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 4
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before had been brought to a successful issue after their departure, and Vermont was now a member of the Federal Union - the peer of New York.
The leaders of the Green Mountain Boys have received the honor which is their due. Their bones repose beneath columns of granite, on which are inscribed the tributes of a grateful people. Their statues have been set up in public places, and eloquent voices have pronounced their enlo- gies. As we have joined in the general homage it seems never to have occurred to us that there were citizens of our own town who served as faithfully and bravely as those of higher rank, and who were at least entitled to remem- brance in the place where they lived and among their own descendants. The meagre record you have heard to-night is nearly all that can now be told of the most prominent ; of many others who served the town with equal merit there is no vestige remaining.
Nearly all who died in Manchester during the first twenty- five years of its history sleep in unmarked graves. The first burial ground in town embraced within its limits the space until recently occupied by the school-house, the spot on which the court house stands, and the street between the court house and drug store. Most of the interments, previous to 1791, were made in this ground. At the com- mencement of the present century, it was entirely uncared for, and run over without regard to its nature. In 1812, many of the small rough headstones were still standing, and the ground was uneven with the graves. When the war fever was at its height the recruiting officers removed the stones, and leveled the ground and converted it into a parade. Women shed tears and old men shook their heads, but the work of desecration went on, and under
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the heavy tread of the volunteers the last indications of the old burying-ground soon disappeared. In digging for the foundations of the various buildings which have sinee occupied the spot, the bones of more than one sleeper have been disturbed by the spade of the workman. So many years have elapsed since this burial ground became the business centre of the village that a knowledge of what the place onee was has almost passed from the minds of men. But if the fathers and mothers of the town were to rise from their graves to-night, they would meet you as you turn from the door of this hall, and look out upon you from the court house windows, and stand upon the little green where many of their descendants have raced and shouted in childish sports, unconscious of the mouldering forms beneath. It is impossible for us to rectify this error of a former generation, but we can at least do some- thing to preserve the memory of those whose graves have been so rudely treated.
In 1781, the present county of Bennington was estab- lished, and Manchester made a half-shire town. The courts were held for several years in the meeting-house, or in one of the village inns. The erection of the necessary county buildings was delayed by various difficulties con- cerning their location. The desire of the locating com- mittee to place them within the present limits of Factory Point was defeated by their inability to purchase a lot on which to build them. Then the efforts of Martin Powel, the owner of the Noble J. Purdy farm, nearly secured their erection on the hill just east of that place. Finally, the exertions of the citizens of the village, aided by the influence of Gideon Ormsby, secured their location on the
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public common, where they were erected in 1794-5. The building is now that part of the Manchester hotel block occupied by Nelson Perkins, including the press room of the Journal office. The walls of the jail have been relaid, but its foundation remains unchanged. Its bad reputation as a place of security for criminals commenced at an early date. A few months after its completion three noted counterfeiters, branded in the forehead with the letter C, and with the right ear cropped, made their escape through its walls.
In 1784, the general assembly of Vermont passed an act establishing regular posts and post-offices for the convey- ance and distribution of letters and packets. Under this arrangement there were only five offices in the state, and Manchester was not among the favored communities. The post-offices nearest the town were at Bennington and Rut- land. After the admission of Vermont into the union the postal facilities of the state were somewhat improved. On the first of June, 1792, a post-office was established at Manchester, but this remained for some time the only one between Bennington and Rutland. Abel Allis was our first postmaster, and held the office until 1803, when he was succeeded by Joel Pratt.
In the last decade of the eighteenth century, the popu- lation of Manchester was about fourteen hundred. Some of the back districts of the town were more thickly settled than now, but the village was still quite small. It was, however, sufficiently advanced in the ways of civilization to number among its institutions a tailoring establishment and a hatter's shop. The best house in the village was the Allis tavern. The dwellings generally were not dis- tinguished for elegance or size. The little house which
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stands opposite the residence of J. A. Munson was then occupied by Truman Squires, a young lawyer of ability and position, secretary to the governor and council, who not only considered it large enough for a residence, but found room in one corner for his law office. The waters of the Battenkill were still filled with salmon trout; the deer were not yet entirely driven from the neighboring forests ; and packs of hungry wolves frequently entered the settlement and made havoc among the farmer's stock. In hours of leisure, the inhabitants amused themselves by racing horses through the street, scouring the woods in hunting parties, or playing at wicket on the village green. The management of town affairs was still in the hands of the earlier settlers. Young gentlemen of college educa- tion and professional attainments had made their appear- ance in town ; but no learning of the schools or polish of the outer man could draw away the affections or the votes of the people from the sturdy men who had borne the brunt of the battle with the Yorkers and the tories. Gideon Ormsby and Martin Powel were still the leaders of the town, and held their influence unbroken to the last. Ormsby represented Manchester in the general assembly seventeen years. Powel was town clerk twenty-one years, representative seven years, and judge of probate twelve years.
There was already numbered among the active citizens of Manchester a man who lived to see the hundredth an- niversary of the settlement of the town. Nearly the youngest of my auditors have seen the bent form and silvered head of Serenus Swift. Their recollection of that aged man may serve to connect them more closely with the men and events of the past century. He was born
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before Ticonderoga was taken, and remembered the clos- ing incidents of the revolution. His feet were familiar with our street before the foundations of a single building, now standing, were laid. He held office under the second administration of George Washington, and was often as- sociated in local affairs with Ormsby and Powel. He was doubtless among the inhabitants of Manchester who, on the last Saturday of May, 1793, gazed upon the hand- some wagon which the mail carriers had put on the route between Bennington and Rutland - the first public con- veyance for the transportation of passengers which passed through our valley. When he was entering upon man- hood, town meetings were called at the meeting-house ; the first interments in the new burying-ground south of the village, had just been made; George Sexton and Robert Anderson were advertising a lottery in aid of the road across the Green Mountains ; merchantable grain was the common currency of the community ; the inhabit- ants were satisfied with a weekly mail each way; the columns of the local paper were crowded with the dis- patches of Bonaparte, general-in-chief of the army of Italy.
The young federal office-holder was probably not over popular in town, for Manchester was largely republican, and party strife ran high. Political celebrations were frequently indulged in, and were sometimes occasions of considerable local interest. In 1795, the inhabitants of Manchester, Sunderland and Dorset united in celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Bennington. A battalion of Col. Roberts's regiment of militia, consisting of the companies from those towns, under command of Major Martindale, Capt. Bradley's company of cavalry, and two companies of light infantry under Capt. Tousley and Lieut.
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Graves, took part in the celebration. After a time spent in military movements, the militia and spectators formed a hollow square on the green near the court house, and listened to orations by Dr. Todd, of Arlington, and the Rev. Chauncey Lee, of Sunderland. The report of a com- mittee before appointed to take into consideration the treaty of amity, commerce and navagation, was then read. The committee expressed their abhorrence of the treaty in the language of their fellow-citizens of South Carolina, censured Senator Paine of Vermont for his favorable vote in the severest terms, and expressed a hope that the father of his country would prove his right to the appellation by withholding his signature! The report was signed in behalf of the committee by John Shumway, chairman. Fifteen toasts were then given out. "Renovated France " and " Desolate Poland " received due attention. The eighth toast, " Citizen Moses Robinson, senator of the United States," will indicate how badly our ancestors were afflicted with the prevailing political disease. We can perhaps imagine what the members of the militia who were so unfortunate as to be federalists thought of this method of celebrating the battle of Bennington.
On the 16th of August, 1798, the citizens of Manchester and vicinity gathered for a similar celebration. At four o'clock they walked in procession from Pierce's tavern (where Mrs. Hoyt now lives), to the Court House, and listened to a spirited oration. The procession then formed again and returned to the tavern, where the usual number of toasts were drunk. The contemporary account of the celebration would lead one to suppose that the closing proceedings were distinguished only for quiet and dignified enjoyment; but the late Judge Pettibone was a youthful
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and curious observer of the ways and manners of his elders on that occasion, and from some reminiscences which he once gave me, I am inclined to think it was what would be considered in these days rather a lively and boisterous time.
Several familiar and honored names now appear in the history of our town. As early as 1796, Robert Pierpont, an unele of the present chief justice of our supreme court, became a resident of Manchester. He kept an inn where the Rev. Dr. Wickham now lives, and was a prominent and influential citizen. Dr. Ezra Isham came here from Litchfield, Connecticut, about 1798, and soon became the leading physician of this vicinity. Previous to 1812 he lived a short distance south of the residence of Malcolm Canfield, in a building recently demolished. The later dis- coveries in medical science have not entirely done away with his practice, for some of his prescriptions and maxims are still current among the elderly people of the town. In 1795, Joseph Burr, the founder of our seminary, was trading in a building which stood about where William B. Burton now lives. Before 1800 he removed to the lot now occupied by the residence of E. J. Hawley, where he passed the remainder of his business life and accumulated the greater part of his property. In 1800, Richard Skinner moved into town, and soon became prominent as a lawyer and citizen. His successful and honorable public career belongs to a later period than that of which I speak.
The fourth of March, 1801, the day of the first inaugu- ration of Thomas Jefferson, was celebrated in Manchester by the raising of Thaddeus Munson's new inn, the building which is now the north part of the Taconic House. Those acquainted with the custom of the times can imagine what
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a crowd of people and what a quantity of rum it took to raise it. It was then considered the largest and finest hotel in Vermont, and the day on which its massive tim- bers were uplifted long held its place among the great days of the town.
This building, comparatively modern as it is, has wit- nessed scenes which we are accustomed to associate with our earlier New England history. At the time of its erection, the old Puritan methods of punishment were still in vogue, although thoughtful men had long questioned their good effect upon the public morals. The whipping-post stood on the west side of the street, nearly in front of the north side of the Equinox House. About 1803, oc- curred an instance of punishment there, of which some of the particulars have been preserved. The sentence was thirty-nine lashes, and was partly executed by Gen. Robin- son, the high sheriff, and partly by Ephriam Munson, deputy sheriff. Sheriff Robinson struck his blows with surprising regularity, and it was remarked among the spectators that he must have had considerable practice. His less experienced deputy was quite excited and made bungling work of it. Three or four years later another person was tied to that post for punishment - probably the last occurrence of the kind ever witnessed in Man- chester. There is at least one lady now living in the vil- lage who, on that occasion, went out with childish eagerness to see the whipping, and fled with cries of horror when the lash first descended on the quivering flesh. The pil- lory was located on the east side of the street, a little south of the present court house. It was standing there during the first decade of our century, and was still in use as an instrument of punishment. On one occasion, a woman
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stood for hours in this pillory, in the presence of a great crowd. Within the memory of the late Judge Pettibone, the sheriff cropped and branded a convict in front of the Allis tavern. The victim was placed standing on the horse-block, and his head tied to the sign-post. Then the sheriff cut off the lower portion of his ears, and threw the pieces under his feet. Meanwhile an assistant had been leaning over a kettle of coals, blowing its contents into life, and heating the iron brand. This the sheriff now took, and branded the culprit on the forehead. That winter it was a favorite amusement of the school boys to try some of their number for imaginary offenses, and brand them on the forehead with wooden letters, the imprint of which would remain some time.
Before concluding this sketch, it will be necessary to trace the early progress of a section of the town which after the close of this period became the site of a large and prosperous village. Soon after the settlement of Man- chester, Timothy Mead became the owner of nearly all the land on which Factory Point is situated. His house was located where the Colburn House now stands. He built a saw-mill on the water-power near by, and after- wards a grist-mill; and the locality became known as " Mead's mills." His grist-mill was the first in town, and was located a little below where the present grist-mill stands. The saw-mill was a short distance above it, on the same side of the stream. Sometime after this, Mr. Mead erected a fulling-mill on the ground now occupied by the factory buildings. He also built a store about where Howe's block stands, and Joel Pratt traded there
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before 1800. Mr. Mead's son Jacob, a blacksmith by trade, lived near where Mrs. Cloney's house is situated.
Mr. Mead was decidedly averse to selling any of his land, and his policy in that particular greatly retarded the development of the place. The committee for the loca- tion of county buildings proposed to place the court house and jail about where the present Baptist meeting-house stands ; but Mr. Mead met their application for a build- ing lot with an absolute refusal, and is said to have given the committee his opinion of courts and lawyers in terms more vigorous than polite. Soon after this, however, he made his first and only exception, in favor of the Baptist society - the religious organization with which he was most in sympathy. With his permission and assistance that society erected its first house of worship on his pre- mises, close to his east line. In 1791, he conveyed to the society the land on which it stood, and Isaac and Jeremiah Whelpley, who owned the J. B. Hollister farm, and Timothy Soper, the owner of the lot just north, conveyed land adjoining the meeting-house lot for a burial place. The site of the old meeting-house can readily be located on the westerly side of the present cemetery grounds. The road on which it stood was then the main highway; the street past the Episcopal church not being in existence until long after.
Mr. Mead died in 1802. His real estate was divided among his children, and soon passed into other hands. But the early growth of the place was slow, and in 1812 it could scarcely be called a village. The old grist-mill, and the fulling-mill, were still in operation. The original saw- mill had done its work, and been succeeded by another on the opposite side of the stream, about where the west end
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of the tannery stands. The store building was no longer occupied as such, and had been used as a school room while the first school-house of the district was being erected. Where J. T. Beach's wagon shop is located stood a dis- tillery, which was visited altogether too frequently by many of our citizens. Adjoining it was the carding-mill of Chester Clark. Benjamin Mattison, the owner of the saw-mill and fulling-mill, lived in the Timothy Mead house. James Borland, who run the grist-mill and leased the distillery to other parties, lived in a house which stood just east of the old store building. The dwelling-house nearest the mills, on the road leading to the village, stood on the top of the hill, south of the present residence of Deacon Burritt. On the road towards Dorset, the first dwelling was that of William Smith, where the Lester house now stands. On the south-east corner of Andrus Bowen's lot stood a blacksmith shop. A few rods east of the residence of A. G. Clark, was a good sized house, usually occupied by two families ; and a little further on was a house of smaller size. The Jacob Mead house was then occupied by David Brooks, who was about building a tavern on the lot now owned by Mr. Adams. The next building was the Baptist meeting-house - an edifice of moderate size, divided in great square pews, and embel- lished with a sounding-board. The society was then in charge of Elder Calvin Chamberlain, a revolutionary pen- sioner, and a man of great influence among the Baptist churches of the state. Just beyond the meeting-house, at the north-east corner of the burying-ground, stood the district school-house. About on the spot where Joseph Lugene, Jr., has recently erected a house, lived Peletiah Soper, one of the old settlers. Near the site of the Dea-
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con Ames house stood a small store, in which James Whelpley traded, and just north of it was a dwelling. Imagine these few scattered buildings, partially sur- rounded by a dense forest at no great distance, and you have the Factory Point of 1812.
But in 1812 a great publie improvement was in progress which indicated the growing importance of this locality to the inhabitants of other sections of the town. This was the construction of a road direct to Manchester vil- lage from the point where the old road turned west to the Noble J. Purdy place. It had long been considered in- practicable to build a road across the swampy lands of the glebe, and its construction marks a new era in the improvement and prosperity of the town.
In 1812, Manchester village had about one-third as many buildings as now. The most northerly house was the Munson homestead, then occupied by the widow and children of Rufus Munson. Where the Congregational church lifts its tall spire, stood the first meeting-house, unpainted, and without steeple or ornament. Its pulpit was then occupied by Rev. Abel Farley, who lived just south of the present residence of Chauncey Green. At the south-west corner of the old burying-ground, was the district school-house, and nearly in its rear stood a black- smith shop. Anson Munson kept tavern in the lower part of the court house building ; and in the court room in the upper story Rev. Mr. Brownson, an Episcopal clergyman of Arlington, held services every other Sabbath. Nathan Brownson, who had formerly been a merchant in the place, lived a little south of the court house building. Anson J. Sperry lived on the premises recently occupied by L. C. Orvis, and had a law office just south of his resi-
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dence. Joshua Raymond kept tavern at the Allis stand ; and the okl lodge room was occupied by the select school of Miss Harris - an institution extensively patronized by the young ladies of Manchester and vicinity. Samuel Raymond traded in a store which stood where Mrs. Law- rence now lives, and Joel Rose lived on the premises occupied by the residence of Deacon Black. Mrs. Woods' place was then occupied by Elijah Hollister and his son Marinus, who drove the stages between Bennington and Rutland. The S. A. Millett place was owned by Archi- bald Pritchard, and about where E. D. Cook lives was a
small house, occupied by Phineas Peabody. Capt. Samuel Walker lived in the little house which is still standing opposite J. A. Munson's; and Dr. Elijah Little- field had recently built, and taken possession of, the house now occupied by George Stone. Deacon Asa Loveland lived where Noah P. Perkins now does, and the Hoyt place was then the tavern stand of Israel Roach. Serenus Swift lived and had an office at the Elm House place, and just north of it was the law office of Cyrus A. Lockwood. Joseph Wells was then trading at the Burr stand, but Mr. Burr retained an office in the building for his general business. John C. Walker, a young lawyer, occupied the E. B. Burton place, and had an office on the north side of his lot. Calvin Sheldon lived in the house now owned by Rev. James Anderson, and his law office is still stand- ing south of that building. Capt. Peter Black kept an inn where Rey. Dr. Wickham resides, and also traded in a store which stood on the south side of his lot. Where Major Hawley now lives, was the residence and law office of Richard Skinner, among whose students at that time were Leonard Sargeant and Robert Pierpont. Nathan
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Burton, who had been appointed postmaster in 1808, lived where Mr. Miner does, and kept the post-office in a little building on the north side of the lot. Joel Pratt, the county clerk, lived on the premises now occupied by Mr. Cone, and had an office adjoining his house on the north. The old Marsh tavern was still standing, tenant- less, and soon to be demolished. Thaddeus Munson lived in the new tavern by its side, but kept it open only in court time. Ephraim Munson lived on the premises now occupied by Mr. Shattuck. This was the extent of Manchester village in 1812.
In the year 1812, war was declared against England ; the northern frontier was again threatened ; and another generation of our citizens rallied for its defense. For two years the drum of the recruiting officer sounded in our street, and successive squads of volunteers and militia went through their maneuvres on the green. Abram C. Fowler, the village school-master, exchanged the ferule for the musket, and won a commission in the regular army by his bravery at the battle of Plattsburg. John C. Walker left his law office, and James Whelpley his store. John S. Pettibone, Joseph Burton, Leonard Sar- geant, and Benjamin Munson, were among the younger recruits. Of the thirty-four citizens of Manchester who served in that war, the two last named are still with us. Two of their associates have mouldered under the sod of the battle-field now sixty years and over. Daniel Olds, a grandson of Gideon Ormsby, was killed in a skirmish at Chateaugay. John Harris, a private in the regulars, fell in the desperate night-battle at Lundy's Lane.
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I have now sketched the history of Manchester down to a time when the names of men still living appear upon her roll of honor. I doubt not there are some of my hearers to whom the later delineations of this evening have seemed but the feeblest hint of familiar things. There are doubtless those present who can see the little village of 1812 with clearer vision than they can the state- lier village of to-day. It is not impossible for them to people the town again with the men and women who then filled its borders with bustling life. From this time on, their memory will supply a fuller history than I have been able to give of the earlier days.
I have spoken of the first half-century of our history - a period worthy a more extended and minute recital. But, incomplete as my presentation of the subject has necessarily been, I trust it has proved sufficient to satisfy you that, in proper hands and with suitable preparation, it would be a theme of uncommon interest. In tracing the early pro- gress of the town, I have dwelt with some particularity upon its relation to revolutionary history -as seemed meet in these centennial times. While listening to the fragmentary accounts of that period, it must have occurred to you that the citizens of Manchester have been exceed- ingly remiss in preserving the names and exploits of those whom every sentiment of justice, patriotism and local pride, should have led them to hold in perpetual honor. Let us, to whom has fallen the hundredth anniversary of their valiant deeds, do what we can to supply the deficiency before it is quite too late. Perhaps, in doing tardy justice to the heroes of our first war, we may establish a local sentiment which will renew its strength with each suc- ceeding generation, and long suffice to secure the grateful
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remembrance in after times of those who do good service for the town.
Already the landmarks of that era are fading in the distance. The voices of the fathers come faintly to our listening ears. Time has carried us almost beyond sight and sound of the primitive days. And yet, this period which to most of us seems so remote, is scarcely beyond the infancy of some who still hold their places in the ranks of the living. But the life of the most favored individual is brief when compared with the probable duration of the community of which he is a part. We who now compose the corporate body will soon pass away, but the munici- pality may fulfill her thousand years. In that distant future, the space which separates us from the days of set- tlement will seem as nothing, and we who now commemo- rate the early history of the town will ourselves be reck- oned among its early inhabitants. Our individual names may fail to reach our successors of that day; but let us hope that our united efforts may secure for the time in which we live the reputation of an age of publie spirit and gentle manners as long as the town shall endure.
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