USA > Vermont > Washington County > Montpelier > The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier. > Part 124
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This inaccuracy in the Ist division made trouble in the survey of the 2d division, which was to consist of 70 lots, of 18 acres ' each. This survey was made by Stephen Maine in 1795, and the work-as far as he was really responsible for it-was done well ; but the gore proved to be about twice as wide as Mr. Strong had put it down. Mr. Maine relied implicitly on the field-book and plot of Mr. Strong, and made out his plot of the small lots before he entered upon the survey, and actually surveyed and marked the bounds of nearly half the lots before he discovered the mistake.
errors of Mr. Strong's survey were at the time charged against his chain-men ; but Mr. Jonathan Marshal, late of Bethel, one of the party, relates that "they kept their big jug near Mad river, and carried a small jug with them on their routes. In sur- veying the 4th range, the small jug gave out, and they, having run back 20 rods to avoid an impassable ledge, forgot to make allowance for it in their haste to get back again." So, probably " strong water" was the cause of the discrepancy.
Five shares were granted for public pur- poses ; one each to the University of Ver- mont, the County Grammar School, the town schools, the support of preaching, and the first settled minister.
SUBTRACTIONS .- In 1822, "four tier of lots, including the small lots of the 2d di- vision, on the easterly side of the town," were set off to Northfield by the Legisla- ture. The tract lay on the Northfield side of the mountain, and in all business mat- ters, except town business, the inhabitants naturally gravitated toward that village. In 1846, 6 lots more, aggregating 2,400 acres, making in all 8,310 acres taken from the original grant, were added to North- field, leaving a trifle more than two-thirds of the original 36 square miles to Waits- field. The line between the two towns is now placed as near the top of the mountain as it could be without dividing lots.
The first proprietors' meeting was held in Windsor, June 30, 1788, adjourned to meet at Timothy Lull's, in Hartland, Nov. 4, 1788. It is probable that the adjourned meeting was held, but the record does not decide it so. The next date upon the records is "Woodstock, June 2, 1789," when a tax was voted to defray the 'ex- penses of obtaining the charter and making the survey. The names of those who voted the tax are given, together with the number of "rights" which each repre- sented :
Zebulon Lee, 17 rights ; Benjamin Wait, 5; Joel Matthews, 3; John Marsh, 5; Ezra Jones, 3 ; Wm. Sweetzer, 3 ; Anthony Morss, I ; Reuben Skinner, 3; or eight men representing 40 shares out of the 70. of Su 1736.
Gen. Wait, one of the commissioners, was then consulted, and he was ordered to proceed with his work as he had begun, which he accordingly did, and the. lots contain about 36 acres instead of 18. The The remaining 30 shares were sold Sept.
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23, 1789, for taxes, at auction, bringing "{1, los. per lot." The most of them were bid off by Gen. Wait, who seems to have become from that time the " major- ity" of the proprietors. The records of the proprietors are exceedingly meagre, and most likely inaccurate, perhaps owing to the custom of "adjourning 15 minutes to meet at this place," just after organiza- tion, the interval being long enough to allow the clerk (to say nothing of the rest of the assembly), time to muddle his brains with toddy.
In 1790, a petition was presented to the Legislature "for a tax of 2 d. per acre," to be expended in building roads, bridges and mills in the town. This being grant- ed, it was equally divided between the mills on the one hand, and the roads and bridges on the other. In consequence, a saw-mill and grist-mill were speedily put in running order at the south-west corner of the town, by John Heaton, known as "Green's Mills," or the "Mill Village," and later as " Irasville." Before this the people had a large birch stump which they used for a mortar to pound hominy in, and were obliged to carry their wheat as far as Hancock to reach a regular grist- mill.
THE FIRST ACTUAL SETTLEMENT was made by Gen. Wait and family, in 1789. His house was erected on the meadow near the spot where his remains are buried. At that time, there was no other dwelling within 10 or 12 miles in any direction. Northfield already had a small settlement. Roxbury was occupied the same year, and Moretown the next. Fays- ton was an unbroken wilderness for more than 7 years after Gen. Wait came to Waitsfield. The town was not formally organized until 5 years afterward, or in 1794.
In 1795, the first representative was elected, there being then 27 legal voters in town. This representative was naturally GEN. BENJAMIN WAIT,
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of whom personally a few words ought to be spoken at this point. He was a native a of Sudbury, Mass., being born Feb. 13, 1736. In the language of "Thompson's
Vermont" (p. 178) : " He possessed a firm and vigorous constitution, and early manifested a disposition and talent for military enterprise. At the age of 18, he entered the service of his country under the brave Gen. Amherst. In 1756, he was taken by the French, carried to Quebec, and from thence sent as a prisoner to France. On the coast of France, he was retaken by the British, and carried to Eng- land. In the spring of 1757, he returned to America, and in 1758, assisted in the capture of Louisburgh. During the two succeeding years, he aided in the reduction of Canada. After the submission of Can- ada, he was sent, by the commandant of Detroit, to Illinois to bring in the French garrisons included in the capitulation. He performed this difficult service with singu- lar perseverance and success. At 25 years of age, he had been engaged in 40 battles and skirmishes, and his clothes were sev- eral times perforated with musket balls, but he never received a wound. In 1767. he removed to Windsor, in this State, and constituted the third family in the town- ship. He acted a decided and conspicu- ous part in favor of Vermont in the contro- versy with New York. In 1776,.he en- tered the service of the United States as captain, and fought under the banners of Washington till the close of the war, during which time he had been raised to the rank of colonel. After this he was made a brigadier general of militia, and was for 7 years high sheriff of the county of Wind- sor.
After he came to Waitsfield, he made profession of religion, and lived an exem- plary life to the last.
He is said to have been of more than medium height, stout, of very light com- plexion, and until the day of his death, singularly erect, whether sitting, standing or riding. One incident will illustrate something of his usual manner. His son, at that time a man of middle age, having been bitten by a rabid dog, was urged in vain by his friends to go at once to a com- petent physician. His delay was occa- sioned by the pressure of his work, and the distance which he must put between
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himself and home. At that time there was no reliable physician nearer than Woodstock. The father becoming very anxious about his son, appeared on horse- back, and with another horse saddled, at his son's house, without previous notice, and said, " Young man! mount this horse and go to Woodstock with me! There is a man to take care of your farm," pointing to a man who came with him. The son obeyed without argument, and was res- cued, though not without plain symptoms of hydrophobia, and a tedious summer of practical imprisonment, from which he once broke away, but was persuaded and carried back by his resolute father, who did not leave him alone much of the time.
Gen. Wait lived to the age of 86 years. His death occurred suddenly and unex- pectedly, at the house of a friend, June 28, 1822. He started out that morning, say- ing that he had business to do, which would take him to the Center and around by the lower bridge. That after doing this, he intended to call at John Burdick's, and that after this journey was finished he should be ready to go. Arriving at the latter place, he complained of feeling un- well, and expired before his family could be notified. His remains were deposited in the grave-yard on the meadow just back of the village school-house. A marble monument marks the spot, which was paid for by subscription of the citizens, but which never satisfied them and ought never to have been accepted. Of his descend- ants, only a grand-daughter, Mrs. Harriet Carpenter, and some of her children and grandchildren remain in town.
In 1797, the number of legal voters had increased from 27 to 61. The check list - of that year having been preserved, we are able to state that only three of these were living in 1850, while the number of inhabi- tants had increased to 1048, the remainder after a large district had been set off to Northfield. The vote for governor that year amounted to 182. The grand list was $2691.68. In 1869, there were 1005 in- habitants ; the vote for governor was 186; the grand list is $3536.63 ; but the basis of the grand list having been materially modi- ed, the town let the opportunity pass, and :
fied, these figures do not properly indicate the growth of the town. Previous to 1842, land was listed at 6 per cent. ; buildings at 4 per cent., and stock at rates according to age and value. Now the whole prop- erty is listed at one per cent. Only 10 of the family names mentioned in the voting list of 1797 are now to be found in town ; five of these in the north district. In 1850, there were living 21 men and several women, whose ages ranged from 78 to 88 years. Of these only II family names re- main. The names which for many years predominated were Joslin and Jones, the former from Weathersfield, the latter from Claremont, N. H., with a liberal seasoning also of Smiths, Stoddards and Barnards, natives of Shelburne and Deerfield, Mass. At the present time (1869,) the Vt. Reg- ister represents Waitsfield as having I attorney, 4 physicians, 2 clergymen, 8 merchants, I hotel-keeper, I artist, 9 man- ufacturers of all crafts.
The chief business of the townspeople is farming. The chief products or ex- ports are butter and cheese, maple, sugar, (100,800 lbs. of sugar were made in 1868,) wood, good horses, and cattle. There are two villages in the town, one of which monopolizes about all the mercantile busi- ness, being so situated as to make itself the natural center, not only of Waitsfield but of Fayston, and to a considerable ex- tent of Warren. They have a daily mail from Middlesex, and several teams are running continually to and from the rail- road, carrying lumber and bringing mer- chandise.
The Congregational church stands on an eminence neither out of nor in the vil- lage. The old brick church is the only church edifice in the village proper. The Methodist society propose to erect a new church by its side in due time.
The Hon. Roderick Richardson once offered the town a beautiful piece of land fronting on both the principal streets, for a public park and village-hall site, if they would improve it suitably. But with the same foresight which characterized Gen Wait in refusing the State house when offer
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dwelling-house and garden now occupy the situation. May the time come when the citizens of this town shall have higher and more tasteful ideas than to say, as one once said to the writer, " I had rather see a hill of potatoes in my front yard, any time, than a bunch of flowers."
There are no men of immense fortunes in town, but a number who have become wealthy in the popular, Vermont sense, by cultivating their farms, and by mercan- tile employments. There are scarcely any families who are not able to live comfor- tably.
WAR RECORD).
In the "memorial record of Waitsfield," prepared with great care by Rev. A. B. Dascomb, the number of our soldiers stands as follows : No. credited to the town by government, 95. No. of different individ- uals who served, 87. Died from sickness, 10. Killed in action, 8. Several died after discharge from disease contracted and wounds received in service.
The record of the standing of these men at their discharge or death is as follows :
The list of their names in the order of enlistment, with their ages and rank at discharge, is as follows :
C. M. Benedict, age 20, private.
L. D. Savage, 23, private.
A. H. Sellock, 19, private.
H. P. Stoddard, 24, private.
H. F. Dana, 24, private.
F. T. Dana, 20, private.
L. Ainsworth, 30, captain. M. Basconner, 27, private.
H. N. Bushnell, 23, captain.
B. D. Campbell, 18, private.
H. F. Dike, 18, private.
E. H. Fuller, 21, corporal. Horace B. Stoddard, 19, private.
J. Harriman, 29, private. Manly N. Hoyt, 30, private.
J. F. Jones, 47, private.
G. S. Kneeland, 24, corporal.
J. P. Newcomb, 18, private.
E. R. Richardson, 24, sergeant.
D. P. Shepherd, 27, corporal. M. C. Shepherd, 18, private.
L. M. Spaulding, 19, private. .
S. S. Spaulding, 21, corporal.
L. T. Stoddard, 18, corporal.
S. Stoddard, 22, private.
J. E. Tucker, 20, private.
L. C. Peabody, 31, captain. Henry C. Shaw, M. D., 30, surgeon.
A. Baird, 18, private.
O. C. Campbell, 30, 2d lieutenant.
J. H. Elliot, 34, private.
H. R. French, 22, private.
W. H. H. Greenslit, 26, private.
G. B. Hall, 18, corporal.
P. Haffman, 23, sergeant.
J. H. Quigley, 28, sergeant.
T. Sanders, 29, corporal.
H. A. Luce, 23, private.
D. Foster, 21, captain. Almon Walker, 45, private.
A. D. Barnard, 20, private.
F. O. Bushnell, 22, corporal.
H. A. Dewey, 30, private.
J. Dumas, Jr., 22, private.
E. A. Fisk, 20, private.
D. Gleason, 42, private.
D. Grandy, 24, private.
E. A. Hastings, 23, private.
J. Hines, 24, private.
Z. H. McAllister, 21, private.
A. D. Page, 21, private.
E. F. Palmer, 26, 2d lieutenant.
D. Parker, 21, private.
L. B. Reed, 21, private.
O. C. Reed, 23, private.
J. W. Richardson, 43, private.
L. Seaver, 17, private.
D. S. Stoddard, 23, corporal.
T. Stoddard, 18, private.
C. G. Thayer, 20, private.
J. M. Thayer, 21, private. H. M. Wait, 22, private.
E. Whitcomb, 19, private. O. C. Wilder, 34, captain.
L. C. Berry, 21, private.
G. M. Jones, 19, private.
H. Jones, 37, private.
E. E. Joslyn, 19, corporal.
J. L. Maynard, 29, private.
T. T. Prentiss, 19, private.
J. N. Richardson, 18, corporal.
L. S. Richardson, 20, private.
S. L. Kneeland, 18, private.
J. W. Parker, 17, private.
J. Sterling, 19, private.
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W. H. Stoddard, 18, private.
V. B. Mix, 18, private. J. C. Williams, 20, private.
A. B. Durkee, 21, private. J. P. Davis, 40, private.
W. E. Dana, 18, private. G. P. Welch, 21, private.
T. Burke, 21, private.
J. H. Somerville, 21, private.
E. L. Allen, 19, private.
E. McCarty, 20, private.
E. A. Burns, 18, private.
Captains, 4; 2d lieutenants, 2; ser- geants, 3; corporals, II ; privates, 50; sharp shooters, 7; cavalry men, 4; bat- tery men, 2; Signal corps, I ; surgeon, I ; hospital steward, I; musicians, I; in the navy, I.
Of those who were natives of this town, who went into the army from other places, there are, 2 Ist lieutenants, I cavalry- man, and 12 privates.
Most of these belonged to the famous " Vermont Brigade " of the "6th corps," who have received from a grateful country the honor which they thoroughly earned in many a march and battle.
The amount of money expended by the town in procuring men for the army ser- vice : Paid for bounty to nine months' men, $575; to I year's men, $2,700; to 3 years' men, $6,202 ; to substitutes, $700 ; subsistence for volunteers, $18.10; trans- portation for same, $38.50; services of selectmen and agents, $199.53; total, $10,433.13.
The history of the 13th regiment (of 9 months' men) who did good service in guarding the Occoquan during the winter of '62-'63, and also at the battle of Get- tysburg, where they constituted part of Gen. Stannard's command, has been pleas- antly told by Lieut. E. F. Palmer, in a neat little work entitled, " Camp Life."
TEMPERANCE.
Though it deserves to be said that the early settlers of Waitsfield were remark- ably moral, and many of them pious men, yet they were accustomed to partake of the intoxicating cup at will, and some of them a great deal too freely to be called at that time temperate men, and accidents
resulting from intoxication and brawls were of altogether too frequent occurrence, and those who sold grew rich, while those who drank, many of them, " ran down."
In 1821, at a "raising," one of the men, Wheeler by name, became intoxicated, and in wrestling, or " trying tricks," fell, and was carried home insensible, and found upon examination, to have expired, after being laid on his bed.
This accident startled the whole com- munity, and the faithful pastor improved it by preaching a bold teetotal sermon at his funeral, from the text, " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Soon after, Dea. Moses Fisk sent out invitations to the raising of a barn, with the proviso that no liquor would be fur- nished. There was, of course, a large gathering, with the ill-concealed design of forcing the Deacon " to cave in." Matters proceeded as usual in such cases, until the moment for raising the ridge-pole, or " rum-pole," as it was called. The order was given to take it up. The men bent to the task, but strange to say, suddenly found themselves devoid of all strength, and after several trials, and much sham accusation of each other for not lifting, gave it up, saying they could do nothing more until strengthened by liquor. It was late in the afternoon, and the master- workman became so nervous that he finally begged of the Deacon to allow him, at his own expense, to provide a treat. This was refused, and the Deacon, a man of candor and decision worthy of a pioneer, made a short address, thanking his neigh- bors for what they had done, repeating his conviction that drinking was altogether a sin and an injury to the whole commun- ity, referring, with emotion, to Wheeler's death, and then saying, “ It will be a se- rious inconveniencce to me if this barn is not finished. I cannot, however, do what my conscience forbids me to do, and if this frame cannot go up without rum, every stick of the timber shall rot on the ground where it lies."
After a moment's pause, some one said, " The deacon is a good fellow, and lets up with it," and they went ahead with such
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eagerness that in a short time the work was done, without any · accident or broil, and the people went home all of them well satisfied, and the most of them convinced. Though it is true that afterwards several " raisings " were scenes of riot and acci- dent, yet many were teetotal gatherings. Some who were weakly on the right side were strengthened, and those who did pro- vide rum for such occasions, only aided the temperance movement by furnishing fur- ther demonstration, that the use of rum was evil, and only evil. The earliest move- ment looking towards organization was the formation of a temperance society about 1828; the members of which pledged themselves " to report faithfully every month what kind and quantities of liquors they drank, with the dates and the com- pany." This became at least the occasion of a reform in a few men, while others even withdrew from the society, loving darkness rather than light. A member of that society who " never had anything to report from first to last," said to the writer : " At that time I would no more have signed a teetotal pledge than I would have sold myself for a slave." A teetotal pledge was, however, signed by a number of the people, and a society maintained for some- time before the " Washingtonians " ap- peared, and the people as a majority have adhered to the subsequent measures of reform which have been inaugurated in the State, the old license and late prohibition statutes. The Good Templars have dealt with rumsellers with a spirit worthy of the children of those who sleep in the old cem- etery on the hill.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
The inhabitants of Waitsfield-though for the most part uncultivated men and women-were by no means people of grov- elling ideas. They understood the advant- ages of free schools, and soon after the organization of the town, four school dis- tricts were laid out, in which (at least in a few years) schools were regularly main- tained. These were the North (No. 1). The East and Center together, the village, and one mill-village district. At the pres- ch ent time the number of districts is seven,
though they at one time numbered ten. The diminution is owing mainly to the union of districts, the village now sustaining a graded school. The number of scholars is far less now than it must have been 30 years ago. The early settlers and their children, too, raised up large families, and were a good example of those spoken of by one of the sons of Waitsfield :
" For, In their sweet shuplicity, they hold A child Is better than a bag of gold."
At the present time there are but the few- est few of large families, and these are become a by-word.
Several noted men, among whom is Pres- ident Kitchell of Middlebury, began their public career as teachers in these district schools. It has been customary also for many years to secure an undergraduate of some college as teacher of a " fall school"; but those who would obtain a classical education are obliged to go out of town for it.
In the records of the North district, (No. 1,) we find some curious specimens of voting and recording, which serve at once as exponents of the parliamentary training of the clerk-of the poverty and trials of the people-and for the diversion of those who have enjoyed the better ad- vantages for which the untaught fathers laid the foundation :
Dec. 22, 1797. Article 2d was put to vote to see if the District would hire Mr. S. Smith, to keep school, and engage him 10 bushels of wheat, and passed in the negative.
Sept. 25, 1812. Voted to have three months schooling the ensuing winter, and that the committee be instructed to procure a teacher capable of teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geogra- phy, provided such an one can be got for any other pay than money. (This was during the " second war," so styled.)
The school-house, where this business was transacted, was built of logs, badly lighted, and with a huge old fireplace at one end, in which to consume enormous quantities of green wood during the cold winter days without much hope of giving an even temperature to the room. Often 30 cords of wood were burned in a single winter. Yet here were trained up a com-
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pany of men and women who have no- bly served their generation. They had no mathematics beyond the four funda- mental rules and the "rule of three," yet some of them became by their own native wit leaders in public business, and teach- ers of considerable merit. One of them pressed on until, in middle age, by the light of a chip fire, he had mastered Cicero and Virgil, having no Lexicon but that in the old Latin Reader, and no teacher ex- cept occasionally the " master " who came from college to teach the winter school. It should be said, however, that he had text books that were half " pony " at least.
This man (Ithamar Smith, now deceased ) was especially thorough in his explanations to his pupils when a teacher. One of these explanations was so simple and perfect, that we must not pass it by. He studied intensely one evening to find some actual demonstration of the rule that " the area of a circle is equal to that of a parallelo- gram, the length of which is equal to half the circumference, and the width to half the diameter of the circle." He finally hit upon this. Taking a pie to school for his dinner and cutting it fine, he laid the pieces together "crust to point." The reader will perceive that one half the crusts made the length of the parallelogram, the width of which was the length of a piece of pie, or half the diameter of the pie. No better demonstration could be made than this.
Another of these almost self-taught men was once assisting a company of survey- ors, and when they ran off the lots in dia- mond form, "because the lay of the land made it easier to do so," he declared they were cheating the owner. They looked down upon him from their scientific heights, and haughtily demanded the proof. He quietly took a straw, and bending it into a square-having hold of the opposite cor- ners-said " call that a square lot." Then drawing out a little on the corners, which he held, so as to make a diamond of it, he said, "you say there is just as much land there now?" They replied " of course there is." Drawing it up until "there
was nothing left, he asked triumphantly, " now is there ?"
There have been too many instances of rebellion among scholars, and dismissal of teachers who lacked muscle; and in a proportion with the frequency of these things, a lower grade of scholarship in all the schools.
INCIDENTS.
Many of the early inhabitants were cer- tainly very credulous and superstitious. A daughter of Mr. Samuel S. Savage, " dreamed three nights in succession, that there was a large pot of Captain Kidd's money buried near á ledge of rocks, a few rods east of the house." This occurred not far from the year 1800. It never en- tered the heads of any of the family, or their neighbors, to ask how Capt. Kidd should chance to be burying money 200 miles and more inland, when only savages inhabited all the wilderness; but they " had heard it said that whatever was dreamed three nights in succession always came to pass," and so Mr. S. commenced digging for the money. The same tradi- tion enjoined-as indispensable to success -that no word should be spoken during the process, and that some one should sit by and read the Bible all the while. So Nancy sat on the rock reading, and Sam, the son, was sometimes with them. After digging several days, "in stabbing down his crowbar, he hit the identical pot. He distinctly heard the money chink, held his bar on it that it might not escape him, and beckoned to Sam to come and dig it out." Unfortunately, however, he could not make Sam understand, and at length Sam spoke! Instantly the pot of money moved away, and he could never find it again. The most ridiculous part of the matter, is the fact well attested, that Mr. Savage be- lieved all this, as long as he lived, and was never ridiculed out of it.
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