USA > Vermont > Orleans County > The history of Orleans county, Vermont. Civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military > Part 43
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Never more, ah, never more, When the summer blades are green, May I wander by the shore With the gentle Emma Dean.
How I loved her, fondly lov'd her, In those happy days of yore ; When her cheek my own was pressing, And my cup of bliss ran o'er ; Cold and pale those cheeks so lovely, Mould'ring by the solemn shore,
And the soul that woke their beauty Now shall wake it never more. Never more, ah, never more, When the summer blades are green, May I wander by the shore With the gentle Emma Dean.
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MY BEST FRIEND. (Lines to my wife.) BY CHARLES THOMPSON, OF ST. ALBANS .* Above all others there's one friend Whom I delight to honor ; O, could I weave an angel's robe, I'd place that robe upon her ! I'd spin such fair and golden threads As ne'er were spun before, From the most choice material In Heaven's ample store !
Threads of angelic purity, And threads of radiant joy ; Threads of majestic loveliness Should all my skill empioy ! I'd clothe lier in a robe of light, Such as the angels wear : Of pearls of truth I'd weave a band To bind her shining hair !
I'd place upon her innocent head A crown of dazzling gold With wisdom's diamonds studded round, All glorious to behold ! In safety would I clothe her feet- With honor grace her hand ; In some deserved exalted place, "T were joy to see her stand !
Dear friend,-"if thou art good and pure," ... As I believe thou art Ifjust and honest be thy mind, And upright be thy heart, That crown of glory on thy head One day shall brightly shine That post of honor, and that robe, And peace and joy be thine !
MAD MATH.
BY LAURA HEARTON. O, the winter cold, bleak winter, Shutting out prayers of spring-time, Stilling all the songs of summer And the autumn's written rhyme.
On the beech-boughs hung the snow-flakes, And the snow-flakes filled the lanes, Piled in masses along the hedge-row And against the window panes.
And as morning woke in heaven, From the cottage doorway low, Looked Mad Math with dim brown eyes O'er the meadow white with snow.
Beyond the cloud-rifts she could seo The brightness of the sky-land, And she laughed as the sunshine fell On her trembling, withered hand.
Through lier shrunken lips she muttered " I must on my journey go, 'Ere the storni-winds walk the valley And across the heather blow."
Full twenty years she had wandered On this journey up and down, Ever waiting, ever searching, For a treasure never found.
* A native of Irasburgh.
Every morning, hood and blanket She had taken from the wall, Every morning on the high-way There was sound of her foot-fall.
And now as ever forth she went Through the snow smooth and even, Never heeding all the warnings Of the cold and cheorless heaven.
Never heeding all the voices Of the good folks at the farm, Who often pitied crazy Math, Fearing she would come to harm.
Fearing as they saw her foot-prints Wavering across the plain, That within their cheerful dwelling She would never come again.
All that day through the chilling air Mad Math heard voices calling, Heard them calling from the sky-land And she answered "I am coming."
"I am coming," wild winds heard it And they colder, colder blew, "I am coming," and all the shadows Closer, closer round her drew.
Closer, closer wove the dimness Over Mad Math's weary eyes, Till on the drifted snow she sank Never more in life to rise.
And as the western sky grew red With blood of the dying day, And misty clouds like crimson sails Slow waved o'er a crimson bay,
" Look !" she cried, " see all the fires They've kindied for my welcome; See them burning blazing upward To guide my footsteps home."
How the forests moaned and shuddered How the air moved with sighing, Yet there came a blessing to her In that lone hour of dying.
For, from her darkly buried soul "Angels rolled the stone away," Crazy Math was she no longer, But sweet voiced Marion Grey.
Very near her camo the voices Which had called lier all the day, And about her were the visions Of her old home far away.
She heard how the forest shuddered, But said " it is the sounding Of the voice of our home-river, As down the rocks 'tis bounding."
Dreamed she of the olden mansion, Of the budding apple-trees, Of the birds among the branches Singing all their spring-time glees.
Dreamed she of the joy and gladness She had felt in other days, When all who knew lovely Marion Only knew to sing her praise.
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Over her stole the death warmth And her soul lett our valleys, As the sunset lifted From winding forest-alleys,
With her snow-shroud angel-woven, With sunshine lying round her, With the pine tree for her headstone On the morrow there they found her.
Tenderly they brushed the snow-wreaths From her wrinkled face away, Carefully raised her, knowing not She was fair Marion Gray.
Only saying, " It is Mad Math Who has wandered up and down, Long time waiting, long time searching For a treasure never found.
They lifted up her staff and basket, Showing relics strange and old, Faded flowers, withered spring-leaves And a shell-frame edged with gold.
In the frame were two fair pictures Which might have been two lovers, One might have been Marion's face Or might have been another's.
Reverently they folded them In her hands grown dark and thin, Knowing nothing ; asking, wondering Only what they might have been.
Gently in her grave they laid her ; Then the "gude men" went their way, Carving "MAD MATH" on the pine tree, But it should be " MARION GREY."
Now they tell us of the pine tree How the tassels bow and whisper, When the sun is low in heaven And winds are on the heather.
How adown the firey sunset Come evening echoes calling, And the waving pine tree tassles Answer back "I am coming."
So they tell us but we know not, And we heed not what they tell, Only know that-at last, at last Weary Math is resting well.
JAY.
BY THE REV. PLINY H. WHITE.
The territory constituting the town of Jay was originally granted, as a township, by the name of Carthage, March 13, 1780. No set- tlements were made under that grant, nor was the township surveyed till 1789, when it was surveyed by James Whitelaw. The con- ditions of the grant not being complied with, the land reverted to the State; and the leg- islature, by a resolution, adopted Nov. 7, 1792, which recited,
" That the tract called Carthage is found to be an uncommonly good one," and that 7,000 acres of it had been granted to Thomas Chit- tenden, requested the Governor to issue a charter to John Jay for fourteen sixteenths of two thirds of it, and to John Cozine for the other two sixteenths, and "that the same should be erected into a townnship by the name of Jay."
That part of the township which was granted to Gov. Chittenden was described as follows: "Beginning at a Stake and Stones being the South-West Corner of Carthage thence South 82 Degrees and 20 Minutes East six Miles in the North Line of Westfield to a Birch Tree Standing in the North East Corner thereof marked Carthage Westfield 1789, thence North Two miles to a Stake 16 Links North West from a Spruce Tree Marked 2 1789 thence North 82 Degrees and 20 Min- utes West six Miles to a Fir Tree standing on the West side of a Mountain Marked M 4 1789 thence South to the first bound con- taining 4600 acres of land."
By a charter issued Nov. 28, 1792, the remainder of the township was described as follows : -
"Beginning at the North East Corner of a Tract heretofore called Carthage being a Stake and Stones standing in the North line of said State 15 links North from a Beech Tree marked Carthage 1789 and running thence North Eighty-Two Degrees and Twen- ty Minutes West Six Miles in the North line of the State to a Beech Tree Marked Richford Carthage October 17th 1789-thence South four Miles in the East line of Richford to a pine or fir tree on the West side of a small mountain marked M 4 1789 then South 82 degrees and 20 minutes East to a Stake.16 links North West from a spruce Tree marked M 2 1789 thence North in the East line of the said Tract to the place of beginning con- taining 15,367 acres statute measure."
Deming, in his Gazetteer, inquires :- “ As the east part of the town is good land and the west part all mountain, would a shrewd Yankee be at a loss to guess which way the division line ran ?" Our fathers, however, were honest, as well as shrewd; and the di- vision line between the tract granted to Gov. Chittenden and that granted to Messrs. Jay and Cozine, did not run north and south, as Deming suggests, but east and west, giving Gov. Chittenden his full proportion of the mountain, no less than of the low lands.
John Jay, to whom a large part of the town was granted, and in honor of whom it was named, was an eminent lawyer and statesman of New York, and, not long before the grant, had been appointed, by Washing- ton, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During the protracted controversy between New York and Vermont,
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he had exerted his influence in favor of the latter ; and, among other things, had signed as many as four petitions to the Legislature of New York, praying for an amicable and equitable adjustment of the difficulties be- tween the two States. A part of the land granted to him descended to his son, and was sold by him about 1840; but much the larger part of it became, early in the present cen- tury, the property of the Hon. Azarias Wil- liams, of Concord, by whom it was given to the University of Vermont. It was not till after 1830, that any considerable part of the land went into the possession of actual settlers.
Notwithstanding the opinion of the legis- lature of 1792, that the tract called Carthage was "an uncommonly good one," its superior excellence was speculative, rather than real. The "small mountain," mentioned in the charter, is that part of the Green Mountain range which culminates in one of its highest summits-Jay Peak. The whole western part of the town is on the mountain, and nearly all the west line is on the western slope. The eastern part is comparatively level, and is of good quality for cultivation. It is watered by numerous rivulets, the most of which are collected into Jay branch, which is one of the tributaries of the Missisquoi. These streams afford several good mill-priv- ileges.
The rock of that part of the Green Mount- ains which lies in Jay, is nearly all talcose slate. Intercalated with these, there are beds of steatite (or soapstone), and veins of ser- pentine. The serpentine contains large quan- tities of chromic iron, of excellent quality, which is found in veins, somewhat irregular, of which the largest is from one to two feet wide. An early use of this ore was made by Prof. A. C. Twining, of Middlebury College; who obtained 180 grains of chrome yellow from 100 grains of the ore, without exhaust- ing the chromic oxide of the latter. Small specimens of gold have been found in Jay ; but not of much value.
The first settler of Jay was a Mr. Barter, who began the settlement in 1809. A few families followed him within two or three years, but the war of 1812 filled them with such fears of danger from Canada, that they abandoned the settlement. Barter, however, remained, populated the town with his own sons and daughters to the number of 20, and died at the advanced age of 90. The early
settlers experienced all the hardships incident to frontier life, and suffered the usual disad- vantages of poor roads, or none at all, dis- tance from mill and market, and the entire lack of social, educational and religious privi- leges. The population increased very slowly. In 1810, the number of inhabitants was 28; in 1820, it was 52; in 1830, 196; in 1840, 308; in 1850, 371; 1860, 474; 1870, 553.
The town was organized, Mar. 29, 1828, at the house of Jehu Young. Asa Wilson was chosen moderator ; Abner Whicher, clerk ; Nathan Hunt, first constable; Elisha Upton and Joseph Hadlock, overseers of the poor ; Abel Alton, Joseph Hadlock and Madison Keith, selectmen ; Joseph Hadlock, Madison Keith and Abner Whicher, listers. Madison Keith was the first representative, and the first justice of the peace.
The first-born child was Jay English. The first marriage, of which there is any record, was that of William Williams and Martha Sanborn, March 22, 1832.
During the war of 1861-'65, Jay furnished, for the Army of the Union, 39 volunteers on its own quota, and many others to apply on the quotas of other towns, in which money was more abundant than patriotism. The following list of those who were furnished on the town quota, is nearly complete : -
Elisha Belden, 17th Reg't, Co. A; Elisha Belden, jr., 5th Reg't, Co. A; Martin Brock- way, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Byron D. Brown, 9th Reg't, Co. E; George W. Burt, 3d Reg't, Co. B, deserted March 5, 1863; Ezra C. Butler, 5th Reg't, Co. A, deserted Oct. 30, 1862; Sid- ney D. Butler, 5th Reg't, Co. A; Ozro B. Chamberlin, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Henry D. Chamberlain, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Arthur H. Chase, 11th Reg't, Co. D; Gardner W. Chase, 11th Reg't, Co. D, died in service, Jan. 21, 1864; T. Abell Chase, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Jon- athan E. Chase, 2d Reg't, Co. H ; Morrill Currier, 5th Reg't, Co. A, deserted Sept. 21, 1863; William Dennison, 10th Reg't, Co .-; Amos C. Ellsworth, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Everett Hadlock, 5th Reg't, Co. A; George W. Had- lock, 8th Reg't, Co. C; Royal W. Hadlock, 5th Reg't, Co. A, deserted July 4, 1862; Solon W. Hadlock, 5th Reg't, Co. A, died in service, Dec. 31, 1861; Glen C. Hovey, 11th Reg't, Co. M, died in service, July 2, 1864 ; Benja- min Griggs, 17th Reg't, Co. C, deserted April 20, 1864; Henry Lewis, 5th Reg't, Co. A ; Marshall B. Niles, 3d Reg't ; Jacob L. Pettee,
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8th Reg't, Co. C, died in service, July 6, 1863; William T. Pettee, 8th Reg't, Co. C, killed at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863; Benjamin Place, 6th Reg't, Co. D, deserted Apr. 6, 1862 ; Ben- jamin F. Place, 11th Reg't, Co. D; James A. Place, 6th Reg't, Co. D; Gilbert Lucier, 11th Reg't, Co. F; Lawrence Paquette, 11th Reg't, Co. F, died in service, Dec. 19, 1864; James Randall, 11th Reg't, Co. D; Henry St. John, 11th Reg't, Co. G; Henry J. Titus, 10th Reg't, Co. K; Lewis R. Titus, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Ly- man S. West, 5th Reg't, Co. C, deserted Sept. 13, 1863 ; Alexander Young, 7th Reg't, Co. F.
REPRESENTATIVES.
Madison Keith, 1828-'30; George Flint, 1831-'33, '36; Walter Charlton, 1839-'42; Bradley Sanborn, 1844; Orin Emerson, 1848; Willard Walker, 1850; David McDaniel, 1852; John Young, 1853, '54; Ithamar Had- lock, 1855, '56; Willard Walker, 1857; Lan- son Sanborn, 1858; Newton Chase, 1859 ; Alfred Hunt, 1860; David Johnson, 1861; Joseph Hadlock, 1862, '63; David Johnson, 1864; Martin S. Chamberlin, 1865, '66 ; Charles R. Bartlett, 1867, '68.
DELEGATES TO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
Madison Keith, 1828 ; Walter Charlton, 1836; Willard Walker, 1850.
JAY PEAK. "BY ELISHA HARRINGTON.
Mountains are both schools and cathedrals .- Ruskin.
A section of the mountainous belt that cir -- cumscribes the earth, adorns the eastern part of North America from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of St, Lawrence, and is named Alle- ghany Mountains. It consists of several ridges, and the altitude of the highest pinna- cles is about 6,000 feet. The northern part of the range is wide, comprising New England and a part of the State of New York, and is divided longitudinally into three principal ridges, the White Mountains eastward, the Adirondack Mountains westward, and the Green Mountains between them, which, with the name of Notre Dame Mountains extend into Canada. Appurtenent to these ridges are insulated mountains, as Katahdin in Maine, Yamaska in Canada and many others. The rivers emanating from these picturesque elevations and coursing through their deep valleys run to the Atlantic ocean in various directions ; the Hudson and Connecticut southward; the Richelieu, out of Lake Cham plain, and the Saint Francis, out of Lake
Memphremagog and other sources, northward; and the streams of New Hampshire and Maine, southward and eastward.
The Green Mountain range extends north and south centrally through the State of Ver- mont, and northward of the middle of the State, it is divided into two ridges with the beautiful valley of Lake Memphremagog be- tween them. Jay Peak is the most conspic- uous feature of the western ridge, and, from whatever standpoint it is viewed, whether near or distant, it is the most beautiful fea- ture of the region. It is the sharpest and bleakest of the high tops of the Green Moun- tain range, and only three of them are higher. It is not far from midway between the Con- necticut river and Lake Champlain ; is 6 miles south from the boundary line of Canada; its altitude from the ocean is 4,018 feet ; and it has ever been one of the chief guides of the Indian in his journeyings through the sub- lime forest.
The first explorers of Vermont, and contig- uous parts of Canada, found all the moun- tains covered to the top with trees and shrubs, and were awed with their beauteous grandeur. But devastation of the forest has occurred upon many of them, denuding their rocky crowns, damaging the climate and marring the loveliness of the landscape. It is not known when and how Jay Peak was first de- prived of its vegetation. At the beginning of the present century only a few insulated settlements had been made in the upper val- ley of the Missisquoi river and on the shore of Lake Memphremagog; and as the open- ings that the settlers made in the forest for tillage and roads expanded so that they some- times had glimpses of Jay Peak, it was ob- served that a small spot on the pinnacle was bare rock. The slopes of the mountain are heavily timbered, but it is not probable that it ever had much vegetation at the top except moss and bushes ; and it may have been burnt by lightning, or by forest rangers for a clear lookout, or by a hunter's campfire. In the dry summers of latter years fire has sev- eral times been either purposely or unavoid- ably communicated to the upper part of the mountain and several acres of it are divested of soil, and no vegetation remains except in the crevices of the rock. Its majestic crown, generally but not invariably, wears a glitter- ing wreath of hoar-frost or snow, from about the 20th of September to about the middle of
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May or first of June. But the tillers of the | land at its base plant their corn-nearly if not quite as early as it is planted in the val- leys of the same region, and the product is about equal in quality and quantity and as early ripe. Several mountains in Canada westward of Lake Memphremagog, were un- capped by fire from 1819 to 1826; and sever- al in Vermont southward of Jay Peak in 1841. For some of this wasteful and damag- ing havoc, the people are not blamable ; but in some instances it has been done heedlessly or sportively by pestiferous idlers regardless of the rights of property or the good of the country. Governments should protect the forest from needless destruction.
The chief constituent of Jay Mountain is talcose slate rock, and the soil covering it is strong and fertile, as is shown in the herbage, shrubs and trees. The corner of the town- ship of Jay, Richford, Westfield and Mont- gomery is near the pinnacle. They are 6 miles square, and about half of Jay and large portions of the others are now covered with the primitive forest. In 1860, the number of inhabitants in Jay was 474, Westfield 618, Montgomery 1262, Richford 1338. The town of Jay and the mountain peak, were named with the grateful intention of perpetu - ating the memory of John Jay an American statesman.
In pursuance of the Ashburton-Webster treaty of 1842, when the commissioners were establishing the boundary line between the United States of America and British Ameri- ca, in 1845, some of the engineers were, for several days, encamped near the top of Jay Mountain, and, in furtherance of their survey- ing operations, sent up signal rockets from the peak in the night, in exchange with oth- ers of the corps stationed on Barnston Moun- tain about 30 miles eastward, and others on an eminence west of Lake Champlain.
July 8, 1862, two men led a horse up the Westfield side of the mountain to the top of it.
In the history of the people around the base of the mountain, there is one extraordi- nary, mysterious and sorrowful event, suita- ble to be noted in this orographic sketch. The mountains being too steep for roads over them, the road from Jay to Richford curves with the Missisquoi river round through a gap in the mountain in Canada, elongating the distance to 20 miles. In the Summer of 1863 an old man, living in Jay, undertook to
return from Richford through the forest over the mountain. He passed the night at the last house up the mountain slope from East Richford, and the children guided him into the unfrequented forest path, by which the distance to the nearest clearings in Jay is about 3 miles. In some directions it is a day's journey to any clearings. It is suppos- ed he deviated from the path, became bewil- dered, could find no way out, and died.
Far up the eastern slope of the mountain the little rills gather into a brook that is two or three yards wide a mile and a half below the peak, and further down presents sites for saw-mills ; and for this reason, in connection with agricultural purposes, a few families have extended settlements from the older part of the town a mile or two up the stream into the forest, with a road for their accom- modation. In 1867, a joint-stock company completed an extension of this road, as far toward the top of the mountain as it is prac- ticable to make a road on that side of it. The company also built a log-house on the road a mile and a half below the top of the moun- tain, for the convenience of visitors, and it was opened as a hotel June 25, 1867. It is easily accessible to tourists, and the road is good and safe to a point half a mile above the house.
Jay Peak is a very good stand point for far distant views, and near views too, and the public will be glad that, by facilities for as- cending it, it is brought within the line of the line of the tourists' routes. There is nothing, but the distant mountains, to intercept the . view in any direction. The base is surround- ed with a broad tract of forest, covering val- leys, glens and mountains. A little beyond the forest are rivers, ponds, groves, farms, roads and villages. Further off, looking in all directions near and remote, the observer may see Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump, and other dignitaries of the Green Mountain range; the White Mountains ; Mount Hor, Mount Pisgah, Westmore Mountain, Mount John; the mountains about the head waters of the Connecticut, the Chaudiere and the Androscoggin, Barnston Mountain, Owl's Head, Sutton Mountain, Victoria Mountain and many others with them; the great pla- teau of the Saint Lawrence, Richelieu and Yamaska rivers, adorned with the insulated mountains, Shefford, Gale, Brome, Yamaska, Rougemont, Belæil, Johnson, Boucherville,
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Pinnacle, Covey Hill and Mount Royal ; the Laurentides range beyond the Saint Law- rence, and Lake Champlain, where the view beyond is bounded by the bold outline of the Adirondacks.
This field of observation is broad enough for frequent study, not only by travelers from foreign lands, but by the inhabitants of the country ; and the young men and women of Vermont should not consider their educa- tion complete till they have stood upon some of the lofty eminences of the Green Moun- tains and beheld and studied their scenic beauty and sublimity.
Coventry, January 1, 1869.
LOWELL.
BY D. EUGENE CURTIS.
Lowell is situated in the western part of Orleans County-16 miles from Canada, in lat. 44° 47', and long. 4° 27', cast of Wash- ington. Its form is irregular, it being in shape almost like a triangle. The surface, like that of all other mountainous regions, is broken and diversified, being mostly hilly except that portion lying on the river. The town is rich in the beauty of its natural scenery, being surpassed by few towns in the State. On either side of it extend the Green Mountains, presenting an interesting view of the wild and picturesque. To the west may be seen Hazen's Notch, through which Col. Ha- zen attempted to open a road during the Revolution. He encamped for several days with a part of his regiment on the flat where W. H. Blasdell's store now stands. To the north-west, Jay Peak rises in view, pointing its lofty head toward heaven, as if remind- ing man of his origin and proper destiny.
The town is watered by the Missisco and its tributaries. This river is the outlet of a pond situated in the south-western part of the town. A tributary rising in the south- eastern part of the town, uniting with this, below the village, affords valuable mill-sites, which have been mostly improved. The forest-trees are mostly spruce, hemlock and maple, although beech, birch, &c., are quite abundant The soil, generally, is productive, yielding a good harvest to the husbandman.
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