USA > Vermont > Orleans County > The history of Orleans county, Vermont. Civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military > Part 27
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I have before stated that I was at an early age led to the composition of songs, and after the loss of hearing I frequently sought diver- sion in 'courting the muses,' and, in the course of a few years, my fugitive pieces had accumulated to such an extent, that I was advised to arrange them for a little volume, and accordingly they were, in 1831, published by the title of 'THE SILENT HARP.""
Through the aid derived from this publi- cation, and the benevolence of friends, Miss Allen was indulged with the gratification of her earnest desire to visit The Great West. After passing over the whole length of the Erie Canal, she visited Rochester and Niagara Falls. Having visited Buffalo, Detroit, the Mormon Temple, and many interesting places, she returned, by Lake Ontario, to New Eng- land. Many notices of scenery and persons and places visited, would do no discredit to those of superior advantages.
After her return she made many shorter tours, but occupied a part of her time in pre- paring a volume under the title of "GREEN MOUNTAIN LIFE," which she published in 1846. This little volume, thongh devoted to tales, evinced a degree of tact in seizing upon and describing scenes that, if they had been
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properly cultivated, would have ranked her high among writers of that class. Few have ever written under circumstances so untoward.
Having visited Stanstead and other places, she was returning to Craftsbury, when, at Dea. S. F. Cowle's, in Coventry, she was attacked with a violent lung fever, which in a few days assumed a putrid type. Her sufferings were excruciating ;- much of the time she was deprived of reason. Another thing that rendered her state particularly affecting, was the fact of her entire deafness, from which she had suffered since the age of 15. She had invented a mode of intercom- munication by the fingers, which most of her acquaintances had learned so that, in health, she was able to converse with those around her; but, during most of her sickness, there could be but little interchange of thought with those around her. During the intervals of reason she was much occupied in consider- ations pertaining to her spiritual prospects, and was at one time able to communicate to her pastor the emotions felt in view of her state. She died, Nov. 14, 1849, aged 55 .- Yeoman's Record.
Miss Allen is represented in Miss Hemen- way's Poets and Poetry of Vermont, where, to our fancy, appears the best effusion from her pen. The following, published in the Green Mountain Repository, edited at the time by the Rev. Zadock Thompson, and for which she was a contributor under the nom de plume of Ada, is, we regard, however, a more fair specimen of her general poetic style and talent, and is not so generally known. The following lines are also addressed to one deaf and dumb : - Ed.
SPRING, AND WE NEVER, NEVER MORE SHALL HEAR.
The Northern blast has ceased to roar, And Spring again resumes her reign ; The giddy snows are seen no more, But verdure robes the hill and plain.
'The mild morn wakes and with her smile Invites us o'er the flowery field ; Spring beauties, now, the sight beguile And admiration yield.
O come, Eliza ! haste with me, And to the meadow's streams repair,
Where nature's wonders we may see " Above,-below- in earth, in air."
Behold the leaves, the blossoms view ; No plush so soft, no silk so fine ; No chemist's dyes give such a hue ; No weaver's art threads thus entwine.
And see ! there loftier statues stand, Their towering tops invade the sky,
Rising far o'er thy head, O man, They, the fierce winds of heaven defy.
On yon green hillock, see how gay The little lambkins sport and dance,
How blithely pass their hours away- Emblems of virtuous innocence.
And hark ! in yonder shady grove, Do tuneful songsters raise their notes ?
Deep-fraught with melody and love, Does it upon the soft air float?
Alas! dear friend, we list in vain, Nor note, nor sound delights our ear, And O those sweet enchanting strains We never, never more shall hear.
But cease our sighs, we'll murmur not, Since charms unnumbered meet our view, And though to hear be not our lot, We'll see and praise our maker too.
ELIZABETH ALLEN. Craftsbury, April, 1832.
JUDGE PADDOCK.
PAPER RECEIVED FROM HON. E. A. STEWART.
At a meeting of the Orleans County Bar July 9, 1867, John L. Edwards, John H. Prentiss and H. Chilson, Esqs. were appoint- ed to draft resolutions on the death of Judge Paddock. From their resolutions drawn and reported we quote :
" Resolved, that we truly deplore the death of the late James A. Paddock ; the salt has lost of its savor ; the Bar has lost of its vir- tue and worth,-a model lawyer ; an educat- ed and courteous gentleman ; a good citizen ; a dignified and honest man ; one whose pre- cepts, if we act on them, whose example if we follow it, whose memory, if we revere it will make us wiser, better, nobler laywers as well as men."
After which, John H. Prentiss, Esq. having read, made an address to the court in memory of Judge Paddock from which we further quote :
"Judge Paddock was a native of Vermont and of our County, having been born in Craftsbury in 1798. He received from the Academy in Peacham his primary education- an institution which, your Honors well know, then ranked among the highest of its kind in the State. He entered College in Burling- ton and graduated there, and having com- pleted his preparatory study of the law was admitted to the Bar and commenced the practice of his profession in Craftsbury where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in April last. His mother was a sister of the late Governor Crafts, and from the latter he derived much of wise counsel, and learned many maxims which a sage only cun devise or has virtue to adopt and teach. In his early professional career he did a good and constantly increasing business and gave forth much of hope and promise for the future of his life. But before he had fairly attained the prime of his manhood, his health declined, and being impressed with need for more of out of-door exercise than a strict devotion to
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his professional life would permit, he turned his attention to pursuits more congenial to his tastes and the demands of his physical constitution ; and thenceforth, though he did not entirely quit the practice of the law while his life remained, he sought no professional employment and gave attention reluctantly and only to such professional business as the partiality and implicit faith of suitors forced upon him.
Within the years of his waning profession- al life he was an assistant Judge of this Court, and by means of his legal attainments, and his sound and judicial mind and judg- ment, he confessedly and materially aided the Court in the performance of its important duties. Subsequently he was chosen Judge of the Probate Court for this Probate District, a position for which he was pre-eminently fitted by his legal acquirements, his sound judgment, his wisdom and prudence, his un- prejudiced mind, his exalted reverence for justice, his knowledge of mankind, and his sympathy for the widow and the orphaned. For this place he so nearly seemed by his virtues to have been ordained, that it is no disparagement to others, to say, that had the people been less subject to the imperious exactions of party, and as true to the State and faithful to themselves as he was true to the State and faithful to them, he would have adorned that position while his life remained. In his individuality as a man, he was of pure integrity, gifted with a nice, punctilious sense of honor,-he earned and could have had as unanimously in Craftsbury, as Aristides earned and had in Athens, the surname of The Just; as a Christian man, he was exemplary and sincere, as a citizen, patri- otic and true ; as a judge, upright and just ; as a lawyer, courteous, discreet and wise, and in all his outward life and manifestations, he clearly demonstrated that all the paramount ends he aimed at were his God's, his coun- try's, and truth's.
But it is of his character as a lawyer that it may seem most appropriate here and now to speak : and concerning him in that rela- tion it may be truly said that he did no false- hood, neither did he consent that any be done in court; he did not wittingly, willingly, or knowingly promote, sue, or procure to be sued, any false or unlawful suit, neither gave he aid or consent to the same; he delayed no man for lucre or malice, but acted to his office of attorney within the court, according to his best learning and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the court as to his clients .- Now this, may it please your Hon- ors, when truthfully said, is high commenda- tion of any man ; it is all that can be said, all that need to be said, all that the highest aspiration of any lawyer can make him desire to be said, before the world, and over his mortal remains. Were Judge Paddock living and present to listen to these commen dations, his innate modesty would make him shrink before your Honors' gaze, and these
encomiums would mantle his cheeks with crimson flushes. Nevertheless, this Bar this day, through me as its appointed organ, de- clares to your Honors that these are words of truth and soberness; they originate in no adulatory spirit; they are put forth in no spirit of servile flattery, but as a just, sincere and mournful tribute to the memory of a departed associate brother."
To which Judge Peck responded that the Court fully sympathized in the spirit and tone of the resolutions and the remarks of Mr. Prentiss, and would cheerfully order these proceedings to be entered on the records of the court.
MRS. ELLEN E. PHILLIPS.
It is true I am not a native of Vermont, my birthplace being the beautiful town of Andover in Mass. Still, I am none the less a child of Vermont. Her hills and valleys, her wood-crowned mountains and silver streams are none the less dear to me that I did not look upon them with the eyes of un- conscious infancy. My father, the Rev. S. R. Hall, ( now of Brownington ), removed to Craftsbury when I was seven years of age. There I grew up to womanhood, and there most of my humble effusions were written. For about 4 years I have resided in Wisconsin.
E. E. P.
BY MY COTTAGE WINDOW SITTING. BY MRS. ELLEN E. PHILLIPS.
By my cottage window sitting, half reclined, Many a busy thought is flitting through my mind- Memories of the checquered past, sad and bright- Sunny hours with shades o'ercast-shades of night.
Mingled sounds are in my ear-sounds of yoro -- Gentle voices sweet and clear, heard no more- Silvery laughter ringing deep-whispers low- Mournful tones that made me weep, long ago.
Visions flit before my eyes,-landscapes bright- Wood-crowned mountains towering high, bathed in light-
Quiet vales where summer sheds rich perfume, Where with fragrant, drooping heads, violets bloom.
That these Western plains are fair 'ncath the glow Of the balmy, summer air, well I know; Yet a fairer, brighter land have I seen, Where my native mountains stand, robed in green. Steven's Point, Wis.
THE TWO ANGELS.
BY MRS. ELLEN E. PHILLIPS.
" Wanted, an angel for Heaven"- And the soft air felt the sweep Of a strong and rushing pinion, Through the far cerulean deep ; But the angel's wings were folded As he stood on the dewy earth, When the " holy hush " of twilight Was stilling its sounds of mirth.
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One moment brief he lingered, For the scene was strangely fair 'Neath the soft and dreamy radiance Of the star-lit summer air.
" The soul must grieve at parting," Spake the visitant unseen,
" But the bowers of heaven are brighter, In their fresh and fadeless green."
A gentle child was lisping Its low-voiced evening prayer, Nor dreamed that a viewless watcher Stood smiling on him there. But hushed were the tones of music, And drooped the bright young head, As up to the gates of heaven Two bright-winged angels sped.
SOLDIERS RECORD FOR CRAFTSBURY. BY GEORGE F. SPRAGUE.
The Adjutant-General credited this town with 6 men as our share, whose enlistment papers did not embrace their residence. These 6 men counted upon our quota, but have noth- ing to do with our military history of men really furnished.
Whole number of men furnished by the town during the war, exclusive of the 6 men mentioned, and including 8 men who paid commutation, 128: Of these there were, 9 mo's men, 8 ; for 1 year, 21 ; for 3 years, 99 -- total, 128. Of these there were killed in ac- tion, 5; died of wounds, 6; of disease, 15; in Reb. prisons, 5; of accident, 1. Total loss by death (every fourth man)-32; desertion, 2; besides Taylor N. Flanders, reported as deserter. I am informed that he was from Canada ; was promoted sergeant ; went home on furlough ; became insane; could not re- turn-and was well spoken of by the soldiers, I hope he was not really a deserter, and have not put him down as such.
Of the 128 men furnished by and credited to the town, 16 were not citizens nor residents, and but one of them died.
The report embraces the names of 17 men who resided in, or were well known citizens previously, and enlisted for and were credited to other localities : of these - died of disease, 3; wounds, 1; in reb. prison, 1; killed in action, 1 ; making 6 of that class lost.
The town was credited with 11 re-enlist- ments ; 8 of these were from this town-3 from other localities.
Recapitulation-whole number of men cred- ited, 134; of these were not credited by name, 6; paid commutation, 8; re-enlisted, 8,- total,22; individual men enlisted 112; died 32;
an actual loss of precisely 2 in 7; left, 80 ; deserted, 3; leaving to be discharged, 77.
The 134 men was the exact number of men required or assessed to the town.
Again, of the 112 individual men furnished, 16 at least were from other localities, not having resided at all in town ; which leaves 96 towns-men, and of those there died 31-a loss of almost every third man ; and if to the 96 men we add the 17 credited to other locali- ties, we have 113; add the loss-6, out of the 17-makes 37, being a little more than one .. in every three men.
.The expenses of the town for the support of the war were as follows, viz. aggregate amount of bounties paid to volunteers by the town, $13,268.00 ; expenses enlisting recruits, $69.40 ; subsistence of recruits, $19 67; trans- portation of recruits, $17.20; for further ex- penses of same nature as above, $90.15; ag- gregate amount of expenses paid by town, $13,464.42.
In addition to the above the selectmen in- curred additional expense in transporting re- cruits, amounting to $14.25, which the adju- tant general of U. S. allowed and paid.
There was also raised by subscription in 1862, the sum of $161.50 and paid as bounties to 8 volunteers, for 9 mo's service, and the further sum of $875.00 was subscribed to aid in procuring recruits, of which sum I under- stood about $650.00 was collected and paid out. Which added to town bounties and re- cruiting expenses, makes an aggregate of $14,275.92.
The town bounties and expenses, excepting about $900.00, were raised between July, 1864, and March, 1865, on grand-lists of about $4,000.00-exact amount of grand-list, not remembered. Bounties were paid as follows ;
8 men $625.00 each, $ 5,000.00
7
624.00
4,368.00
6 ยช
500.00
3,000.00
3 " 300.00 900.00
Total, $ 13,268.00
DERBY.
[The early history of this town promised almost two years since, not having, at this date (the compositor being now ready for the manuscripts), come to hand, we can only give here such papers, relating to this town, as have come in already from others than the general historian, and must defer the more complete chapter expected till the
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Appendix for the County-or the department of county Papers and Items, that either come in too late for a first place in the respective towns, or are otherwise reserved for such summary .- Ed.]
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN DERBY. BY HON. E. A. STEWART.
There was no public worship in town for several years after it was settled. About the year 1799, Timothy Hinman instituted pub- lic religious services in his own house. He kept a hotel on the site of the house now oc- cupied by Z.W. Niles, and the meetings were held in his bar-room. He came to Derby from Connecticut, where the Sabbath was sa- credly observed as a day of rest and worship; and though not a professor of religion himself, he was always careful of the morals of the town, and thus transferred into the then wil- derness the observances to which he was accustomed in his earlier days. For several years-and it is thought till the church was organized-he used to read two sermons, gen- erally, on each Sunday ; and as the congre- gation increased, the services were held dur- ing the summer months in his barn, which stood on the opposite side of the road from his house. The singing was generally done by his wife, and a Mr. True, a Baptist deacon, used to lead in prayer, when present.
The Congregational church was organized August 9, 1807, in a log-house owned and oc- cupied by Freeman Vining, and which stood on the farm now owned by Lawrence and Hollis Moran. They worshipped for several years in the barn now owned by Sumner Frost, and then in a school-house near the center of the town, until the first meeting- house was built in 1820. The church was gathered and organized by Elijah Lyman, a missionary from Brookfield, in this State, and consisted of 16 members living in Derby, Morgan, Newport and Stanstead, P. Q., whose names are as follows : James Bangs and wife, Elisha Lyman and wife, James Greenleaf and wife, Freeman Vining, Luther Chapin, Elie- zer Jones and wife, Christopher Bartlett, Na- than Wilcox, Sarah Benham, Phebe Hinman and Luther Newcomb and wife. Elisha Ly- man was chosen its first deacon.
The church was not supplied with regular preaching till the summer of 1810, when the Rev. Luther Leland was ordained pastor, who held this relation till his death, Nov. 9, 1822. From 1822 to 1827 the pulpit was sup- plied with preaching the most of the time by
Rev. Lyman Case of Coventry, and Rev. Sam- uel Marsh, of Danville, and by ministers of other denominations, it being a union meet- ing house, and the church having no regular pastor. During the 5 months that Mr. Marsh labored here, there was a revival of religion, and more than 50 persons were converted, of whom 47 united with this church. In the Fall of 1826, the Rev. Samuel C. Bradford commenced preaching here, and, June 21, 1827, was installed as pastor for the term of 3 years ; but he was dismissed by council at the end of the second year. Though without regular preaching, the church shared in the great revival of 1831, and 57 persons united therewith. In October, 1832, the Rev. James Robertson, from the north of Scotland, be- came acting pastor, and continued till May, 1836. The Rev. E. B. Baxter, of Browning- ton, preached 3 or 4 months in 1837. The Rev. Stephen M. Wheelock was acting pastor from 1838 to 1840, and the Rev. Wm. Clag- gett from 1840 to 1843. From 1843 to 1848 there was no regular preaching. The Rev. C. W. Piper preached a few months in 1848-9, and Rev. Ebenezer Cutler during the summer of 1849. In the Fall of 1849, the Rev. Orph- eus T. Lanphear was ordained pastor, and held the relation till the Spring of 1855, when he was dismissed. During his pastorate 55 persons were added to the church. The Rev. E. M. Kellogg supplied the pulpit a few months the first part of 1856. In August, 1856, the Rev. John Fraser became acting pastor, and continued till the summer of 1863.
In 1858 the church enjoyed a revival, and as the fruits thereof 45 persons united there- with-nearly doubling the membership. The Rev. B. M. Frink was acting pastor 2 years, commencing August, 1863, and the Rev. Jas. P. Stone 2 years, commencing in October, 1865. The first of April, 1868, the Rev. John Rogers, the pastor of the Congregational church, Stanstead, P. Q., was engaged to sup- ply the pulpit every Sabbath in the forenoon, and he is at present (May, 1869,) the acting pastor.
John G. Chandler was clerk of the church from 1829 to 1842, and Orem Newcomb from 1844 to 1849. Nathan S. Benham was chos- en deacon in 1839, and Daniel Kelley in 1857, and they are the present deacons .- William Verback was also deacon for many years.
A Congregational society was formed in
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-
1819, and it still keeps up its organization .- Nehemiah Colby was its clerk till 1828: D. M. Camp from 1828 to '38, and Orem New- comb from 1838 to '51. In 1819-20 the first house of public worship in town was erected at a cost of $3300. It was a union meeting- house-the Congregationalists, Baptists and other denominations uniting in its erection. There were 52 shares in the house, corres- ponding to the 52 weeks in the year, and each shareholder had the disposal of the house as many Sabbaths in the year as he owned shares. Father Sutherland preached the dedicatory sermon. This house stood a few rods south and west of the site of the present school-house in district No. 4. It was used as a house of public worship till 1849, when a more commodious house was erected by the Congregational society, about a quarter of a mile south of the old site. Before the new house was dedicated, services appropriate to taking leave of the old church were held. Rev. Ebenezer Cutler preached the sermon, of which the following is an extract:
" Here the reverend Leland closed his min- isterial life. *
* * His ardent devotion, his pious mien, his uniform and manifest god- liness, are still fresh in the remembrance of of many who once inquired at his lips as the oracle of God."
"Then followed the reverends Marsh and Bradford, who took hold of the hard doc- trines of the bible, such as decrees, reproba- tion and election, and defended them with a Puritan partiality and zeal, Next came the sharp-cutting, practical Scotchman-that gi- antin the scriptures, Father Robertson .- Then followed Wheelock, Claggett, Piper and your pastor elect. And as I learn by those who have always been on the ground to judge, there is probably not a meeting-house in the State which has been graced by so great a proportion of able ministers as this. * *
* Here, also, the Methodists have held their quarterly meetings, before they had a place of worship. Here, likewise, in the Baptist order, have ministered in holy things, Elders Starkweather, Gilford, Cheney and Ide .- Surely this house is a monument to that unanimity of feeling which should always adorn a union house of worship. Let it be a lasting and endeared monument to genera- tions to come, of the Christian brotherhood of their ancestors."
The temperance question has been a dis- turbing element in this as in many other churches. An advanced position was taken by the church on this subject at a compara- tively early day. In the fore part of 1831, Hon. D M. Camp, chairman of a committee
appointed to consider a communication from the temperance society then existing in Der- by, introduced the following resolution at a regular meeting of the church, to wit:
" Resolved, That in the opinion of this church the ordinary traffic in spiritous liquors and the use of them as a common beverage, are inconsistent with Christian duty, and con- trary to the laws of God, and hereafter shall be punishable the same as other crimes of equal magnitude."
This resolution was adopted by a vote of 13 to 7. At a subsequent meeting, when a number of the friends of the resolution were absent, a motion was made to rescind the vote adopting the resolution, which was car- ried by a vote of 11 to 8. The record goes on to say, " From which decision brother D. M. Camp, in behalf of himself and such oth- ers of the minority as should see fit to unite with him, appealed, and moved that the church agree with them in the selection of a mutual council to whom the whole might be submitted for advice, and that a committee of three be appointed to act in behalf of the church, which was carried." A council was duly convened, which sustained the resolu- tion. Among its members I find the names of Amariah Chandler of Hardwick, and A. L. Twilight of Brownington.
About 10 years later a similar resolution was introduced by Jacob Bates, and readily adopted.
In 1842, Mr. Camp also introduced, at church meeting, the following resolutions in regard to slavery, and they were unanin.ous- ly adopted :
" Whereas the sin of holding our fellow- men in bondage, as exhibited in the Southern States, is now generally acknowledged and deplored by all well informed Christians, and also that the guilt of participation attaches to them so far as they fail to bear decided tes- timony against it :- and whereas, in conform- ity with the principle involved in the command, 'Thou shalt not suffer sin upon thy neighbor;' every Christian becomes to a certain extent the keeper of every brother Christian, and is bound, faithfully but kindly, to tell him of his faults ; therefore,
Resolved, That professing Christians who hold their fellow-men in such bondage incur the guilt of violating the law of God-and however in some ages of the world this may have been winked at, all men in this country have now the means of full information, and though they may be ignorant, are entirely without excuse.
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