USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Jericho > The history of Jericho, Vermont > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
At this date the position of the few people who had come to Jericho and vicinity to make their homes was dangerous in the extreme, almost amounting to rashness, as an invasion by the British army from Canada was daily expected and thought prob-
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able. Ira Allen, one of the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, warned Roderick Messenger and the other pioneers of their im- minent danger, and advised them to remove to the southern part of the state and leave vacant their lands and homes till the danger should be passed. Messenger and others heeded the advice, Messenger loaded his family and his limited belongings into a boat and went down Onion River to the lake and on to the southern part of the state.
In 1776, when the Revolutionary War was on, forty men of Capt. John Fassett, Jr.'s, company, under Lieutenant Mathew Lyon, were stationed at the Block House in Jericho, but they abandoned it on the retreat of the Continental army from Can- ada. The officers of the company, including Lyon, were accused of cowardice for abandoning the post without orders, and were tried by court martial and convicted and cashiered. This con- viction was said to have been unjust. For that small number of men to have stood their ground, when our army was retreat- ing before the British up the lake, and meet the British in battle, would have been something more than courage-sheer foolhardi- ness. It is said that Lyon's conviction did not injure his reputa- tion in Vermont, as he was afterwards made commissary-general and colonel, and twice elected to Congress in Vermont.
As soon as the Revolutionary War was over, the first three families returned to their homes that they had been compelled so unceremoniously to leave; others began to immigrate hither,. among whom were Nathaniel Bostwick who located near Under- hill, now called Riverside, Thomas D. Rood and Lewis Chapin who located south of the center of the town, Daniel Hutchinson, the grandfather of James H. Hutchinson, David T. Stone, Gaius Pease, George Butts and Jedediah Lane who located on Lee River, Abel Castle, Daniel Hale, Peter McArthur, Captain Joseph Hall, David Stanton, Leonard Hodges, Benjamin Farnsworth, Jonathan Castle, Noah Chittenden, John Lyman, Sr., Arthur Bostwick, Truman Barney, Martin Chittenden and many others.
Just imagine the true state of affairs and the condition of the early .comers who had to make a beginning by building a rude log house, for there were no sawmills by which to manufacture lum- ber; their houses and barns were of the most primitive kind, the
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crevices of which were chinked with moss and clay, a stone fire- place, wooden hinged doors with a wooden latch lifted by a string from the outside, and wooden hooks and pegs for the gun, and.on which to hang hats and frocks; the gun used to obtain wild meat for the family; then commenced the clearing of the land by the use of the axe; log heaps were burned to clear a little patch of ground on which to raise a little rye, corn and potatoes. For the first few years these immigrants had a hard struggle to live, even if they escaped sickness and accidents ; they had no schools or church privileges and no mills in which they could grind their grain for the family. For many years lumber, if they obtained it at all, had to be hauled a long distance.
In 1786 a move was made to organize the town. Hon. John Fassett, a judge of the Supreme Court, legally warned a meet- ing of the freeholders and other inhabitants of Jericho for March 22, 1786, for the purpose of choosing town officers. At that meeting James Farnsworth was chosen moderator and justice of the peace, and Lewis Chapin, town clerk; and at an adjourned meeting held on the 13th of June, 1786, selectmen, treasurer and highway surveyors were chosen.
One of the first matters on which the town took action was the making and improving of highways. The town voted, on Oc- tober 4, 1786, "to petition the Assembly to grant a tax on land in the town, to cut roads and build bridges," and in 1787, the town voted to accept the road from Essex line to Underhill and also the bridge by Mr. Jedediah Lane's house. In the early days of the state it was a common practice for the towns to build their highways over the hills, instead of avoiding the steep grade by go- ing around, as the road built by the town from Underhill village nearly in a direct line over by the present dwelling places of Arthur H. Packard and Carl Schillhammer to Onion River, shows. The town from the first to the present time has shown a commendable interest in laying out new highways and in keeping them in repair. In 1786, the town obtained a permit from the Assembly to choose a member to attend the Assembly.
The people of Jericho, from the first, took a deep interest in the religious education of her people, and they did not depend upon voluntary contributions to maintain public worship. The necessary funds were provided by raising a tax on the grand list
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of the town. In 1789, the town, quoting, "voted to draw the money out of the town treasury to pay for what preaching we had the year past," and also chose a committee of three to pro- vide preaching in future. On September 7, 1790, the town "voted to have Ebenezer Kingsbury as their minister," and voted as a salary "35 pounds for the first year, and rise till it shall amount to 80 pounds per annum." And on October 4, 1790, "voted that the 200 pounds (for ordination purposes and settlement) be raised within one year after his ordination, in neat cattle or grain or material for building, at the common going price among use"; and "that the first settled minister have forty cords of wood delivered at his door, he finding the wood." Mr. Kingsbury re- mained the pastor of the church at the Center until 1808. Evi- dently small inconveniences did not stand in the way of attend- ing public worship, in those days, for in March, 1791, the town "voted to meet for public worship on the Sabbath at William Smith's barn for the future." Down to 1794 no place had been selected on which to build a house for public worship, but on the 2nd of October of that year it was voted "that every man write his place for a meeting house and put it into a hat." The voters not agreeing they chose a committee of three to set a stake for a meeting house, and selected Amos Brownson of Williston, Samuel Bradley of Essex and Phineas Loomis of Burlington as such committee. The record is silent on the action of the com- mittee, but I infer they put the stake on the Green in front of the present Congregational Church, for on June 3, 1795, the town "voted that the town procure four acres of land for a Green · around the meeting house stake." Subsequently a frame house of public worship was built on the Green and was taken down in the year 1835 or 1836 by Anson Field, Sr., when the present brick church building took its place. When Mr. Field took the old church building down he cut out a block from a post of the frame that has been preserved as a relic and is now in the posses- sion of his son Burton. On the block is written in the hand writ- ing of said Anson Field, the following record : "This piece of oak is a part of the post in the frame of the first meeting house ever built in the town of Jericho. Preserved by Anson Field, Sr., who took the frame down."
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Soon after the organization of the town in 1786, immigration to the town was quite rapid. There is a long list of men and their wives and families that have contributed to the welfare of Jer- icho, and some of whom have been prominent in conducting the affairs of the town. Too much credit cannot be given, especially to the older residents who have passed on to their reward, for the work they accomplished in coming hither and clearing their farms and making beautiful homes that may now be seen in all parts of the town. We who in later years have lived in the midst of plenty and modern surroundings cannot adequately realize the sacrifices made by the pioneers of the town.
It would be interesting to notice the changes and improve- ments that have been made in implements that were in use by the people, both men and women, in the several industries in the early history of the town and state. The spinning and flax wheel, swifts, reel and loom which the wives and daughters in the early history of Jericho were compelled to use to manufacture the wool and flax into cloth for family use, have been superseded by the machinery of our factories, run by water power, steam, elec- tricity or other power. Instead of the old-fashioned, unsuitable plow, harrow, scythe and sickle that the early farmers were compelled to use, the improved plow, harrow, the mowing ma- chine and the reaper and binder have taken their place. It may be a matter of interest to the young to know what the elderly men and women of the town have done. It is a fact that older people know that the cloth from which the family was clothed, in the early days of Vermont, was made from material spun and woven by the wife and daughters of the family. Mr. Burton Field of this town has in his possession several different pieces of fine cloth that were spun and woven by Mrs. Arthur Bostwick and her mother about 100 years ago, and some fine silk cloth made and woven by them,-silk from cocoons grown by them in Vermont. But upon these topics I cannot dwell.
· An incident, in the early days of Jericho, took place on Lee River near Beartown (so-called) that may be of interest to re- late. One Casey who had lived near neighbor to David T. Stone, Gaius Pease and George Butts, pioneers, for some offence that he claimed his son had committed, took the son to the woods at night and after a cruel whipping left him tied to a tree until
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his screams brought a neighbor to his relief. The next day Billy Young and a Mr. Prouty, who appeared to Casey as the executors of the law, proceeded with the "Beach Seal" and rawhide well laid on and changed the spirit of Casey to a milder form. George Butts, Gaius Pease and David T. Stone stood near by approv- ingly, till they were satisfied that a genuine conversion had taken place.
On October 29, 1789, the Vermont Council concurred in an act passed by the General Assembly for holding the County and Supreme Court at Jericho, but I do not find these were actually held there. The United States gave the people of Vermont no postal or mail service till 1792. Previous to that all of the postal facilities were under the control of the state authorities. For a time, and down to 1792, the settlers of the town had the benefit of a post rider from Clarendon,-Jericho was the end of the mail route.
In 1791, without an enabling act of the legislature, the town, in town meeting, took action to set off a part of the inhabitants to another town; the records say, "voted that the neighborhood on Onion River in the south part of this town be immediately set off to join the southeast society in Williston"; "then the question was put, the town viewing it reasonable, that they should be set off and considering them as dismissed." And in 1792, it was voted "to run the line between this town and a certain grant of the town which has heretofore been set off to the southeast society in Williston." While such action of the town would not legally change the geographical bounds of the town, it evidently was the purpose of the town to relieve certain inhabitants from paying taxes upon the grand list of the town and from contributing to the support for religious services in town, (for, previous to this action of the town it was voted in town meeting "that the neigh- borhood on Onion River in the south part of the town should have their money refunded, which they might pay towards the settle- ment of Mr. Kingsbury over and above what the public rights amount to at a time when they shall be legally set off by author- ity to unite with another society.") In the early history of the state and of all New England the ecclesiastical power was greater and more arbitrary than at the present time. The inhabitants of a precinct which belonged to some church were not bound by
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territorial limits. The parish was composed of persons who united under the charge of a particular priest, clergy or minister, and the church was controlled and expenses for maintaining it were voted and raised by the town in town meeting, and the town assumed the right to set the individuals from the society or church in one town to another society in another town and release them from taxation in the town from which they were transferred.
Jericho, from the time of its organization, has endeavored to provide for its poor. The mode and practice in caring for them for some time might be regarded questionable. Each year the keeping and caring for the poor was disposed of at public sale and struck off to the lowest bidder, and under this way of caring for them they received unjust treatment, and the custom was subject to just criticism. In the year 1860 the town united with other towns in the county in a union poor farm association where the poor are well treated and humanely provided for under proper supervision at a large farm located in Williston. In the early history of the town it was the practice that if any person came to reside in town, whom the authorities thought might in the future become poor and liable to be supported by the town as a pauper, he was immediately warned to depart from the town before he had time to gain a residence. The process of the warning was directed to a sheriff or the constable and signed by a selectman, and read as follows: "By the authority of the State of Vermont you are commanded to warn (naming the person or family) now residing in the town of Jericho immediately to depart said town." This process was served upon the person which prevented his gaining such a residence in town as would make the town liable for the support of the person warned in case he became pauper.
In 1794, under the act of the legislature, the town of Rich- . mond was formed out of the lands of Bolton, Huntington, Jer- icho, and Williston, whereby Jericho lost 5,000 acres of territory. The town of Jericho was surveyed into three divisions and gen- erally divided into lots of 100 acres each, and numbered. Some of the lots in the third division contained but thirty acres each.
On March 27, 1799, it was voted in town meeting to divide the town into school districts, and subsequently it was divided in- to 15 school districts; and from an early day the children of the town were given a chance at the common schools of the town
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conveniently near their respective residence, and such schools were kept up until the town system took its place in the year of 1870. At Jericho village there is a large and commodious graded school building, also one at the Center village at present where the school is of a sufficiently high grade to fit pupils for a collegiate course. The old academy building, built in 1825, now standing on the south side of the Green at the village at the Center, deserves more than a passing notice. The academical school in this building went into successful operation in the spring of 1827, when Simeon Bicknell, A. M., became the principal and continued to be its prin- cipal for five years, and he was succeeded by S. J. Marsh, and Marsh was followed by John Boynton, Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury, James T. Foster, a Mr. Hale and others. The Academy build- ing and the ground, forty feet square where it stands, was given by deed by Lewis Chapin on the 6th day of September, A. D. 1825, which deed is recorded in Vol. 4, on page 500 of the land records of Jericho. The deed does not expressly name a grantee, but the legislature on the 28th day of October, 1828, passed an act of incorporation by which Harvey Smith, Nathaniel Black- man, Wm. P. Richardson, Simeon Bicknell, Hosea Spaulding, Simeon Parmelee, Septimus Robinson and Seth Cole and their associates and corporate, the trustees and members of Jericho Academy, were empowered to hold property, real and personal, including library.
It is pleasant to know that there were many men and women educated for life's duties there ; men who went out from school and town who became eminent in business and professional life ; among others, we can refer to Charles C. Parker who became an able preacher; Aaron B. Maynard, who became an able lawyer, and located at Richmond, Vt., and later at Detroit, Michigan ; George Bliss of Jericho, who afterwards was a member of Con- gress from Ohio; Luke P. Poland who became Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont and United States Senator, and later Member of Congress from the 2nd Congressional district of Ver- mont ; John A. Kasson, an eminent lawyer and statesman in Iowa. There were also educated at this academy, Dr. George Lee Ly- man, James and John Blackman, Ada L. Lane, Lucius L. and Edgar H. Lane, Rollin M. Galusha and Joel B. Bartlett Jericho men ; Torrey E. Wales, who for more than 25 years was a judge
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of Probate Court for the County of Chittenden; Professor Joseph S. Cilley, who became one of the leading educators in Vermont, and was for many years principal of the academy at Underhill Center in its most flourishing days, when I first knew him as my teacher, and afterwards for many years principal of the academy at Williston, and still later the principal of the academy at Bran- don, Vt., and closed his work as teacher at the high school build- ing at Jericho village in fitting pupils to enter college. All of these men made a good and honorable record in their various callings.
As early as 1835 and 1836 there were many worthy women educated at said Academy while James T. Foster was principal. Among whom were Betsey M. and Lucinda Bartlett, Eliza and Mary Blackman, Lucy Crane, Sarah S. Chapin, Lydia I. Galusha, Charlotte B. Gibbs, Lorain and Lydia Griffin, Charlotte Lyman, Lydia Nash, Fanny Prouty, Mary Reed and Lavilla and Sarah S. Stiles. Those were times when board including room, wash- ing and lights were furnished to pupils attending the school for $1 to $1.25 per week.
There were other buildings which require special notice, which I will mention later. On Lee River, in the eastern part of the town, there was a saw mill built at an early day in the his- tory of the town, just above where said Stone and Butts lived, operated successively by Daniel Hale, Joseph Butts, Samuel An- drews, Edgar A. Barney, Warren Fellows and J. E. Burrows, which was taken down in 1908. And on the said river, between Jericho Center and the village of Jericho there was a large fac- tory building used for many years by Ephraim Styles as a fulling mill and carding works, and later occupied by Oliver Whitmarsh and Lyman Stimson for the manufacture of furniture and coffins, still later George Wright and Lyman and Stimson changed the building into a saw mill and a wheelwright shop. Wright soon thereafter sold out his interest to Stimson who continued the business for many years, but that building was destroyed by fire, and Stimson removed to Wisconsin.
As the inhabitants increased in numbers, a village grew up at Jericho Center which held its primary importance for some time, and is a fine residential place. Later and for many years, Jericho Corners situated near the western side of the town at 5
,
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the falls on Brown's River, owing doubtless to its water power facilities, became the largest and the most flourishing village of the town, in a business line. There are six fine water falls and sites at and near Jericho village. Quite early in the history of that village a mill for carding wool and a factory for the manu- facture of cloth were erected just below the lower bridge that did extensive business for many years. The carding works were run mainly by Truman Barney and his sons. A distillery for the distilling of whiskey and New England rum to supply the trade in those days for the "pure article" was established by Frederick Fletcher and located between the present dwelling house of Charles E. Percival and the railroad trestle, and was operated for many years, but the distilling of those drinks there ceased more than sixty years ago. Below the lower bridge a saw mill was built about the year 1830, by Joseph Sinclair, and since that time it was successively owned by eight different men, but was re- cently swept away by high water, and the granite shop of Joseph Williams has taken its place. There was a grist mill built of stone by John Bliss as early as 1820, at the falls on Brown's River on the site where Warren E. Buxton's manufacturing es- tablishment of small wood articles now stands. The mill was greatly changed and improved and run by John Bliss and David Oakes, and later it was owned by John Bliss, George B. Oakes and Truman Galusha. This was the only grist mill in this sec- tion of the country for many years, to which the people for many miles around brought their grain to be ground. This mill was afterwards owned by George B. and William E. Oakes, and run by them till about 1870, when it was changed into a pulp mill, and later run as a chair factory by Henry M. Field. At the next mill site above this mill there was a large factory and a saw mill where an extensive business in the manufacture of pumps and tubing was carried on by Simon Davis and later by Henry M. Field and Anson Field for many years. Just above the pump works, across the river, another saw mill was built at an early day, by David Oakes and later owned by Wm. E. Oakes and through successive conveyances came to Stephen Curtis, the present owner. At the upper bridge that spans Brown's River, at the place known as Benajah C. Buxton's mill site, there was a grist mill, oil mill and saw mill built on the south side of the river about one
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hundred and ten years ago by Uriah Howe. This grist mill, oil mill and saw mill, were probably the first mills of the kind that were built in town, and the grist mill was conveyed by Uriah Howe to Charles Howe and David Oakes in 1808, and the saw mill was conveyed to Brigham Howe and David Oakes at the same time, and David Oakes conveyed his interest in the grist mill to said Charles Howe. Some time previous to 1819 Howe and Oakes took down the old mills and rebuilt the saw mill, but not the other mills. In 1826, Secretary Rawson deeded one- half acre of land on the north side of the river below the bridge where E. B. Williams' saw mill now stands, to Bradley and Stev- ens, who built a mill thereon for grinding bark, later a mill for making tubs and other articles took its place. These mills on both sides of the river, through many intervening conveyances, came to Benajah C. Buxton, and he after running the saw mill for about forty years, conveyed the same to John Early and James Gribbin in 1873, and they put in at one end of the building a mill for grinding grain, and those mills were used by them for grinding grain and manufacturing lumber for several years and conveyed through several conveyances, to Fred W. and William M. Buxton, and while they were the owners of them the floods came in 1892 and washed away the bridge and all of the mills on both sides of the river, but in 1893 they built a new saw mill and . a box factory on the south side of the river and conveyed the same to Eugene W. Curtis, but in 1900 they were destroyed by fire and they have never been rebuilt. About the year 1854 James H. Hutchinson, who had returned from California with considerable money, built the present grist mill and flouring mill, just above the lower bridge, and since that time it has been suc- cessively run by him, H. A. Percival and Clark Wilbur, L. B. Howe and Ferdinand Beach, L. B. Howe and Frank B. Howe, Moses S. Whitcomb, and the present owner Charles F. Reavy. While this mill was operated by L. B. and Frank B. Howe, ma- chinery was put in for making flour by the roller process. It was one of the first mills in New England that manufactured flour by that process.
The dwelling house that was owned by Homer Rawson for many years, and where he resided at his death in 1900, standing a little east of Jericho village, should be mentioned as an early
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landmark. It was built by Uriah Howe before 1811 and pur- chased by Secretary Rawson about the year 1816, who occupied it till his death in 1842 and has always been kept in the Rawson family. It had served as a hotel, a place for holding religious meetings before the brick church was built, and for pleasure parties, and farm house. There was formerly a large hall in the house that was suitable for public gatherings. The house has been kept in a fine state of repair to this day.
The village of Jericho has suffered from several disastrous fires. In the year of 1874 the harness shop of Orlin Rood and the old Beach & Howe store that stood on the south side of Main Street were destroyed by fire, but the harness shop was rebuilt by Rood, and a large and commodious store was erected on the ground where the old store stood by W. N. Pierce. In 1903, the new harness shop then owned by D. E. Rood, and the new store built by Pierce, together with the adjoining tin shop and dwelling house of Joseph Bissonette were reduced to ashes and have not been rebuilt. Again, in 1904, the Barney Tavern, (so- called) erected about 100 years ago, as one of the first buildings of the village, and kept by Erastus D. Hubbell, John Delaware, a Mr. Stanton, James McNasser, and others, and later for a long time by Martin C. Barney and his brothers, was consumed by the flames together with an adjoining grocery building and the hotel barns while owned by William Folsom. Again, the dwelling of Allen A. Chesmore and his grocery store and the post-office and drug store of E. B. Williams just east of the old Barney tavern stand, were destroyed by fire in the year 1906, and have not been rebuilt.
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