The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 60

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064

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 60

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While staying with the great Dr. Paul Johnson, of Dublin, this sickness took place, and while there, his only child was born. In remembrance of the Doctor and his wife, Dow named my youngest sister after the Doctor's wife, " Letitia Johnson" Bridgman, and the youngest son of Mrs. Fish, "Paul Johnson" Fish, after the Doctor. The last voyage made, on his return to America, he brought home many works relating to the Quakers or Friends, and some rare histories relating to the court of St. James, which are now out of print. I recollect well when the books were brought home to our house in Hebron, Ct., there being 2,200 volumes.

Dow lays down a few words for reflec- tions, viz. : The "pleasure " of the Lord was the moving cause of creation, love was the moving cause of redemption, and faith is the instrumental cause of salvation ; but sin, man's own act, is the cause of his damnation.

The glory of God our object, the will of God our law, his spirit our guide, and the Bible our rule, that Heaven may be our end. Hence we must watch and pray, en- dure to the end to receive the crown of life, where there is pleasure without pain forever more.

PEGGY HOAKUM DOW,

the first wife of Lorenzo, was born in Granville, Mass., 1780, of parents who were strangers to God, although her father. was a member of the church of England, and her mother had been raised by parents of the Presbyterian order. Her mother died when she was 5 months old, leaving behind 2 sons and 4 daughters. "My eldest sister married," says Peggy, "when I was 6 years old, and she prevailed on my father to give me to her, which accordingly he did, and I was carried into the State of New York, and saw his face no more!"

Peggy, at a very early age, had serious religious impressions, which lasted for some years, and at last eventuated in a bright Christian hope. But the vicissitudes and changes she passed through in a life so young, caused her to look to her Heav. enly Father for help more than otherwise

she might have done. But her whole soul was of a religious cast ; her whole mind was filled with the love of her Saviour. She says in one of her letters, "My brother-in-law embraced re- ligion, and we were a happy family, . . . three in number. The preachers made our house their home, and it was my delight to wait on them." She formed a little class of seven persons, and in their meetings for prayer and praise it was a heaven on earth to their souls.

About this time camp-meetings began to be introduced into that part of the country, attended by the conversion of many souls. Says Peggy, in her writings, " there was one about 30 iniles from where I then lived, and my brother-in-law at- tended it, where he met with Lorenzo Dow, on his way to Canada, and invited him home to preach at our preaching- house, and sent on the appointment a day or two beforehand, so as to give publicity ; and as he was a singular character, we were very anxious to see and hear him. The day arrived, he came, and the house was crowded, and we had a good time. I was very much afraid of him, as I had heard such strange things about him. My brother-in-law invited him to our house, and after several days he came, and little did I think that he had any thoughts of marrying, and in particular that he should make any proposition of the kind to me, but so it was." In conversation with her sister, he enquired how long Peggy had been a Christian, what the character of her company was, and whether she had ever manifested a desire to marry a min- ister. He was answered satisfactorily. Soon after, meeting Peggy, Lorenzo asked her if she would accept such an object as him. She went directly out of the room and made no reply. "As it was the first time he had spoken to me," she writes, "I was very much surprised." The next evening the conversation was renew- ed, when Peggy gave her consent to marry him, and travel with him when it was nec- essary. They were married Sept. 4th. The next morning Lorenzo started off on a preaching tour to New Orleans, in ful-

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filment of a chain of appointments given out six months before, and Peggy never saw him again for 18 months; this chain of appointments was over 4,000 miles.

For many years after, she was his con- stant traveling companion. She traveled with him through every state and territory in the United States, and through the British Dominions, sharing in his fatigue, sleeping on the ground in the wilderness, with the open canopy of heaven for a roof, or lodging in the cane-brakes of the South when no house could be reached. All this suffering and deprivation she joy- fully submitted to, believing it was the Lord's will. It seemed that the burning desire of her heart was to know exactly what the Lord would have her do.

Peggy writes, May 20, 1814, they were at Hoboken, a delightful spot of the earth, upon the Jersey side of the river opposite New York, where from the window of the room we occupy we have a grand view of the city. On the other hand the Jersey side presents to view, decorated with all the charms of spring, green trees and shady groves.

In June following, the deep trials and conflicts through which she passed began to tell sadly upon her health.

PEGGY'S LAST LETTER TO HER HUSBAND.

Dear Lorenzo :- I take my pen again to converse with you, this being the only way we communicate our thoughts to each other, when separated by rivers and moun- tains, and I esteem it a precious privilege. I have much cause to adore the beneficent hand of Providence for his mercy to usward, although we have our trials, yet he mixes mercy with them. He has of late given me some tokens for good-my heart has been enabled to rejoice in his love in a considerable degree. At a meeting a few nights ago, where Methodists and Presby- terians were united, and there was a union in my heart to all the dear children of my Master, I have felt more strength to say in my heart, "the will of the Lord be done." I think yesterday, my desire to God was, if it would be more for His glory for you to return in a few weeks, you might ; if not, so let it be. Go, my Lorenzo, the way you are assured the Lord calls, and if we meet no more in this vale of tears, may God pre- pare us to meet in the realms of peace, to range the blest fields on the banks of the

river, and sing hallelujah forever and ever. I am very sure if I reach safe the destined port, I shall have cause to sing. I trust the Lord who has called you to leave all, will give you a rich reward ; in this world, precious souls, and in the world to come a crown of glory. I have seen Bro. Tarbox since his return ; nothing has taken place anew. You have been accustomed to similar treatment. May you have patience and true philanthropy of heart; that is most desirable. You cannot conclude from what I have written, that I would not rejoice to see you return, if it would be consistent with the will of God; but I would desire, above all things, not to be found fighting against him. Your father is as well as we may expect considering his infirmities.

My dear Lorenzo, I bid adieu once more. May the Lord return you to your poor Peggy again. I have written five times before this. PEGGY DOw.

JAN. 22, 1818.

My uncle was in Europe, expecting to make an extended tour, but by peculiar feelings of his own, and premonitions from friends in Europe in relation to his wife's health, he returned to America one year sooner than he had made arrange- ments for when leaving. Peggy had at- tended a writing-school in his absence. taken a heavy cold, and it had settled on her lungs. She traveled some with her husband after his return, but while in Providence, R. I., he found her one morn- ing in her room weeping; enquiring the cause, after some hesitation she replied, " The consumption is a flattering disease ; but I shall return back to Hebron, and tell Father Dow that I have come back to die with him !"

She requested her husband not to leave her till she had got better or worse, which request she had never made before under any circumstances. In September they returned to Hebron. They never parted but twice after Lorenzo's return from Europe ; once for a night, and once while on business for five days in Boston.

She continued to decline until Decem- ber, when one night she woke up and en- quired the day of the month, and being informed, said she was bound by the month of January ; she counted every day until the year expired, and then almost every

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hour until the morning of the fifth, when she asked her husband if he had been to bespeak a coffin for her. She was an- swered in the negative. In the evening she asked if he had called in the neigh- bors. "I answered no," he has recorded, "but Bro. Page and wife came in, which seemed refreshing to her, in whose com- pany she had spent many hours." At 2 o'clock that night she requested to have the family called up, which being done, she failed very fast. Being asked if she felt any pain, she replied, " no." As she was dying, Lorenzo held her in his arms, and said, " Lord, thou gavest her to me ! I have held her only as a lent favor for fifteen years, and now I resign her back to Thee until we meet again beyond the swelling flood !" She replied with a hearty " Amen," and soon expired.

By Lorenzo's request she was laid out in the bombazine dress she wore the last time she went to church, and with woolen blankets in the coffin, and was buried 7 feet in depth in the Cemetery at Burrows hill, Hebron, Ct.

She possessed exquisite sensibility, but affection and condescension. The writer was then a boy, but remembers the cir- cumstances well.

The following was put upon her tomb- stone :

PEGGY DOW,

SHARED THE VICISSITUDES OF LORENZO **

FIFTEEN YEARS,

And died January 6th, 1820,

Aged 39.

Three months after the decease of his first wife, Lorenzo married his second wife in Montville, Ct., who proved to be the very opposite of his " Peggy" in tem- perament, social qualities, and, in short, everything that goes to make a lady of refinement. Politeness and amiability were wanting in his second wife. Gifted with talents of a high order, educated in

the best schools of the country, still she proved that with the highest talents, a person can be a fool.

Lorenzo now at this age began to feel the effects of his severe labors and depri- vations. His health began to give way, the asthma troubled him more than form- erly, and his sufferings from that, and a tumor growing in his side, were at times so painful that it prevented sleep for whole nights together ; and during the spasms, his only rest was in standing upright. He now in view of settling his worldly affairs, paid off all obligations on the farm in Montville, it being heavily mortgaged when it came into his hands, through his wife's friends. It consisted of 500 acres, and commanded a large stream of water, on which he had built mills and factories of various kinds, and which were in success- ful operation. He now felt that after his large house and farm buildings were all finished in splendid order, he and his wife could enjoy themselves ; and proposed tak- ing a trip to New Orleans, where he had been a number of times before. Once his expenses were paid both ways by the Free- masons ; he having taken all the degrees then known in this country ; and much of his time was devoted to lecturing in lodges for the "good and welfare of the Order." They left in their private carriage with horses and driver. He had had a man to go on some time before them to make ap- pointments for his preaching. Arriving in Georgetown, D. C., he was taken sick. While he lay in distress, he signed a will, giving to her all real and personal proper- ty, together with his present money, some $3000.00, which, had he been in his right mind, she never would have received a dollar of. His disease was short, but pain- ful in the extreme, his end hastened by the bursting of the tumor. He died Feb. 2, 1834, aged 56 years. His funeral was attended by a large concourse of sympathiz- ing friends, some of the principal families of Georgetown and Washington, and many thousand Freemasons, as he was buried under the Order of that body. The whole was a solemn and very imposing cere- mony.

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There has fallen one of the mighty men of his time ; one, who has been the means in the hands of God of the conversion of thousands upon thousands, in this country and in Europe ; and whose name will go down the ages as a good and wise man, when those who have waded through fields of blood and carnage to obtain a throne, will be lost in the vortex of revolution.

Owing to the condemnation of Holmead's burial ground in Washington as in the way of sanitary reform, the remains of the dead buried therein had to be removed, and among them those of Lorenzo Dow, the eccentric missionary of the last genera- tion. A Masonic Lodge in Connecticut, his native State, endeavored to secure the privilege of reinterring the remains of their brother in the craft with due ceremonial. The Methodist clergy of Baltimore also took steps to honor the Preacher, but the District clergy got ready first, and reburied Dow on Friday in the Rock Creek Ceme- tery, in a lot given by the banker Corco- ran, who admired him as a "prophet" in life.

The old tomb at Holmead's bore on a stone slab the following singular inscrip- tion, the last lines of which were dictated by himself :

THE REPOSITORY OF LORENZO DOW, Who was born in Coventry, Conn., Oct. 18, 1777,

DIED FEB'Y 2, 1834, Æ. 56.

A Christian is the highest style of man.

** He is a slave to no sect ; takes no prirate road; but looks through nature up to nature's God.

The removal of this slab revealed the remains. The skeleton was all preserved, the long snowy beard lay in life-like natu- ralness upon the breast bone, beneath which the vest was in good preservation, and fully buttoned. The right sleeve of the coat was in good condition and the greater part of the pants. The mahogany coffin

had almost entirely crumbled, the largest portion not being over 18 inches long.

The last words on record, known of Lo- renzo's writing, are :

"We must soon part; therefore, as I take leave of you, my request is, to lay aside prejudice, sacrifice SIN, sink into the will of God, take him for your protector and guide, by attention to the sweet influ- ence of his spirit on the mind, that you may be useful in your day to your fellow- mortals here ; and as an inward and spir- itual worshiper, ascend to God. Thus it may be well with you here and hereafter. " Amen. Adieu till we meet beyond this life !

" FAREWELL.

" LORENZO." [" Farewell means to do well."]

Lorenzo Dow had only one child, a daughter, born in Dublin, that died soon after their return to this country, aged five months, and was buried in Georgia.

The following anecdotes in a measure illustrate the eccentricities of Dow, and all, with one or two exceptions, never be- fore having appeared in print. In my youth my uncle spent much of his time in our family, the members of which have passed away, which gives me the opportu- nity, as being the only one left who was familiar with his habits and life.

In the eastern part of the town of Mans- field, on a lofty eminence known as " Meth- odist Hill," is an old barn, in which were held the first Methodist meetings in the town, aud where Lorenzo Dow is said to have preached his first sermon. That he entered the barn early, and laid down up- on one of the long benches, and feigned sleep. Dressed in tow pants, coatless, and shoes minus the stockings, he would naturally be taken for anything but a min- ister ; therefore as the people began to flock together and as the appointed hour was approaching, they began to try to arouse him, telling him there was to be a meeting but the minister had not come. He jumped up, asked what time it was, and being informed it was meeting time, brushed his hair, entered the pulpit and preached a rousing sermon, after which he asked if any one in the room wanted to be

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prayed for, "If so," said he, "pray for yourselves!" whereupon he took his hat and left.

While our family were living on the Dow farm in Hebron, my father had charge of the place, and one hot summer's day we were mowing hay in the bog meadow and it was "rather slim picking." My father composed the following lines in the fore- noon, and when we came up to dinner, he repeated them to Uncle Lorenzo, who, be- ing of a high spirit, did not for some days speak to father :

In Hebron town there lies a piece of land,

Surrounded by rocks and hills, and on it water stands; This meadow lays quite low, and is owned by Lorenzo Dow,

And all the grass that on it grows will scarcely keep one cow.

There is here and there a spear, and those are very scarce,

In fact, there is not so much in bulk, as the beard that grows on his face.

Some years before be became so cele- brated, he used to travel principally on horseback ; and as he had to meet his ap- pointments punctually, no matter what the weather might be, he had to go dressed for all weathers. To do this, he had an oil- cloth cloak made something like a bed- quilt, with a hole cut through the middle to put his head through, and the cloak hung in folds around his person, and in a meas- ure protected his horse from the storm. Dressed in this outlandish manner, on one occasion he overtook a heavily loaded team in a stormy day, the driver urging his horses up a steep hill, the roads almost impassable in the deep mud, the driver belaboring the poor beasts with blows and uttering blasphemous oaths, when Lorenzo overtook him. Listening a moment to the man's profanity, he asked him "if he ever prayed?" The driver said no, and would be damned if he ever would. Lorenzo gave him a silver dollar to bind his oath, and- made him promise he never would pray, and rode on to the next tavern, about a mile, and put up. In a short time, on came the driver, full gallop, to give the dollar back to the person from whom he. had received it, thinking he had sold his soul to the devil, but Lorenzo would not take it back. The thought worked so up-

on the man, it eventuated in his conver- sion.

While living in Hebron, there was a Mr. Little, a hatter, a man who was very anx- ious to quiz people, and endeavor to get the best of them in his jokes. Meeting Mr. Dow in the street one day, after pass- ing the compliments of the morning, Mr. L. said "I would like to ask you a ques- tion." Lorenzo replied " Go on." "Can you tell me how many white beans it takes to make a bushel?" Lorenzo fixed his little keen black eyes on him a moment, and replied, "it takes just as many white beans to make a bushel as it does Littles to make a man."

In the same town there lived one of those low, cunning sneaks by the name of Skin- ner, who, like barnacles, attach themselves to any one who will give them a hearing. Meeting Lorenzo one day, as he (Skinner) was going to the grist-mill with his bags of grain on his horse, he riding on the bags,-stopped his horse, and looking di- rectly into Lorenzo's face, said, "Mr. Dow, there are many of my neighbors who would like to know why you wear your hair and beard so long?" L. turned upon him a withering look, and said, "Mr. Skinner, when I was a boy my father used to send me to the mill, and I used to go right straight to the mill; and when my grist was ground, used to return directly home ; never stopped to ask impertinent questions, but always minded my own bus- iness. Good-bye, Mr. S.," and immedi- ately turned his back and walked off.

On one occasion he sold a yoke of oxen to Elder Wilcox, a Baptist clergyman, liv- ing in Montville, Ct., for the sum of $65. The Elder worked the cattle very hard, and after a while one of the oxen took sick and died, when he came to Mr. D. repeat- edly for damages in the loss of the ox. It was satisfactorily proved the ox was well when sold. At last, annoyed by the El- der's insolence, D. threw down his pocket- book, and told him to take out a sum suf- ficient to. pay him. He took $65.00, the same as he gave for both oxen, and the El- der kept the well one. Lorenzo wrote a receipt in this fashion, and made him sign

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it : "Received of L. Dow sixty-five dol- lars, in full of all demands, from the be- gining to the end of the world." Thus cutting off any further demands against Dow from Wilcox to any amount.

Dow's first wife was a very tender heart- ed, amiable, Christian woman ; and he used to teaze and annoy her in many ways for sport. while Peggy would take it all to heart and grieve over it. His second wife, a perfect amazon, with a regular tiger-tem- per, used to rule him with a rod of iron, so much so that Dow had one room finished in his new mansion in Montville expressly for himself, and always carried the key. Over the fireplace he had a gilt hen paint- ed, and over it in large golden letters : " The hen crows here."

It was reported that in consequence of his last wife's mother opposing the match, because Dow was a Methodist in belief and her daughter being a Presbyterian, that it became necessary to be married away from home. The arrangement was made that on a certain evening he was to preach in a school-house, and that Lucy Dolbear, his intended, should be present, and at the conclusion of the discourse, at a certain signal, Lucy should get up. When the sermon was ended and the ben- ediction pronounced, Mr. Dow said, " If there is any one here who would like to marry me, they will manifest it by rising." A negro woman rose up at the same time his intended did. He took Lucy, and went to Elder Whittlesey's, and they were married that night.

There was a story going the rounds of the papers in Vermont of Lorenzo Dow raising the devil. One day while he was at the dinner table at our house in Hard- wick, mother asked him about it. Lorenzo replied that the circumstances were as fol- lows: In traveling through the northern part of Vermont, he was belated one night in a blinding snow-storm. He went for the only light he could discover, and found it came from a small log-house. After repeated knockings at the door, a woman opened it. He asked accommoda- tions for the night. She said her husband was gone, and she could not possibly ac-

commodate a stranger. But he plead with so much earnestness, she concluded to take him in. He immediately went to bed, without removing his clothing, in a little corner, separated off from the room where the family lived by a partition of rough boards, with cracks between, cov- ered with paper pasted over, which was torn off in many places, and anything going on in the opposite room could be easily seen. It soon appeared this woman was not alone, but had a paramour. Late in the night on came her husband, drunk, as usual, and demanded admittance, hal- looing and cursing at the top of his voice, his wife all the while trying to stop him, but before opening the door, she secreted her pal in a cask of tow in the room. When admitting her husband, she tried to silence him by telling him that Lorenzo Dow was in the other room, and if he was not still he would wake him up. Well, says the husband, I understand he can raise the devil, and now he has got to do it. Notwithstanding all the appeals of his wife, the husband pounded on the door, calling on Dow to come out. At last Dow pretended to be roused out of a sound sleep, (although he had been awake all the time) ; rubbing his eyes and yawning, he came out. The man insisted on Dow's raising the devil, and would not take no for an answer. Well, if you insist on it, said Dow, I will do it, but when he comes, it will be in a flame of fire, and you must set the doors wide open, so he will have plenty of room. The man opened his door, and Dow, taking the candle, touched the tow in the cask. In an in- stant the cask was wrapped in flame, and the man inside jumping out, all on fire, ran up the street like the very devil, all of a light blaze, tearing through the snow at the rate of 2:40. The husband was so frightened, for once it made a sober man of him.

When I was 9 years old, my parents moved to Connecticut, and Uncle Lorenzo journeyed with us. At one of our stopping places he was called on to preach. It was about 4 P. M. In a few minutes they had in the hotel where we stopped a congrega-

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tion of some 300 persons. In the course of the sermon, he pointed to a young man present, and said, "How came you to steal that sheep, and dress and have it cooked? Do you think it tasted any better than if you had gone to work, earned the money, and paid for it like an honest man?" After the sermon, my sister Christiania asked him what he meant by being so personal, and making such a di- rect accusation of stealing, when he never was in that town before, and knew no one present ; that, having made a charge, if he could not sustain it, would go hard with him. Uncle Lorenzo replied he felt in- tensely impressed in a very peculiar man- ner to say what he did, so much so that he could not stop until he had made the charge. It was soon told us by the land- lord that two years before, that man stole a sheep, had it cooked, and eaten in his own family. He was sued, but his father settled it so it did not go into court. The reader may analyze this, whether there · were any spiritual manifestations.

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The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 60

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press Number of Pages: 1064

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064