USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Manchester > The early history of Manchester : an addess delivered in Music Hall, Manchester, Vt., on Monday evening, December 27, 1875 > Part 3
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Samuel Rose, a son of the first settler in town, accepted a captain's commission in the British army, and undertook to recruit a company of tories. He was furnished hard money with which to stimulate the loyalty of his neighbors, and succeeded in luring a few young men to his standard. He and his handful of recruits were ignominiously cap- tured one dark night, just as they were leaving Manchester for the British army, somewhat in the manner described in The Rangers. Early in September, 1777, the council of safety sent him to Gen. Gates with a statement of his offenses, and a recommendation that he be sent on board the guard-ships in the North river. His farm was confis- cated, and soon after became the property of Samuel Pettibone.
Nehemiah French and Henry Bullis joined the tory company of Capt. Adams of Arlington, and went to the British army. On the 12th of September they voluntarily appeared before the council of safety, and submitted them- selves to its pleasure. The council considered what Bullis had already lost a sufficient punishment for his conduct, but French was compelled to pay a fine of twenty pounds. They were then permitted to take the oath of allegiance, and were given passes to their farms in Manchester.
The experience of Bennet Beardslee will illustrate the unfortunate condition of a suspected person in those times. On the 6th of September, 1777, he was adjudged an enemy of the United States and a dangerous person to go at large, and ordered to be confined in the common jail at West- minster. On the 17th the council reconsidered its action, and sentenced him to pay a fine of fifteen pounds. On the
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19th he was permitted to pass to Manchester, to return at the expiration of five days unless his fine was paid within that time. He succeeded in raising the money and secured his discharge. A convention of committees afterwards took his case in hand, and sent him again to the council. On the 3d of January, 1778, he was permitted to go home to return on the 8th, probably to enable him to obtain evi- dence. On the 9th the council decided that he had been guilty of no crime since his satisfaction of their former judgment, and ordered his discharge; and Lieut. Peter Roberts, commissioner of sequestration, was directed to deliver him his horse and other effects recently taken.
In May, 1778, the governor and council had their at- tention called to the fact that Mrs. Jeremiah French of Manchester was "very turbulent and troublesome," and refused to obey orders. It is not difficult to account for considerable asperity on the part of Mrs. French. Her husband, who had joined the British army to march into Albany, had considered himself fortunate in securing his retreat to Canada. His cattle and horses had been seized and driven away and sold. His farm was now being cul- tivated for the benefit of the state under the supervision of Martin Powel, commissioner of sequestration. We can easily believe that Mrs. French carried a bitter tongue in those days, and perhaps refused to yield a peaceable possession to the men who tilled her husband's lands for the new state. The council were not disposed to tolerate her opposition, and concluded to send her to her husband. Necessary clothing, bedding, and kitchen utensils for her- self and family were set aside, and the rest of her movables were sold to pay the expenses of transportation. Then she, and her children, and the remainder of her goods,
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were taken to the frontier, and sent under guard to the British lines.
Jeremiah French lived on the Benjamin Munson place, and owned all the land on which is located that part of the village lying east of the center of the street from H. P. Way's to M. H. Wooster's, except the strip of land, then known as the public common, on which stands the row of buildings between the Benjamin Munson place and the house lately occupied by L. C. Orvis. This property was all condemned by the court of confiscation. In the fall of 1778, that part of it lying north of the old road leading east from the Benjamin Munson place, was sold by the state to Jared Munson, of Lanesborough. The lot lying south was soon after deeded to Gideon Ormsby, and most of it was subsequently conveyed to Gov. Chittenden.
William Marsh, who was a son-in-law of Jeremiah French, seems to have moved into Dorset in the spring of 1777. He had been very prominent among the friends of the American cause, and had pledged himself by " all the ties held sacred among mankind " to oppose the British forces at the risk of life and fortune. In June, he was chairman of a committee to wait on the commander of Ticonderoga in relation to the defense of the frontier -- in July, he rode to the British army. He was sincere in his early support of our cause, but was not strong enough to withstand family influences and the successes of Burgoyne, and concluded to save himself by a timely submission. Tradition says he was with Burgoyne's army when the surrender became inevitable, and started to return home. He soon fell in with Truman Mead and asked him if he thought it would be safe for him to return. Mead told him that if he did he would certainly be shot, whereupon Marsh
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burst into tears and turned his horse's head northward. IIe was proscribed with other prominent tories, but was afterwards permitted to return to the state, and lived and died in Dorset.
In the spring of 1777, Marsh was the owner of all the land on which stands that part of Manchester village west of the main street; but a few weeks before he went to the British army he sold that part of it lying south of the north line of the Hoyt place. All the rest was confiscated to the use of the state. The portion lying north of the north line of Mr. Shattuck's place was bought by Jared Munson, and that lying south by Thaddeus Munson.
Various pieces of land in other parts of the valley, be- longing to Marsh and tories of less note, were also con- fiscated. Eight citizens of Manchester who took the British side of the controversy were proscribed by an act of the legislature, and their return to the state prohibited. A British commission afterwards visited the town to appraise their former possessions, and they were given lands of equal value in Canada. Some of them became prosperous and valuable citizens of the provinces.
After the campaign of 1777, the military service of the citizens of Manchester was mainly in defense of the frontier. Forts were erected in Pittsford, Rutland and Castleton, and were garrisoned by detachments of militia. These detachments were composed of quotas selected by draft or otherwise from the various militia organizations. In times of especial alarm the companies at home hastened to the frontier, and remained until the danger was over.
In April, 1778, Warner's regiment was ordered to Albany, and detachments of militia were sent to strengthen
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the frontier. A company of fifty-six men, mostly resi- dents of Manchester, under Capt. Nathan Smith, was in service a few days. In May, 1778, we find Nathan Smith major of the fifth regiment, and Jonathan Saxton, adju- tant. The first company was located at Manchester. Its officers were Gideon Ormsby, captain, Solomon Soper, lieutenant, and William Saxton, ensign. In November of that year, Capt. Ormsby and thirty-one of his company were sent to the frontier, and were on duty eight days.
In 1780 there were three companies of militia in Man- chester, all in the regiment of Col. Ira Allen, who then lived in the north part of Sunderland. In the month of March, Capt. Ormsby with fifty-six men, and Capt. Thomas Bull with twenty-three men, visited the frontier. Soon after this Ormsby was succeeded in the captaincy by Thomas Barney, and subsequently became major of a regiment raised for continuous service. In October, 1780, a large British force sailed up the lake, and the whole militia of the state was ordered to the frontier. The three Manchester companies under Capts. Thomas Barney, Jacob Odel and Thomas Bull, were out with full ranks. At this time the town had about one hundred and fifty men in service, probably her entire military population.
In October, 1781, there was another alarm on the frontier, and the three Manchester companies were again called into service. But the news of Cornwallis's sur- render soon reached the British forces; whereupon they retired into Canada, and active hostilities in the northern department ceased.
The defense of the frontier was not the only duty which demanded the attention of the militia during this period. There was still a strong New York party in the south-
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eastern part of the state, which at times proved quite troublesome to the authorities of Vermont. In May, 1779, a body of volunteers from this side of the mountain went over to assist the sheriff of Cumberland county in the exe- cution of the laws. This service seems to have been quite popular, and officers came to the front in surprising num- bers. The volunteers from Manchester were Major Na- than Smith, Capt. Gideon Ormsby, Capt. Jesse Sawyer, Capt. Zadock Everist, Capt. Stephen Pearl, Adjutant Jonathan Saxton, Lieut. Thaddeus Munson, Lieut. Solomon Soper, and the same number of men without titles.
It will be remembered that Vermont once formed a union with several towns in New York lying on her western border, with a view to strengthen herself against the claims of that state. In December, 1781, the friends of the Vermont union in those towns were threatened by the New York militia, and troops from this section were ordered to their support. A detachment under Major Ormsby, and a few members of Capt. Barney's company were engaged in this expedition. The New York forces retired before superior numbers, and the affair ended without bloodshed.
One or two incidents will further illustrate the character of the times. In the spring of 1782, a band of tories which had been recruited in Albany county undertook to make their way through Vermont to the British posts. They arrived at Arlington in the night, where they were furnished supplies. Just as they were leaving, an officer of militia happened that way, and was taken prisoner. While on their march they fell in with JJonathan Ormsby of Man- chester, a son of Major Ormsby, and seized him. They then abandoned the road for the shelter of Equinox
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mountain, and hurried north. The alarm was soon given, and the militiamen in the west part of the town seized their guns and followed in pursuit. Major Ormsby sent word to Col. Ira Allen, who hastened to Manchester and dispatched an express to Capt. Eastman, of Rupert, with directions to raise his men and waylay the tories at a pass in the mountain. Eastman got out his force in time, and the tories, finding themselves beset both in front and rear, surrendered without resistance.
About this time "some brave and spirited people in Manchester," as Ira Allen calls them, set out to pull down the house of a tory resident of Arlington, perhaps in re- venge for the assistance given the party which captured Ormsby. In Sunderland they were met by Ira Allen, Gideon Brownson and Eli Brownson, who with difficulty persuaded them to return. Allen was at that time en- gaged in a secret negotiation with the British general in Canada, undertaken from patriotic motives, but a dis- covery of which just then would have been decidedly awkward. He mentions, to illustrate the dangers attend- ing the negotiation, that on that very night he crossed the ground where he had turned back the Manchester party, and met a number of British soldiers, and received dispatches from the enemy. In 1781 and 1782, a British officer and soldiers under arms passed several times back and forth along the west mountain between the British posts and Sunderland, without discovery.
It was during these years of conflict and excitement that our earliest religious societies struggled into exist- ence. The first ministerial labor in Manchester was per- formed by Rev. Seth Swift in the year 1776. The neces- sity of building a house of worship was soon generally
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acknowledged, but the place for its location was not so easily agreed upon. It was evidently thought that the location of the meeting-house would be likely to deter- mine the site of the future village, and prominent citizens on the line of the old road took part in the controversy with a zeal not altogether spiritual. The record indicates that the town was pretty evenly divided between two localities, and that the matter was long in suspense. In December, 1778, the town voted to build a meeting-house thirty feet square, on such site as might be selected by a committee of indifferent persons. In June, 1779, it was voted that the meeting-house be forty feet by thirty-six, and two stories high, and that it be located near the dwell- ing of Christopher Roberts, on the lot now owned by Mrs. E. L. Way. Timbers for the frame were prepared at that place, but they were surreptitiously taken one night by the party opposed to that location, and deposited on the publie common. In November of the same year, the town again voted to build the meeting-house on such spot as the committee might select, and it was soon after erected on the ground occupied by the present Congrega- tional edifice. In October, 1780, the society instructed their committee to "procure some agreeable person to preach the gospel." The church was organized with seven members in 1784, but it was many years before it was blessed with the services of a settled minister.
The Baptist society was organized in 1781. Their earliest pastor was the Rev. Joseph Cornall, who became entitled to the land set apart for the first settled minister. Before the erection of their meeting-house, they some- times held services in a building near the falls on Glebe brook, a place now quite remote from any road or dwell-
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ing. An organization of the Protestant Episcopal church was effected in 1782, under the charge of Rev. Gideon Bostwick; but it was nearly forty years before the people of that denomination erected a house of worship.
In this early period of our state organization there was no permanent seat of government, and sessions of the legislature were held in several of the larger towns. In October, 1779, the representatives assembled in Manchester at the Weller tavern stand, and remained in session two weeks. Congress had recently taken action indicative of a disposition to sustain the claim of New York to the territory of Vermont ; had proposed to undertake the set- tlement of all differences on a basis which entirely ignored the claims of Vermont to an independent existence; and had resolved that no unappropriated or confiscated lands ought to be disposed of until its decision had been made. These proceedings received the careful attention of the legislature, and met with a spirited response. Governor, council, and assembly, unanimously resolved to proceed with the disposal of their lands, and to " support their right to independence at congress and to the world. "
In 1782, the disorders in Windham county culminated in armed resistance to the authority of Vermont, and a special session of the governor and council was held to consider the crisis. They met on the 29th of August at the house of Elias Gilbert, who lived on the hill south- west of the village. The council advised his excellency to raise troops for the enforcement of the laws, and to com- mission Ethan Allen as their commander. Allen crossed the mountain with two hundred and fifty volunteers, threatened Guilford with the desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah, and put an end to the disturbances without
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loss of life. Capt. Barney and seven of his company were among the volunteers on this occasion.
In October, 1782, the legislature again assembled in Manchester. The larger body is said to have held its sessions in the meeting-house, and the council doubtless occupied an upper room in one of the inns. The most important action of the session was the appointment of a committee to visit the American congress, and negotiate for the admission of Vermont into the union, or agree upon terms of confederation.
A few professional gentlemen were now located in Man- chester, but concerning their residence here comparatively little is known. The first practitioner of medicine in town of whom there is any mention was John Page. He appears as a resident of Manchester in 1777, and was evidently here four or five years. In 1781, he was connected with Ira Allen's regiment as surgeon's mate.
Dr. Lewis Beebe was a resident of Manchester in 1780, and was at that time surgeon of Allen's regiment. He was greatly interested in the progress of medical science, and was one of the corporators of " The First Medical Society in Vermont," and its first secretary. He was also quite active in public affairs, and was a member of the council of censors in 1785. He probably left Manchester about the year 1787.
In 1782, Jonathan Brace, who had graduated from Yale College three years before, settled in town and engaged in the practice of law. He lived where Mr. Shattuck does, and built a house on the premises occupied by Mrs. F. W. Hoyt. After a residence here of three or four years he
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returned to Connecticut, and was afterwards mayor of Hartford and member of congress.
About 1784, Samuel Hitchcock, a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of Harvard College, became a resident of Manchester and commenced practice as an attorney. He was a warden of the Episcopal church in 1785, and the records indicate his residence here until March, 1787. Soon after this he removed to Burlington, where he married a daughter of Ethan Allen, held various local offices, and was finally appointed United States district judge.
These gentlemen were but temporary residents; others came who made Manchester their abode for life, and whose descendants are numerous in town to-day. Nathaniel Collins was prominent in local affairs in 1779. Nathaniel Boorn was then living in the east part of the town, and the stream in that section was known as Boorn brook as early as 1787. Jabez Hawley was then located near the south-west corner. James Jameson was already living on Jameson flats, and before 1790 we find the names of Rich- ardson, Anderson and Benedict in the north part of the town.
Not long after 1780 a tavern was erected where Mr. Fowler's house now stands. In 1788, it was kept by Stephen Keys, formerly of Connecticut, who had served in the revolution as an officer in Sheldon's regiment of dragoons. Keys occupied the house several years, but it was then owned, and was afterwards kept, by Abel Allis, and has generally been spoken of as the old Allis tavern. Mrs. Allis, once the landlady of this inn, was a daughter of Remember Baker, the Arlington mill-wright who had shared with Allen and Warner the military lead-
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ership of the settlers, and fallen by an Indian bullet while scouting for Montgomery's advance.
In 1788, we must consider the resident of Manchester village reasonably supplied with the comforts and con- veniences of life. If he requires the attendance of a physician, a little south of Keys' tavern, on the opposite side of the street, is the residence of Dr. William Gould, a graduate of Yale, and a prominent member of the Vermont medical society. If any former experience has shaken his confidence in Dr. Gould, he can request the attendance of Dr. Azel Washburn, a physician and surgeon of several years' experience, who will doubtless give him the best of attention. If he has a difficulty with his neighbor, legal assistance of the best kind can easily be obtained. A short distance south of Dr. Gould's, lives Enoch Wood- bridge, who will soon become chief justice of the supreme court. If Squire Woodbridge has been so unfortunate as to lose a case for him, he can still secure the services of Mr. Samuel Hitchcock, who, notwithstanding his change of residence, keeps up his practice here. If the ladies of his family wish to do some shopping, James Caldwell & Co., at their stand a few rods south of Mr. Woodbridge's, have recently added to their former assortment a quantity of English goods just imported from London, and pay- ment will be taken in wheat or ashes. In case the services of a prescription druggist are required, next door north of Keys' inn is the drug store of Dr. Abel Allis, who receives his goods immediately from Europe by the way of Canada, and will make up his prescription with the greatest accu- racy. If our resident is a mason, he will doubtless visit the rooms of the North Star Lodge in the upper part of Keys' inn. If it is time to dispose of the contents of the
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rag-bag, he can carry along the bundle and leave it at Keys' to be taken to the paper-mill in Bennington. If he wishes to keep up with current events, the post-rider will leave with him weekly the Vermont Gazette, the subserip- tion price of which is three bushels of wheat, to be lodged with Major Stephen Keys. Should the wheat crop fail he need not be alarmed ; flax seed or rags will be thank- fully received in payment.
In October, 1788, the subscribers of the Gazette had the pleasure of reading a full account of the proceedings in Manchester on the assembling of the legislature for its annual session. The arrival of the governor was an- nounced by the discharge of five cannon by the artillery company of Capt. Harmon. His excellency was escorted into town by three companies of cavalry, commanded by Capts. Robinson, Hitchcock and Clark. Two companies of light infantry, under Capts. Todd and Gray, were on parade, and saluted the governor as he passed. Lt. Col. Keys, of Manchester, the officer of the day, then took command of the troops and performed various military maneuvres ; after which a sermon, suitable to the occasion, was delivered by Rev. Elijah Sill of Dorset. Declaration was then made that his excellency, Thomas Chittenden, was elected governor for the ensuing year, and his honor, Joseph Marsh, lieutenant-governor. The troops were again formed and fourteen cannon fired. The proceed- ings closed with a general discharge of fire-arms by the cavalry and light infantry, and the people dispersed with every expression of satisfaction. The gentlemen of the legislature then commenced their labors; the assem- bly occupying the meeting-house, and the council sitting in the chamber of Thaddeus Munson's inn.
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Among the citizens of Manchester who gathered to wit- ness this military display, there was doubtless a sturdy veteran whose name is somewhat prominent in the early history of the state, and whose few years' residence in our town entitles him to mention here. This was Peleg Sun- derland, a man whose adventurous life might serve for the foundation of a romance. In his younger days he had been a famous hunter and trapper, and had almost made the wilderness his home. He had thus become familiar with the great forest of northern Vermont before the axe of the earliest settler had disturbed it. He had nearly perished of starvation in its desolate wilds, and had been rescued by Indian hunters. He had shared with them the life of the camp and the pleasures of the chase, and had acquired a knowledge of their language and customs. In the land title controversy which soon came on, his restless energy found employment not less congenial to his tastes. He soon became known in New York as a bold and active defender of the New Hampshire Grants, and was one of the eight against whom were aimed the terrors of the riot aet and executive proclamation. He was a member of the extemporized tribunal which ordered a liberal application of the beech seal in the case of Justice Hough, and secured thereby the honor of an additional reward for his appre- hension. His knowledge of the northern country and its inhabitants was of service to the leading patriots in their earliest preparations for the war of independence. When John Brown of Pittsfield undertook a secret expedition to Canada in behalf of the Boston committee of correspond- ence, Sunderland went with him as interpreter and guide. Hle was sent among the Indians to ascertain their feelings with regard to the coming conflict, and brought back as-
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snrances of their friendly disposition. After his return he took part in the expedition against the fortresses on the lake, and signed with Warner the dispatch to the autho- rities of Connecticut announcing the capture of Crown Point.
In 1791, Peleg Sunderland, Gideon Ormsby, Martin Powel, Nathan Smith and George Sexton, were all living in Manchester. They had served the state with fidelity and zeal through many troublous years, and been honored with the friendship and confidence of its leading men. They were now enjoying the reward of their faithful ser- vice, no longer threatened with the loss of lands or dis- turbed by alarm of war. They may have sometimes met together in those quiet days, and indulged in reminis- cences of the trials and dangers through which they had passed. The conversation of those five men in such an hour must have been no mean review of the early history of our state. Their several experiences embraced the early conventions of the settlers ; the various expeditions of the Green Mountain Boys ; the first success of the revolution at the gates of Ticonderoga; the perilous campaigns in Canada; the triumphant advance of Burgoyne; the rule of the council of safety ; the conflicts of Hubbardton, Ben- nington and Saratoga. Some who had shared with them the labors of that eventful period had not been permitted to see the full realization of their hopes. The bold leaders whom they had sat with in council and followed in battle were no longer living. Warner had worn out his stalwart frame in the service of Vermont, and returned to his native state to die. Allen had recently been followed to the grave by a large concourse of his old associates. But the work they had commenced more than twenty years
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