at a date not now known, Isaac built the present substantial brick house. The walls are thick and the chimneys large. Brick partitioned rooms in the cellar were provided for storage of vegetables and fruit; the roof is of slate. The building was so substantially constructed, in contrast with modern farm houses, that scarcely any repairs have been necessary down to the present day. The present large barn was built to replace an earlier one that burned toward the end of the nineteenth century.
Isaac died February 11, 1835 and Israel February 2, 1844. The residue of Israel's estate, after several definite bequests, was be- queathed to eight children of his brother Isaac, two children of his sister Anna and two children of his sister Lois; each receiv- ing about $40,000.
Isaac's oldest daughter married Robinson Hall, commonly known as General Hall, "a portly, noble looking man, a general of militia and an influential citizen. He took a prominent part in the building of the railroad between Bennington and Rutland. He was a Director of the road and indeed for a short time Presi-
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dent. By this enterprise he lost $40,000, and G. C. says, 'would have lost a good deal more if he had had it.' "* He built the brick house located about a mile south of Isaac Munson's farm, at pres- ent owned and occupied by Mrs. George Stafford. His portrait faces page 165.
Isaac's oldest son, Elizur, married Sarah Dale (née Smith) ; sister of President Asa D. Smith of Dartmouth College. His sec- ond wife, whom he married October 11, 1854, was Mary A. But- ton of Litchfield, Ohio. His death followed only three weeks after this second marriage, November 2, 1854. His wife returned to Ohio where she died.
Elizur was the owner of that part of his father's farm lying west of Otter Creek which he acquired June 18, 1836, and held until his death, at the age of fifty-seven years. Two years later owner- ship of the farm passed by purchase to Elizur's younger brother Israel, who held the title until his trust estate was settled and the farm was sold November 7, 1934, to Thomas I. Ketcham and his wife, the present owners and occupants.
Isaac's second son, Isaac Bradley Munson, came into possession of that part of his father's farm across the Creek to eastward, where he built a large brick house, shown facing page 168. Late in life he sold his farm to his son-in-law, Charles D. Childs, and built a fine residence in the village of Wallingford on the site of the Lent Ives home, shown facing page 169. He occupied this residence until his death, December 2, 1876. His wife was Emeline M. Hall, daughter of Day Hall of Granville, Massachusetts. They had five children; Mary Cornelia, wife of Charles D. Childs; Wil- liam Day, who married Sarah Packer; Sarah Louise, wife of George G. Field; Harriet Ellen, wife of (1) William E. Shaw, and (2) J. Horace Earl; and Isaac, Jr. who died in infancy.
Isaac B. Munson was possessed of dignity and commanding presence. He was highly esteemed in the community. He repre- sented the town in the legislature for the years 1848 and 1849.
* Munson Record.
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The farm house and village residence that he built bear testimony of his judgment and good taste.
Isaac's third son, Israel Munson, owned the farm adjoining his father's on the north. Standing on a slope, a little distance from the highway, may be seen the handsome framed house which he reconstructed from an older building. It is now owned and oc- cupied by Mr. Arthur Davison, shown facing page 171. Israel Munson's wife, Matilda D., was the daughter of Chauncy Clark of Massena, New York, and a sister of Philander Goodyear Clark of Wallingford. Of all the brothers and sisters Israel was the most judicious in the investment of his inheritance from his uncle. While he carried on his farm he loaned his money to farm- ers he knew and in whom he had confidence, the loans being secured by mortgage notes that probably bore six per cent inter- est. Upon his deathbed he made a will that created a trust for the benefit of his two sons, Kirk Guy and Isaac E., with the under- standing and request that Henry F. Field of Rutland and Justin Batcheller of Wallingford be appointed trustees. He died Feb- ruary 13, 1887. The principal of the trust estate that he created was $163,820.86.
The trustees invested the major part of the funds of the estate in real estate loans in and about the city of Rutland, and used as much of the income as was necessary to secure the comfort and satisfy the desires of the two sons, at the same time giving them an allowance for personal expenditures. The younger son, Isaac, died September 30, 1908, and Kirk died September 10, 1932. When the latter's death occurred the trust estate amounted to about $300,000 and was inherited by the living great-grandchil- dren of Isaac Munson and Sarah Bradley Munson. They num- bered twenty-two besides two of whom no trace has been found up to the present time.
Israel was a generous man, never turning away empty-handed any tramp who knocked at his door and asked for alms. In his day
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FARM RESIDENCE OF P. GOODYEAR CLARK
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Amantunk
FARM RESIDENCE OF JOEL HILL
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THE MUNSON FAMILY
itinerant clock tinkers traveled from house to house seeking em- ployment. Whenever one called at Mr. Munson's house he was sent to the attic to repair a tall old clock with wooden cogs. The tinker, after working at the clock for a considerable time, was paid for his labor and perhaps given a meal, regardless of any accomplishment in making the clock serviceable.
As has been stated, after the death of his older brother, Elizur, Israel bought the home farm and never allowed it to pass out of the family so long as he lived, nor was the farm sold until it be- came necessary to distribute his trust estate after the death of his two sons. His motive in desiring to own his father's farm, where he had grown up, was probably sentimental, for he had more acres than he cultivated, and he was always content to see the old farm in the hands of a competent tenant. No doubt it was a satis- faction to him to sit on his piazza, look across the meadow at the substantial red brick house his father built, and the places where he spent his boyhood days.
Louisa, fifth daughter of Isaac Munson, married Philander Goodyear Clark December 29, 1830. For a time after their mar- riage they lived in Manchester, Vermont, where he worked at the wheelwright trade and was associated with Jerome Hilliard. Evi- dently farming was his ambition for in a short time they returned to Wallingford, residing with her parents until 1839, when they purchased the farm that was to be their home for the rest of their lives. This farm was the second north of Israel's, about a mile south of the village of Wallingford, now owned and occupied by their granddaughter, Mrs. Beatrice Goodell. Six years later, in 1845, they built the handsome frame house, shown facing page 176, to replace an older house that was sawn in halves and moved to the village of Wallingford where it now stands, next to the cemetery, on the north side.
Goodyear Clark, as he was commonly called, was a grandson of Ichabod Goodyear Clark, a Revolutionary Soldier and early
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settler in Mount Holly. His father, Chauncy Clark was born in 1779 and died in 1824. His mother, Rhoda Stone Clark, died in 1829, leaving young Goodyear to depend upon his own resources when he had barely reached manhood.
Goodyear was born August 24, 1805. His boyhood and early life was spent in Louisville, St. Lawrence County, New York, on the shore of the Long Sault Rapids, and all his life he frequently referred to that place and the people he knew there. Farming was his chief interest in life. Milk has been the principal product of Vermont farms but Goodyear conducted his business in a differ- ent way. He bought young steers in the fall, fed them during the winter and sold them in the spring at an advanced price. His hay- ing was done with both horses and oxen; the former on the mow- ing machine and rake, the latter on a cart designed to draw the hay from the field to the barn. He was a man with an unusual sense of humor, always interested in politics, local and national, but never seeking public office.
The Clarks had four children that reached maturity. They were George M., Mrs. Henrietta Clark Batcheller, William Pitt and Chauncy. The last six years of Mr. Clark's life were spent in the home of his daughter. During the warm months he found com- panionship with Judge Button, Ephraim Hulett and other resi- dents of the neighborhood. His wife, Louisa, died August 21, 1866, and he passed away October 18, 1890.
The other children of Isaac Munson died young, or did not make permanent homes in Wallingford, so are not further men- tioned in this account.
About 1818, Lois, sister of Isaac Munson, married Joel Hill, a widower and merchant. They lived eight or ten years in the vil- lage of Wallingford and then moved on to a farm about half a mile south of the village,-now the home of Donald Leach, --- that Lois' brother Israel of Boston purchased, evidently for her benefit. The house is shown facing page 177. By a codicil of
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THE MUNSON FAMILY
Israel's will the farm was to become the property of Lois' chil- dren. Eventually it passed into the possession of her son, Israel M. Hill, who married Lucinda K., daughter of Rev. Stephen Martindale of Wallingford. Their home was in Beloit, Wis- consin.
It is true that Isaac Munson and his children did not make by their own efforts all the wealth represented by the farms and the farm buildings they have left, yet credit is due them for the thrift and good judgment that enabled them to invest their inheritance to the advantage of their children and the community in which they lived. They have all passed on but their fine homes stand as symbols of the sterling qualities that are accredited to the New England people as a whole.
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VIII. DYER TOWNSEND
By LULY WESTCOTT MERRIAM
DYER TOW YER TOWNSEND was born November 23, 1789 and died February 24, 1886, in his ninety-seventh year. He was twice mar- ried, first to Lucinda Button, in June, 1814. She was born in 1791 and died in 1863. Three children were born of this union, Seneca Dyer, b. 1817, d. 1877; Charles Frederick, b. 1823, d. 1843 as he was about to enter Middlebury College; and Jane, b. 1826, d. 1913. Jane first married Dr. Thomas J. Page of Rutland, who died in 1859, and for her second husband, Hamilton Westcott of Fair Haven.
After the death of Dyer's wife, Lucinda, when he had become seventy-five years of age, he spent several days driving about the country looking for a good housekeeper. After his return he said he found plenty of women who would marry him but no house- keeper for hire. Eventually, in 1865, he did marry Betsey Stafford Palmer, who made a very pleasant home for him during the re- mainder of his life.
Dyer's mother was Lydia Dyer, b. 1767, d. 1849, and his father, Samuel Townsend, b. 1767, d. 1849. Through his mother Dyer was a direct descendant of William and Mary Dyer, Roger Wil- liams, Ann Hutchinson and Surgeon John Green. Mary Dyer was hung on Boston Common, January 1, 1660, for "conscience sake." Her martyrdom did much for religious freedom in this country.
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William Dyer was the first Attorney General for the Providence Plantations. ("The Stukeley Westcott Family, 1592-1932," by Whitman, p. 371.)
Dyer's father descended from Townsends living in England in 1593, and their line is traced back to the Crusaders. ("The Town- send Family," published in 1899 by the Hon. Martin Ingham Townsend of Troy, N. Y.) Dyer spent his boyhood on his father's farm in Clarendon, now owned by Harris Savery and situated on Route 7. In 1812, when twenty-three years of age, Dyer and Ben- jamin Douglass bought of Edmund Douglass a tan house and yard having an area of one half an acre, located just north of the present Merriam home on Route 7, about one mile south of the village of Wallingford. This partnership lasted only a few years. Benjamin married Dyer's sister, Lucy, and they moved to Mich- igan.
Dyer continued to carry on the tanning business for many years, in fact until he acquired enough land to become a farmer. There is a record of hides being brought to him for tanning from all over the county, principally colt, kid, horse and sheep skins. In 1817 a calf skin was tanned for Jerathmiel Doty of Revolu- tionary fame. Dyer also had a shop where shoes were made for men and women far and near. In 1817 William Fox had shoes made for his daughter Nelly, costing $1.75. Some of Dyer's cus- tomers were Frederick, Harvey and Charles Button, John Ballou, Daniel Dyer, Squire Dyer, David Hopkins, Lent Ives, Isaac and Israel Munson, Mosely Hall, Phillip Briggs, and, in 1828, there is an item to the effect that Dr. John Fox had his boots patched. This is only a partial list of the many shoes that were made and mended. In 1820 Capt. Simon Cook was the shoe maker, and in eleven days he made twenty-four pairs. That was fast work. In 1824 Dyer had a contract with Rufus Allen whereby Rufus agreed to make five hundred pairs of men's good thick shoes for 40 cents per pair; one hundred pairs each year until the contract was com-
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pleted. In 1830 it was fulfilled to the satisfaction of both parties. In 1834 John Bowman, who built the mausoleum in Cuttingsville, worked for Dyer seven and one half months for $75; $40 to be paid in cash and $35 in leather.
Dyer's tanning business was so successful that in 1827 he com- menced going to Troy, N. Y., for hides. On one of these trips he took his young son, Seneca, with him. While in the city Seneca bought a doll for his sister. Of course it was not dressed, and when Dyer saw it, he was very much shocked, so much so, that when they reached Bennington on the trip home, he persuaded his son to throw it into the Walloomsac River.
There is no record of what became of Dyer's tannery. A part of the farm buildings now used for a cow stable has the appear- ance of having been constructed originally for some other pur- pose, and the location is practically that of the tan house and yard of half an acre described in the deed, dated September 12, 1812, which reads ". about eleven rods north of the road that goes to Tinmouth. These facts seem to justify the conclusion that the tan house became a part of the present cow stable.
In the deed of land from Towner to Townsend, dated June 18, 1814, we read “. . . . one half an acre with a store thereon stand- ing." This half acre lay between the Tinmouth road and the tan yard. The store probably faced on the highway and may have been the place where shoes were made and sold, but it has long since disappeared.
There is an old building standing in rear of the farm house now occupied by Mr. Merriam, used for the storage of tools, odds and ends of farm machinery, rubbish, etc., spoken of as the corn house, which has the appearance of having been built for a dwell- ing house or store. There is a low loft with an open stair leading up to it. The frame is of hewn timbers substantially put together. The front has a door in the center with a window on each side.
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DYER TOWNSEND
This building might well have been the "store" referred to in the deed; or it may have been a dwelling.
In 1814 Dyer purchased of Ebenezer Towner twenty-nine and one half acres of land and a house standing thereon west of the highway and south of the Tinmouth road, which is the location of the present farm house of Mr. Merriam. This is the house that Towner constructed for a tavern at the intersection of the roads; an excellent location on the stage route between New York and Montreal; also on the east and west route which had been laid out four rods wide for a carriage road in and out of New York State and points west.
William Fox owned this land as far back as 1791 and built a house thereon. The Fox house may have become the rear part of Towner's tavern which was torn down by Dyer's daughter, Mrs. Westcott, when she built a new wing about 1901. The fact that it was plastered and had a chimney indicates that it was built for a dwelling. The tavern kitchen was in the main part of the build- ing. We find a memorandum, dated April 6, 1836, that the "Fox House" was occupied by William Cavanaugh, raising the ques- tion, was the rear part of Towner's tavern, or the out building called the corn house, originally the house built by William Fox? It seems to be impossible to answer this question definitely.
The tavern or farm house was built one hundred twenty-five years ago with eight-inch by twelve-inch hand hewn timbers fas- tened together with wooden pins, a large chimney with five open fireplaces, a brick oven, a wine cellar, a ball room thirty-three feet long and eighteen feet wide on the second floor, windows with small panes of glass, and a colonial porch over the front door.
Dyer Townsend was a progressive man at heart and probably tired of shivering before the fireplaces, for in 1877 he installed soapstone and Franklin stoves, new windows with large panes of glass, a piazza and a bay-window. The only things left to re-
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mind one of the colonial aspects of the old tavern were the latches on the doors and a notch in a window sill where the bar once stood. The house is now the home of Dyer's only living grand- child, a granddaughter.
In June 1814 Dyer married Lucinda Button, a very sweet tem- pered girl from all reports, and well educated for those times, since she had been a school teacher. She was a sister of Deacon Frederick Button of Clarendon and Judge Harvey Button of Wallingford. A short time before they were married Dyer's mother took him aside and told him if he was marrying Lucinda for her money he would never prosper. Lucinda's fortune con- sisted of $800.
After Dyer's purchase of the tavern and twenty-nine acres of land in 1814 he continued to buy land until he had a farm on the Creek of one hundred thirty-two acres. It was made up of thir- teen parcels and was bought largely from his neighbors, namely, the heirs of Stephen Hyde, Thomas Hulett, William and Eunice Kelley, Goodyear and Louisa Clark, Lincoln Andrus and others. He also bought a mountain farm of one hundred eighty acres on Sugar Hill.
Dyer then became one of the pioneer sheep men of the state, the breed being Spanish Merino. In 1832 he had a flock of 153; in 1839 he had increased it to 235; and in 1845 his sheep numbered 468 on his Creek and mountain farms. In 1846 Dyer paid Reuben Hall of Cornwall, Vermont, $100 for a ram. His wife considered this an extravagance. She shed some tears and feared they were starting for the poorhouse. But Lucinda was mistaken, for Dyer sold sheep all over the United States, even in Texas and Cali- fornia. The prices paid were from $10 to $20 an animal. In 1846 Dyer went to Michigan and in 1853 to Ohio in the interest of his sheep business.
In Dyer's youth, his grandmother, Phoebe Ingraham Town- send, died in Hancock, Massachusetts, and the home was broken
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FARM RESIDENCE OF DYER TOWNSEND
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تيب ٨٨
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DYER TOWNSEND
up. Dyer's father, Samuel, sent him to Massachusetts with a yoke of oxen to bring back Samuel's share of the household goods. This trip lasted many days but when Dyer returned his father gave him as his reward, a highboy, a Winthrop desk and a Chippendale mirror. During Dyer's life time the highboy was never treasured by anyone. It was placed in a room on the second floor and always referred to as "The Ark." In it were stored odds and ends and always many garden seeds. After Dyer's death, when it came into possession of his daughter, she realized its beauty and worth, giving it a place of honor in her parlor. It is now, in 1937, nearly two hundred years old. There is a family tradition that it was made by a Townsend ancestor.
Dyer was always much interested in civic affairs. He was in charge of the local training days for many years. They were usu- ally held in Tinmouth and continued until after 1820. His cour- tesy title of "Colonel" was acquired in these days and clung to him all of his long life. It is even inscribed on his grave stone in the Button cemetery, done at the urgent request of his second wife. The Colonel on these training days looked every inch a soldier for he wore a cocked hat with a plume, a soldier's uniform and carried a sword. This same sword is now owned by one of Dyer's great-grandsons who was an officer in the World War and saw hard service over seas.
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