USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Middletown > The history of Middletown, Vermont, in three discourses, delivered before the citizens of that town, February 7 and 21, and March 30, 1867 > Part 8
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The day on which this freshet occurred. opened bright and clear ; but about nine o'clock A. M., a black cloud was seen rapidly ris- ing in the west, accompanied with thunder, and the rain soon fell in torrents, and so continued to fall until the latter part of the day. It seemed, as I have been told, like a succession of thunder show- ers following each other without intermission, and what may per- haps be considered as remarkable, the heavy rain was confined to the town of Middletown and the west part of Tinmouth. Damage was done in Poultney. Poultney river runs through that town, and was swollen by the fall of water in Middletown and Tinmouth ; but the fall of water in Poultney, as I have been informed, was not great.
The great event of that day was the rescue of fourteen persons from the "Corbin House " just before it was carried off by the rising flood. This house then stood near where M. E. Vail's store- house now stands, which is near the bridge and on the west side of the little stream which runs down from the north part of the town.' This house was at the time occupied by Elihu Corbin and his family, consisting of his wife and children, and his mother, then about seventy years old. She was the mother of Mrs. Babcock, who recently died here at the age of over eighty years. Besides that family, Israel, son of Russel Barber, and several children from the Haskins family, who lived on the hill north of Mr. Lucius Cope- land's, had left the school and gone in there to get shelter from the 6
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rain. The inmates of this house were not aware of their danger until it was upon them, neither were the inhabitants of the village. Besides those who resided in the village, there were many there from without, and all seemed unconscious of approaching danger. The water rose rapidly, especially in this stream on which were the Corbin and Eldridge houses. The first thing which seemed to attract the attention of the inhabitants and cause alarm was the going off of the Eldridge House, which was situated on the east side of this stream and nearly opposite the Corbin house, and nearly north and on the opposite side of the road from where the village school house now stands. Elihu Corbin was in the village and called the attention of the people to the danger his family were in, when they found his house already surrounded by water, and the appearances indicating that this house must soon share the same fate of the Eldridge house. The bed of the stream was about where it now is ; but the water had so risen in a short space of time that there was a strong current on the west side of the house of about seventy feet wide, and between the house and the village, and had become so deep and rapid that fording it was impossible.
The people in the village on being warned of the danger, imme- diately rallied upon the western shore of this current of water, and at first seemed to look upon the scene before thein in despair. This little stream which rises among the hills and mountains in the north part of the town, and is ordinarily so small that fording it even is unnecessary to cross it-a mere step in many places is sufficient-had suddenly swolen to the dimensions of a large river, and the descent was such, in coming down from the hills, that the current in this place was exceedingly rapid and furious, and as if to render the scene still more grand and terrific, there was added the roar of the waters and the dull heavy sounds of rocks and stones striking each other as they were moved along by the resist- less current. But what should they do ? There was seventy feet of water between them and the house, with a current that no man could withstand a moment, and the house was being rapidly under- mined, and already was trembling from the action of the water, and fourteen persons were in it who must in a few minutes be taken
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from there or perish in the mad waters. Joseph Fox was at that time engaged with others at the tannery, some rods above, in removing hides to a place of safety, when a messenger came to and stated the condition of things at the Corbin house, and told him that his presence was desired there at once. He went there immediately, and, as he has himself said, suggested getting the liberty pole which was then kept in the shed near the congrega- tional meeting house, and the bell rope from the baptist meeting house. Whether he suggested it or not they were brought there as soon as fleet men could do it. One end of the liberty pole was made fast on the shore, and the other end thrown up stream, and was made to swing around with the current so as to lodge upon some stone and gravel which had been washed up near the door on the west side of the house ; but this did not leave the pole clear from the water ; it dashed over it almost the whole length, or that part of it which was over the water ; but that was the best they could do ; the rescue of those persons in the house must be affected by crossing on that pole or not at all. One end of the bell rope was securely fastened around the body of Mr. Fox, and the other end placed in the hands of trusty men, and Fox undertook the perilous adventure of crossing on that pole to the house. The men holding one end of the rope had directions that if he should fall from the pole, or be swept from it by the water to draw him ashore. He could not walk on it, as possibly he might if it had been entirely above the water, but undertook and succeeded in getting over as he would climb a standing pole. Mr. Fox was under water a portion of the time while crossing, and was very much exhausted ; the blood started freely from his mouth and nose. He opened the door of the house, and raised his end of the liberty pole and put it in the doorway, and that raised the pole out of the water. He then took the end of the rope which had been fastened to his body and fastened it to the house at a convenient height above the pole to hold on to while walking on it ; the other end of the rope was made fast at a corresponding height on the shore. At the same time the men on shore had procured some . sticks of timber, and those they and Fox together managed to get along side of the pole and fastened to it. All this was accom.
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plished with the utmost haste, but it formed a bridge over which those fourteen persons were all taken off and saved. In fifteen minutes after the last person reached the shore, the house was swept away by the flood.
A question has arisen, and some dispute as to whether Joseph Fox brought off those persons from the house ? That question, it seems to me, is comparatively of small importance. The great feat of that occasion was the first crossing on that pole submerged as it was in a furious current of water, and nothing could have been effected without it. This was done by Joseph Fox if wit- nesses, both dead and living, can be relied on; and it has often been said to me that no other man on the ground, even with the courage to have undertaken it, had the physical ability to accom- plish it. Mr. Fox was then a young man ; had been brought up a sailor in one of the seaport towns of Connecticut ; had great phys- ical strength for a man of his size, and was agile as a cat. There were other men there, and all were doing all they could do. Among the active men present were Russel Barber, Jonas Clark, Jonathan Morgan, Charles Stoddard and Simon Clark. After Mr. Fox had crossed and the pole had been raised, the rope fastened to the house, in the manner above given, to hold on to while walking. and the sticks of timber placed alongside the pole and fastened to it, others crossed over and assisted in getting off the inmates of the house. The children were carried ; the adults walked across, as they were led or guided by Fox and others. "Old Mother Cor- bin," at her own request, was the last to leave the house. Mr. Fox said, when he first entered the house, he found her quietly smoking her pipe, apparently unconcerned, and while she seemed rejoiced at the prospect of saving the others, seemed to have little or no anxiety for herself. Mr. Fox lived to be an old man, and died in Middletown about two years ago. May he long be remem- bered for his heroic and daring conduct on this occasion ; but for him those fourteen persons probably would have then perished.
A man by the name of Orrin Cleaveland was drowned on this occasion ; about the tine they started for the liberty pole and bell rope, Cleaveland started with some others and went some rods above and found a tree which had been uprooted and fallen across
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the stream Cleaveland thinking that possibly the Corbin House might be reached from the other side, undertook to cross on this tree, but was carried down the stream. His body was afterwards found nearly divested of clothing.
Since writing the foregoing, Dea. Menira Caswell, of Castleton, has put into my possession two letters which he has recently received from two of the old inhabitants on the subject of that flood. One is from Dea. Jervis Barber, well known to many of you. I would like to copy it entire, but for want of time must omit a portion of it.
He writes :- " I am requested to give the facts and incidents which came under my observation in the flood in Middletown in 1811. I was then seven years old, my brother Israel was a year and a half older. The day on which the freshet occurred we went to school in a large two story house, then owned by William Semple, which stood directly opposite the school house east of the village, and on the bank of the stream-it was called the Eldridge house. The teacher, fearing danger, dismissed the school a little before noon. About three o'clock in the afternoon this Eldridge house was swept away by the rising flood; myself, brother Israel, Harley and Ezra Haskins, two other school children stood in the road in front of it at the time. We then went down the road towards the bridge and observed Corbin's children, who seemed to be enjoying the scene very much. It was proposed by some one of our number to take shelter in the Corbin house, and with them enjoy the scene. We all made for the house, and my brother and the two Haskins boys went through the water, which was already running west of the house, but my legs were not long enough to ford it, and I backed out. Soon after that I called to my brother to leave the house, as the water was rising fast. He made the attempt but it was too late-he was obliged to turn back with fear and alarm depicted on his countenance.
At this point my own observation ceased, though I could but observe that the little plot of ground around the house, not covered with water, was rapidly growing smaller and smaller until it was . entirely lost to my view, and no longer wishing to look upon the raging element which I believed would soon sweep into eternity
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my brother and those with him. I went into the house of a Mr. Fuller, which then was standing about where widow Burnam's house now is, for shelter and sympathy. Mr. Fuller was in the . village, and while going there those in the house made signs to him of distress, but he did not heed them.
The last time I saw Mr. Fox he told me all about the rescue of those persons in the Corbin house ; that he was in the tannery above assisting in saving some hides when word came to him that Corbin's family would soon be swept away unless rescued ; that he immediately hastened to the spot-found a multitude collected on the bank of the stream-but nothing doing towards their rescue, and in fact all were agreed that nothing could be done; but when the liberty pole was suggested it was brought to the spot at once."
Deacon Barber writes that Mr. Fox told him that, " when about half way across the pole the body of Mr. Cleaveland, who had fallen into the stream above, came floating down and struck him and turned him from the upper side of the pole ; that the man hold of the rope seeing the body floating down supposed it was Fox and drew him ashore ; that he (Fox), as soon as he could get breath sprang again for the pole ; the men held him for a moment, telling him it was impossible to cross, but he released himself from them, sprang to the pole, and the next time succeeded in getting over."
The other letter to which I have alluded is from Mrs. Priscilla (Barber) Leach. She is the sister of Deacon Jervis Barber. I copy a portion of that letter as it aids much in bringing out the facts in relation to that exciting and interesting affair. From Mrs. Leach I get the date, that is the day of the month. She says : " The 'flood,' as it was called, occurred on the 22d of July, as I had occasion to know from a minute made with chalk on the walls of the room by my father the next morning." .
In writing of the affair at the Corbin house, she says : " The family of Elihu Corbin were in the house, consisting of his aged mother, his wife and children, and my oldest brother Israel and other school children were there, in all to the number of fourteen. There seemed no help for them, and men withdrew from the scene, so as not to witness the final catastrophe. My father could sec
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Israel on a high door step, and supposed that Jervis was also there. Mr. Corbin was restrained by force from plunging into the stream. By whom the liberty pole was suggested as a means of relief I cannot say, but it was brought and thrown across the stream, when Joseph Fox, with ropes about his person, one end of which were in strong hands, and thus he periled his life in a successful effort to reach the other side. He secured the end of the pole, when oth- ers walked over to the rescue, foremost among whom were my father, who, catching up brother Israel placed him on the shoulders of Mr. Fox, who bore him safely over. He, Israel playfully said, " rode over the river on a Fox." Some remained in the house to prepare the women and children for their perilous voyage, while others were making the voyage, with a child clinging to their necks, others assisted the women to walk the slippery pole. " Granny Corbin," as she was familiarly called, remained until the last, having taken refuge in the comforting belief " that if she was to be saved, she would be saved," She was taken from the house and put upon the pole, a man supporting her on either side, and guiding her steps she got safely over."
There were other exciting scenes in town on that day. The tannery belonging to Deacon Orson Brewster, situated as we have before seen where the horse power manufactory now is, was also surrounded by water. There were some six or eight persons there and before they were aware of it a current of water thirty or forty feet wide was running on the north side of the tannery, which, with the main stream, completely shut them in. They soon by signals called men to their assistance, who were enabled to get across the current a long stick of timber which, almost at the same moment, had floated down stream to them. A man by the name of Farmer, who was in the tannery, was the first man to attempt the crossing on the timber. The stick not being securely placed turned and let him into the water. He was carried down the stream, but was rescued before serious injury was done to him. The others in the tannery all came safely off.
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David Thomas was then building the house now owned by A. G. Hoadley. During the day he started to go to Mr. Bigelow's,
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across the bridge a little above the tannery, and as he stepped from the last plank on the south end of the bridge, it went off.
The disastrous effects of this flood were severely felt in Middle- town for many years, and indeed the town, as a place of business, never fully recovered from it. John Burnam, who had been the leading business man of the town, was becoming an old man, and felt disinclined to undergo the necessary labor and care which would be required to start anew in so extensive a business as he had done. He however rebuilt his forge and saw mill, which were in operation some years after that, but without the activity which his former mills had shown. Miner's mills were rebuilt, but never manifested the same activity afterwards.
A good many men were thrown out of employment, and were obliged to seek it elsewhere. At the census of 1820 we find the population of the town to be one thousand thirty-nine, a falling off of one hundred and sixty-eight from the census of 1810. This was undoubtedly owing " in a great measure, if not entirely to the sad effects of the freshet in 1811. Yet, notwithstanding the great destruction of property, Middletown continued to be an active, lively little place for many years afterwards.
For two or three years following 1811, it was very sickly here, more so probably than has ever been known here before or since. An epidemic which in that time prevailed in many parts of the state carried to the grave many of the best citizens of the town. Aside from that time there has not at one time, to my knowledge or information, been any unusual amount of sickness.
It has been said to me by the " old folks " that "politics run high here during the war of 1812." Very likely ; politics always did " run high " in Middletown, when they run at all. Every town, as well as every individual, has a character of its own. It is a kind of individuality, and belongs to towns collectively as much as to individuals singly. One trait in the character of Mid- dletown manifests itself wherever anything like a controversy occurs, whether in politics or anything else-they fight it out in earnest-they make no childs play of it, but cach party enters the contest with a spirit that shows a determination to win. As we say sometimes of children who inherit the traits of character of their
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ancestors, " they came honestly by it." The early settlers of this town, who founded the institutions here were as pure a set of men as ever lived in New England, but they were unusually energetic, persevering and determined. They are long since in their graves, but " their works do follow them."
This may also be said of the people of Middletown : whenever they undertake to do anything, they do it thoroughly and well. The alacrity with which they concentrated their efforts upon any public enterprise has long since become proverbial. If a public meeting is had, it is not only fully attended, but is conducted with that order, decorum, and with the efficiency seldom equalled, even in the large towns of the state.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
At this point I will give the ecclesiastical history of the town. I shall be obliged for want of space to abridge from what I had originally written.
The first church organized in Middletown was the congregational church. The exact date of its organization I am unable to give, but on the cover of the first book of records I find the date of May, 1782, and I found the date of the organization given as 1782 in a religious miscellany published about 1840. It is prob- able that the church was formed in that year. The first record which I find bears date May 26th, 1783. There was a meeting of the church at that date at which Gideon Miner was chosen modera- tor, and Joseph Spaulding, clerk. The first record is dated at Wells, and it was known as the congregational church of Wells until the organization of Middletown in the fall of 1784. It may now be impossible to give the names of the first members of the church, or those who became members by the organization, but I have become satisfied that the following were among them. I give the names in the order in which they appear on the record.
William Frisbie, Stephen Wood, Joseph Spaulding, Gideon Miner, Timothy Hubbard, Jonathan Brewster, Abel White, Increase
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Rudd, William Frisbie, Jr., Elisha Gilbert, Jonathan Mehurin, Richard Haskins, Nathan Record, Reuben Searl, Thomas French and Benjamin Haskins. There were probably about the same number of females as males, but it is more difficult to designate them than the males.
Now, then, might it not be profitable for us to stop a moment and take a view of the situation here at the time this church was formed. If it was in 1782, it is not probable that there was to the amount of seventy-five acres of land cut over within the present limits of the town. No framed houses had been built ; their rude habitations were of logs, and yet here in this then wilderness, a church was formed. Those men had come here to make for them- selves and their families permanent homes. And we need no other evidence of their ideas of the importance of sustaining religious institutions than the fact that they established a church almost at the outset of the settlement.
The first meeting house was a log house. It was erected near the south east corner of the burial ground ; when it was built I cannot say, but it was there in the fall of 1784. The meeting which organized the town, November 17th, 1784, was held in that house. Whether it was built by the congregationalists alone, or by them and the baptists combined, I cannot say, but they proba- bly united in building it.
Jonathan Brewster was the leading man in forming the church, and was the leading man in it for more than twenty years after- wards. There were others in the church of equal ability, but he was remarkable for taking a deep interest in the affairs of the church, and devoting to it much of his time. He was the first deacon of the church. For twenty-one or twenty-two years after the church was formed, it was without a pastor. During this time Deacon Brewster watched over it as he would a child of his own ; and it is worthy of remark, that during this time the church grad- ually gained in members and strength. Meetings were held regu- larly, as the records show, and were well attended. Their com- munion services were probably as faithfully and regularly attended to as they have since ever been in that church. Rev. Ithamar Hibbard usually administered on those occasions. He was the first
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settled minister over the congregational church of Poultney, and it has been said was almost as much attached to this congregational church as to his own. He had two sisters in this church-the wives of William and Joel Frisbie.
Not long after the church was organized there were others united with it, whom we might almost class with the pioneers-among whom were Elisha and Rufus Clark. Elisha Clark was early made a deacon of the church, and was a very faithful and efficient mem- ber, as were all the Clark brothers of that family.
The early members of the congregational church, as well as the baptist church, were men of the puritan stamp-firm, decided and unyielding in their principles and religious doctrines, and prompt, faithful and constant in their attention to religious duties, and the ordinances. They adhered strictly to their rules of discipline. If any member of the congregational church was absent from the communion service, Deacon Brewster would start on Monday morning and learn the cause of it; but at the same time there was that interest in the welfare of each other, that care and watch- fulness and brotherly affection, that we would do well to imitate.
A. little later we find Lewis, Lampson, Joel and Gideon Miner, Jr., added to the church ; also Orson Brewster, Fitch Loomis, Joseph Spaulding, Jr., Joseph Brown, Jesse and Ziba Caswell, and many others.
Quite early the congregational society was formed, but I have been unable to find the early records and cannot give the date. In 1796 a meeting house was built upon the " green " or common some hundred feet south of where the congregational house now stands. The congregational society had previously purchased an acre of ground for a meeting house lot ; which included what is now known as " the green," and which they now have the title to. It was deeded to them by Deacon Elisha Clark. Up to this time (1796) meetings had been held in the log meeting house, and in private dwellings.
I should judge from the records that it was with a good deal of effort that the people succeeded in building their first house of worship after the log house. The congregationalists and baptists united in building it, and they were some two years about it after
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it was commenced, and four or five years after it was seriously contemplated.
I have before me a report of the congregational society's com- mittee on the subject of building that house-made November 10th, 1794-from which I take a few lines, which will call to the recollection of some of us the appearance of that old house.
" The house shall be furnished to the turn of the key by the 1st of October, 1796, in the following manner. The lower part shall consist of twenty.six pews and four body scats in front of the square. In the galleries there shall be a row of pews adjoining the walls of the house, and the rest of the space suitably taken up with seats ; also a pulpit and canopy shall be erected, and turned pillars under the galleries, which shall be painted blue, together with the canopy and breast work in front of the galleries. The outside of the house shall be glazed and painted, and stone steps shall be erected by the first of October, 1795. The body of the house shall be painted white, and the roof red ; and painted equal to Graham's old house, in Rutland, and the joiner work shall be equal to that of the west parish meeting house, in Rutland afore- said."
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