USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 1 > Part 54
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They then state the fact of an agreement at three several times on a line, and request to be divided, with the privileges of other towns, excepting that they should have but one representative to the two towns.
Again-t this petition the following persons protest or remonstrate that " they think the town so small that a division will be inju- rious, the grand list being only £2283 and 10s., the number of freeinen not exceeding one hundred, and the land on the west of the line of a vastly superior quality, therefore they pray that the town may not be divid- ed :- but if it is to be, that the dividing line may extend so far westward as to take in one-half of the whole number of acres in the town, and so far as to Hubbardton river.' The names are: Samuel Stannard, Alexan- der MicCotter, John Howes, Isaac Turner,
Abraham Utter, Jonathan Orms, John War- ren, Amos Lay, Russel Sinith, Ansel Merritt, Martin Merritt, James Merritt, Daniel Cush- man. Philip Priest, Timothy Goodrich, Dan- iel Munger, Peter Cramer, Henry Cramer, jr., Dan Smith, Joel Hamilton.
By Act of the General Assembly, passed the 18th, and signed the 20th Oct., 1792, at Rutland, the west line of Fair Haven, as it now is, was established, and West Haven erected, with all the privileges of a separate town, excepting that the two towns were to meet together and choose one representative.
The two towns had but one representative and held their freeman's meetings together until Mar., 3, 1-23, when it was " Resolve l, that the town of Fair Haven is by the consti- tution and Laws of the State of Vermont, en- titled to a representative in the General As- sembly of the State, in its own right, distinct from any other town, and that the first con- stable be directed to notify the annual ineet- ing in September next, for the choice of Governor, Lieut. Governor, councillors and representative to the General Assembly, to be holden at the centre school house, in said Fair Haven."
The General Assembly, also, at its session of this same year, decided that the clause of the act limiting the two towns to one repre- sentative was repugnant to the provisions of the Constitution of the State, and was there- fore void. Since this time the two towns have each had their annual representative.
The populations of the two towns, respec- tively, as given in the census reports of the State, were, in 1791, about the time of the division : Fair Haven, 375; West Haven, 515. In 1800, Fair Haven, 411, West Hav- en, 430; from this time West Haven stead- ily increases to 774, in 1840; Fair Haven in- creasing to 714, in 1820, after which time it fell off to 633, in 1840.
Up to this year, in which the town was divided-the larger portion of the territory going to West Haven-we have seen the town stea lily filling up with population, and improving, until it stands, in relative impor- tance, on account of its mills, its central lo- cation, and the enterprise, intelligence, and wealth of its inhabitants, on an equal footing with many other towns of greater extent and more inhabitants.
But before taking leave of our twin-sister on the west, with whom we struggled along through so many hardships and privations in our early days, it will be pleasant to look
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back upon both sections, topographically and geologically, in the light of present knowl- edge, and see if there be not something in both reciprocally complementary of that in which either may be wanting.
TOPOGRAPHICALLY, we see the plain around the village then covered with heavy pines, cut away where the park now is, and leav- ing the large stumps still thickly standing, to remove them at a latter date, requiring many " bees," or public working parties, at which times many gallons of spirituous liq- uors, so commonly used at that day, were consumed. The heavy pines and hemlocks were standing over most of the plain, roads only here and there being cut through them. The chief settlement and point of trade seemed to be on the west street, around the corner where the road led northward to Mr. Hawkin's and Mr. Merritt's.
The general surface of the town is hilly, the hills rising in two instances only, to the dignity of mountains : "Bald Mountain," covering the whole southern extremity of West Haven, along the east shore of the Lake, and " Mount Hamilton," the eminence just northward of Messrs. Wood's and Shel- don's, in Fair Haven, so named from Joel Hamilton, Esq., who resided in the old or- chard on its southern slope at an early day.
The town to the northward of Mt. Hamil- ton, as far as Benson line, is taken up with the Great Ledge coming down on the west, covered with its ever green forests and seem- ing to equal in distant beauty the forests of ancient Lebanon, as you look northward from the summit of Mt. Hamilton, while just below you, in front and at your feet, on the east side of the Great Ledge, and embosomed in the green hills on every side, lies the charming little lake in its secluded and na- tive beauty, which has been known among us by no better name than its earliest acci- dental designation, " Inman Pond."
As viewed at the still dawn of a summer evening, there are few scenes which God has elsewhere made, surpassing in loveliness, the silent, quiet grandeur of this, our home scen- ery. From Mt. Hamilton eastward, Scotch Hill, fringed with its open quarries of slate, and the wide, fertile intervale between, is seen below you, sweeping off to the southward, where the village greets your eye in the dis. tance. Altogether, there is no spot for many miles around so well worth a visit as Mt. Hamilton.
A little to the west of Oliver Proctor's former residence is a range of hills, called, in olden times, " Porcupine Ledge." South and cast of this, along the east border of the town, and traversed by the road to West Cas- tleton, is Scotch Hill, so named from the Scotch people who settled it.
"Glen Lake," formerly called "Screw Driver Pond," from a supposed formal resem- blance to a screw-driver, and which has its outlet in Lake Bomoseen, in Castleton, fur- nishing at that point an abundant water fall and power for manufacturing purposes, lies partly in the northeast corner of the town.
To the west of Porcupine Ledge, and east of Mt. Hamilton, is the large marsh fed from Inman Pond, which has long been known as " Beaver Meadow.' This meadow fur- nished, for many years, a supply of cran- berries to the residents of the town and vil- lage, who were permitted, by the generosity of the proprietor, to go on an appointed day of each autumn and glean of the annual harvest, and this cranberry meadow was at the same time a mill-pond in the spring of the year, from which water was taken by Joseph Sheldon, sen., to run his saw mills, at the outlet, where he carried on an extensive lumbering business for many years.
As seen from Scotch Hill, the saw-mill, now owned by Daniel Orms, and ensconced among the trees at the head of the valley, through which the small but perpetual stream, called Mud Brook, flows to Poultney river, on the west, presents a beautiful and picturesque appearance.
The view of Fair Haven village, as seen from some points on Scotch Hill, overlooking, at the same time, Hampton hills and the mountains to the southi and west, is one on which the lover of the beautiful in landscape scenery will delight to linger. There is one other view, that from the road or hill north of Otis Hamilton's, looking westward on Bald Mountain, with Poultney river, Carv- er's Falls, and the powder mills in the deep gorge of the foreground, which for wildness and grandeur, in a warm, hazy summer after- noon, is worthy the attention of the painter and artist. Just south of this point, and below Mr. Hamilton's house, are the Dry Falls, as they are called, and the old river-bed on the flat, where not the river only, but ancient ocean currents once flowed.
The Castleton river receiving the waters of Lake Bomoseen just outside of the borders
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of the town, comes in on the east and winds circuitously into the Poultney river on the west side, furnishing several good manufac- turing privileges in the village. On Hub- ton river, also, flowing through West Haven, from the ponds in Benson, into East Bay, are several good mill-powers. Following down the Poultney river, besides the Falls at the powder-mills, where there are also a saw-mill and a grist-mill, and was once a fulling-mill and factory, below that point we find Carv- er's Falls, a deep, narrow opening in the lime- stone rocks, through which the combined waters of Castleton and Poultney rivers fall down at first about 20 feet, and then about 60 feet, perpendicularly, into East Bay. At this point there were, at one time, on the New York side, a saw-mill, forge and store.
GEOLOGICALLY viewed, West Haven ex- ceeds in speculative interest, but Fair Haven in economical value. At the bottom of the extreme southern promontory of the town, opposite the railroad depot and steamboat wharf, in Whitehall, is found the only spec- imen in the State, of the oldest, or bottom rocks of the globe, the primordial crust of the Azoic, or Laurentian formation. This frag- ment of igneous primordial gneiss extends only three or four miles along the Lake northward. Over, on this, rests the first fossiliferous formation, the lower silurian with which commences the existence of or- ganic life on the globe. There are several varieties of the Potsdam sandstone found on Bald Mountain, interesting specimens of which are to be seen in the State cabinet.
Overlying the sandstone, is a large devel- opment of calciferous sand rock, composed of lime and sand, which extends far north- ward and across the Lake, and is found to contain fossils of the genus maclurea. This formation " enters Vermont from Whitehall, south of the mouth of Codman's creek. in West Haven. In the northwest part of West Haven it unites with a spur that runs up to the very southern extremity of the town, upon the east shore of Lake Champlain."*
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Next above this appears the Trenton lime- stone. " A little more than a mile west of the West Haven post-office it appears as a light blue limestone, capping several small hills with a very small easterly dip. It ex- tends west to Codman's creek. There is but little thickness to it, while the calciferous sand-rock beneath is enormously developed."*
Fossil corals are found in this lim -- to: - further north in Vermont. Utica Shi:4 come in above the Trenton Limestone, ant first appear about a mile west of the post- office, their inclination being greater thi? that of the underlying rocks. Then there are the Hudson river limestones, alternating with clay slates or shales, throughout the, central and eastern parts of West Haven. In the western part of Fair Haven is a largo range of talcose or talcoid schist, running north and south ; and east of this, extendlin .; . into Castleton, is the extensive slate group, or taconic range, called by the State geologists, from the town of Georgia, in the north part of the State, where all its characteristic fossils are found, "Georgia slates." These slates were quarried and worked in this town by Alonson Allen, as early as 1845, and might with great propriety have been denominated Fair Haven Slates.
FROM THE TAKING OF THE FIRST CENSUS, IN 1791, TO 1800,
when the number of inhabitants is reported as only 411, though the increase of population is small, as compared with the previously rapid growth of the town, there are several impor- tant facts to be noted. In the first place, the number of inhabitants in '91 was large, as com- pared with many other towns in the State, at that time ; Burlington, for instance, though or- ganized nearly as early, numbering only 332.
The area of the town is smaller than that of any other town in Rutland county, excepting Ira Gore, and fully one-third part, especially the northern section, is unsuited to habita- tion ; while the southern portion, bounded west on the Poultney river, is very narrow, being scarcely 2 miles in its widest extent, and at the same time much broken by rough ridges of slate on the east, and by the cedar swamp on the west.
Yet, as early as 1791, settlements were made as we have seen, in about every accessible por- tion, and even in some places which bave since been abandoned.
Where the village now is there could have been no settlement of much account, aside from Col. Lyon's iron-works,* grist-mill and saw-mill,t at the beginning of this period-Col. Lyon himself owning all the land. A road had
+ Built by Lyon and Ayer Hawley below the old pa- per-mill on the south side of the river about 1783.
# The first saw-mill in town, built by Lyon about 1783, the north side of the lower falls.
* Geological Survey of State.
FAIR HAVEN.
been laid in December, 1787, from the works north-west to Muddy Brook, on which Etban Whipple located in 1786; and a portion of this road, across what is now the Park, was thrown up and declared exchanged for another, six rods in width, which was laid in April, 1788, across what is the south end of the Com- mon.
Col. Lyon having built a new barn on the hill, prior to December, 1784, had probably soon after erected his house* on the corner of the road, and Stephen Rogers had built a house and shoe-shop at the west end of the new high- way, on the land of Col. Lyon, and, perhaps, had also commenced his tannery, under the hill, west of the house.
North of Mr. Rogers, on the east side of the street, and about opposite Ira C. Allen's present residence, there was a school-house as early as 1790. The old church which stood on the pub- lic ground, north of the school-house, and which was never encumbered with the luxuri- ous innovation of brick and mortar-called " the Lord's barn," and "Lion's den"-was in use in the spring of 1792, and must have been built as early as '91.
Col. Lyon had also built the small red store. t which he sold to Boyle & White, in January. '92,; on the spot where Thomas Hughes now lives. Besides this he must have built the pa- per-mill, not far from this time, and perhaps, al- so, the building east of Mr. Rogers, nearly op- posite where Joseph Adams' marble residence now stands, which was used, soon after this time, as a store and printing-office, and, later,
* This house was built by Lyon for the residence of himself and family previous to 1795. Col. Lyon sold the house to Elial Gilbert in 1799, who sold to his brother, Tilly, in 1802; he to Dr. Witherell ; Dr. W. to Dr. Eben. Hurd ; Dr. H. to Rollin C. Mallory ; Mr. M. to Jacob Davey : Mr. D. to Dr. Witherell again, and Dr. W. to Mrs. Lucy Wilmot, who sold to Seth Hitchcock, of West Haven; Mr. H. to Adams Dutton, who moved on to the place in the spring of 1844, and resided there till April, 1851, working a slate quarry at Cedar Point, and constructing machinery for the manufacture of slate pencils. He sold to Israel Davey ; aud Mr. Da- vey to Served Fish, in 1858. Mr. Fish built thereon the present Vermont Hotel, a three-story brick building, which has proved inadequate to accommodate the wants of the public for a hotel in the town. Mr. Fish kept the house as a hotel until March, 1866. It has from Mr. F. passed to David Offenseud, David McBride, and in 1870, to Chas. C. Knight.
t Built as early as 1791.
# The first sale of land made by Lyon within the limita of the village, was the sale of this store and 2 acres lying east of the old highway to Robert White's, of Lansingburgh, and Chas. Rolfe, of Fair Haven.
as a dwelling-house, and was taken dows und removed by Maj. Tilly Gilbert, in 1810. ·
Further than this there does not seem to have been any improvements where the village Der is. Mr. Safford having bought a place of John Meacham, in the south part of the town. in April, 1790, had removed thither from the vil- lage, and there opened a public house ou e spot now owned by Mr. Barnes.
During the next few succeeding years, zo :- withstanding the small increase of population. many and great changes are made. and FA Haven becomes what tradition has reported :: , a place of business equal in importance to a :. 7 north of Bennington.
In the village Lyon first selle Robert White of Lansingburgh, N. Y., and Charles Borle of Fair Haven, on the 23d of January, 1732. the little red store and 2 acres of land .* He next sells, in May following, seven acres to Steplen Rogers, including the house and shop which Rogers had built.
In 1793 Lyon is said to have commenced the publication of a newspaper called "The Faz- er's Library," in one part of the paper -= 1 building, and to have continued it three or fax years, notwithstanding the sparseness and por- erty of the settlers, and the very limited dem zi for such a publication. There were at the time, but three other papers in the State: the Gazette. at Bennington ; the Herold, at Pomi and the Journal, at Windsor. The paper callel "The Fair Haven Gazette," during a part ci i:s existence, was printed by Col. Lyon's son. James Lyon and Judah P. Spooner-James having learned the printing business at P .... 3- delphia-and was issued by Lyon, no doubt as a political sheet. he being before the people ci the district as a candidate for Congress as " the representative of the commercial, agricultural and manufacturing interests, in preference :o any of their law characters," from the addois- sion of the State into the Union, in March. 1791, until his election on the fourth trial, io 1796.
This paper was probably succeeded by " The Farmer's Library, or Fair Haven Telegraph"- " a Republican paper, printed by J. P. Scoone: and W. Hennessy, at Fair Haven, Vt .: " the first number of which was issued July 28. 1735. and copies of which are now in the writer's
* The first sala of land made by Lyon within the limits of the village; in the deed, Col. L. reserving ts himself the right of keeping public houses ca bs owe lands. '
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hands. This paper, published by Mr. Spooner, alone, after March, 1796, was a Republican pa- per, and supported Col. Lyon. It was contin- ued as late as '98, and was printed in the building which stood on the north side of the highway, nearly opposite Joseph Adams' dwell- ing-house. Persons are living who remember this printing-office. Tradition reports James Lyon occupid the east part of the building, and had his book-store and post-office in the west part as early as 179S.
The motto of Mr. Spooner's paper : " The freedom of the people cannot be supported without knowledge and industry," shows the appreciation in which the people then held knowledge and industry in relation to a free gov- ernment. The name of the paper was again changed, in November, '97, to "The Farmer's Library, or Vermont and New York Intelligen- cer." There are copies of both these papers now extant. Besides this there was published by Mr. Spooner, in 1796, '97 and '98, "The Vermont Almanac and Register," giving the dates of the grants, and the rateable property of each town in the State ; also, " An account of the Masons, literary societies, attornies, min- isters and religious assemblies-the officers of the militia, the members of the Legislature, the names of the civil officers, and times of holding courts in Vermont." These Almanacs and reg- isters were advertised as for sale by the post- riders and at the office, for one shilling each.
There are several interesting advertisements and facts in the old papers printed in Fair Ha- ven. In December, 1795, Mr. James Brown, " late post-rider from Fair Haven to Randolph," advertises that on account of ill-health lie is obliged to discontinue his business. At the same time Jeremy Dwyer, the father of Mrs. Orren Kelsey, who had come hither by the per- somal solicitation of Col. Lyon, in 1793, and resided, in 1795, in the house above the grist- mill, " proposes to ride from the printing-office in Fair Haven, to carry the newspapers through Castleton, by the old fort, thence through Hub- bardton, Sudbury, Whiting and Cornwall to Middlebury Falls; thence to return through the westerly part of Cornwall, Whiting and Sudbury, and the east part of Shorcham, Or- well, Benson and West Haven-every other week to reverse the route. Any person ox his route wishing for papers from Bennington, Rutland, Albany or Lansingburg, or the Rural Magazine, printed at Rutland, shall have them delivered on reasonable terms." Orren Kelsey advertises "to carry the newspapers from the | address of Col. Lyon to his constituents.
printing-office in Fair Haven, through West Haven, Beuson, Orwell, Shoreham, Bridport. Addison, Panton and Ferrisburgh."
In March, 1796, the Telegraph says: "The small pox is very prevalent in the neighboring towns. * * Travelers seem greatly alarined to hear of people having it on the main road, particularly at a tavern a little to the south- ward of this town." Abner Fuller advertises that he " has lately set up the blacksmith busi- ness, a few rods north of the printing-office, in Fair Haven."
Samuel Stannard, proprietors' clerk, publish- es a notice of an adjourned meeting of the pro- prietors of Fair Haven and West Haven, to meet at the house of Charles Rice, iunholder, in West Haven, on the 2d Monday of April.
Mr. Hennessy advertises in June, 1796, that he has taken the slitting-mill; and William Bu- ell that " he still carries on the gold and silver- smith's business, repairing watches, etc.," and has on hand "several silver-mounted swords, which he will sell cheap."
In the January paper of 1798, James Lyon, postmaster, publishes a list of letters remaining in the post-office at Fair Haven, January 1st, among which are letters for persons in Poult- ney, Middletown, Granville, Pawlet, Sudbury and New Hartford. The paper states that an extensive band of thieves who had troubled the neighborhood, had been broken up, and the culprits punished-one of them by whipping- the "whipping-post" being an institution at that time, and for many years subsequently.
Nathan Durkee, a bachelor, whose name first appears in the grand list of '93, and who came here from Pomfret, and died here at the public house, advertises in January, '98, that he " has lately received, and is now selling at his store in Fair Haven, at the corner opposite Brown's tavern, a small assortment of English and In- dia goods, for cash, country produce or ashes."
The following shows the political spirit of the Fair Haven newspaper :
" Much has been said against the French Council of Ancients ordering a Quaker to be turned out of their House, for obstinately per- sisting in keeping on his hat, contrary to the rules of the House. The high-flying Federal- ists in this country reprobate their conduct, and call it persecution, and vet would oblige citizen Lyon, one of the Members of the House of Representatives, to be dragged in procession before the President, although he has repeated- ly declared, that it was against his conscience and opinion to join in that ceremonial."
A March number of the paper contains an
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There were a number of other publications, and several books, some of which are still in existence, which were printed in the town dur- ing this period-among these, "The Life of Franklin," a small volume, and a French story or novel, entitled " Alphonso and Dalinda."
We have seen " A Brief and Scriptural De- fence of Believers' Baptism by Immersion, by Sylvanus Haynes, pastor of the Baptist church of Christ in Middletown, Vt." which was print- ed here by Mr. Spooner.
There is still preserved the first two numbers of a semi-monthly duodecimo magazine, " The Scourge of Aristocracy and Repository of Im- portant Political Truths," which was commenc- ed here Oct. 1, 1798. when Col. Lyon was running for Congress, and the " Rutland Her- ald," under Dr. Samuel Williams, refused to publish communications in his favor. It was edited and published by James Lyon, but con- tained several articles from his father. The subscription price was $3,00, and it was contin- ued but one year. The second number con- tains Col. Lyon's celebrated letter to Gen. Ste- vens T. Mason, Senator from Virginia, written · by him Oct. 14, 1798, while a prisoner in jail at Vergennes ; and, judging from the tone of the several articles, whether original or select- ed, which appear in the first two numbers, it is evident that the name of Scourge was well chosen. It is enough to say here, that intense and bitter opposition to the principles of the Federal party, the standing army, the stamp act, and the alien and sedition laws, is its pre- vailing burden.
There appears to have been a standing irree- : persons and property.
oncilable political quarrel between Mr. Hlamil- ton and the Republicans of that time, which
led to much difficulty and trouble while Lyon remained in town, and, indeed, long afterward. Lyon called Hamilton to answer, in the Novem- ber term of the county court, 1793, to the charge that he, " Lyon, the plaintiff, was clios- en selectman at Fair Haven, March, 1791, and sought to discharge his duties as a person of good repute and credit, free of deceit, fraud or falsity"-yet the defendant, "maliciously in- tending to hurt and injure his good name and reputation, and to cause him to be esteemed and reported as a person perjured and fore- sworn, and who had acted corruptly in his of- fice," did, June 17, 1793, at Rutland, in the "Farmer's Library," Vol. 1, No. 12, " falsely and maliciously devise, speak. tell, print and publish divers false, scandalous and horrible lies of and concerning said plaintiff."
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