The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 1, Part 55

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: White River Junction VT : White River Paper Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 1 > Part 55

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The substance of the falsehood was, that Hamilton. who was constable of Fair Haven, and presided at the freemen's meeting in Sept., 1791, "complained and charged Lyon with be- ing very officious at that meeting in procuring votes for himself, for member of Congress, even from New York; cansing persons to be admit- ted to the freemen's oath who had not been in the State a week ; that Lyon wrote a letter to the commanding officer of a military camp, in the State of New York, who had his men em- bodied on that day, soliciting him to dismiss his company, that they might come to Fair Ha- ven and vote; that Lyon made use of threats, etc., to terrify liim [Hamilton] to purjure him- self by aiding him in his wicked designs"- making out false returns, etc.

In January, 1794, Lyon sells to William Lyon charges that these accusations injured him in his reputation, so that some of his neigbors refused to have any common acquaint- ance or discourse with him, and demands to recover of Hamilton the sum of £2,000, lawful money. The court awarded him 20s damages and costs. As an offset to this Hamilton brings a suit of replevin against Lyon and Charles Rice, the constable. in the March term of court, 1795, for the recovery of his horse and mare, taken from him Oct. 4, '93, and unlawfully de- tained, laying his damages at £100. The court awarded him 2s damage, and cost of £6 14s and 6d. Hennessy the two fires in his forge, together with a hammer and anvil and coal-house. Hen- nessy was a warm political friend of Col. Lyon, and appears to have been in the town before this time, being assessed in the list of '93 at £6. Sept. 25, '93, while under the influence of strong drink, and engaged in an angry po- litical discussion at Castleton, with Joel ITamil- ton, his fellow-townsman-Hamilton having about this time gone over to the federal party -Hennessy assaulted Hamilton and put him out of doors, endangering his life, for which Hamilton claims damages of Hennessy in the March term of the county court of the year Among the results of the violent political 1791, to the amount of £150; Hennessy re- strife of this period, not only these lawsuits plying that Hamilton had first assailed him .- The court awarded Hamilton £1 and 44.

but others, of which we have no records, grew up from acts of aggression committed against

Mr. Hamilton's orchard was entered, and his fruit-trees maliciously girdled, from motives of

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political spite, about the year 1800. It was gen- [9, 1799, to proclaim himself, immediately on erally understood to have been done by a party his exit, on his way to Congress, and thus [.ro- tect himself from re-arrest, which had been contemplated by his enemies. His journey to Philadelphia was a triumphal procession through the several towns of the State, he be- ing transported in a carriage drawn by four horses, with the American flag flying at the head of the procession. of young men, or boys, chief among whom was a son of Charles McArthur, who fled to the South or West, while a number of others who were supposed to have been implicated, were arrested, fined and imprisoned. These were Erastus Goodrich, Davis Olney and Joseph Da- vidson. Goodrich was an apprentice to Gen. Jonathan Orms; and Gen. Orms, while believ- Mr. Hennessy buying of Co !. Lyon, in May, 1794, 12 rods square on the corner north of the tavern-house, 6 rods from it, built a large dou- ble house, or store, which formel the main building at a later day remodeled into a public tavern by Royal Dennis. ing him innocent, hired money of Dr. Shaw of Castleton, and paid the three fines of $100 each, to get the young man out of prison .- This affair was a memorable one among the people of that time.

While Lyon was exceedingly popular among his own party and personal friends, doing much to court their favor, and frequently throwing open his house for hospitable entertainment of his workmen and party friends, he was yet a rough, wilful man, and had many strong ene- mies. When, therefore, in the summer of '98, he made himself liable to prosecution under the famous " sedition law" of that year, there were not a few ready and willing to see the law exc- cuted upon him. He was accordingly indicted for sedition on account of words he had writ- ten and published in the " Vermont Journal ;" and being brought to trial before a court com- posed of Federal judges, in October of this year, he was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000 and costs. Being committed to jail at Vergennes, during the winter, he was treated with much rigor, and his friends in Fair Haven were obliged to send him a stove to keep him warm.

About the time of Lyon's trial at Rutland, a political opponent, John Cook of Poultney was appointed by the Legislature a justice of the peace, in opposition, it was said, to the almost unanimous voice of the town. Impelled by the excitement of the times, and instigated, also, it was said, by Mrs. Lyon, who furnished powder for the operation, a number of the young men of Fair Haven, who were friends of Lyon and enemies of Cook, undertook, in the night-time, to undermine and blow up Cook's office at Poultney; but he getting in- telligence of the plot, was able to frustrate it. Some of the young men, however, who were engaged in it-among them Jeremy Dwyer, jr .. -were obliged to flee the State for their lib- erty.

Lyon being re-elected to Congress while in prison was enabled, at the expiration of his term of confinement, on the morning of Feb. lyard.

Mr. Hennessy seems to have been a man of much business, but not very successful. Be- sides the forge fires which he bought of Col. Lyon at the beginning of the year, and the store which he had built, in July, '95, he asso- ciates himself with Mr. Spooner in the publica- tion of the "Fair Haven Telegraph." This he gives up the next spring, and leases Col. Lyon's slitting-mill-selling his store. also, in July, '96, to George Cadwell, Lyon's son-in- law of Hampton, N. Y., who sold, in August, '97. to Isaac Cutler and Steven Rogers, who sold, in March, '98, to John Taylor, of N. Y .; by whom it was owned until 1804, and then sold to John Meacham.

In 1798, both Mr. Hennessy's tan and nail- er's shop, with his forge fires, were taken under an attachment.

In June, 1795. Col. Lyon having previously built his dwelling-house on the place where the Vermont Hotel now stands, sells to David Mack of Middlefield, Mass., his tavern-honse on the corner and 10 acres of land-the house being at the time leased and occupied by Na- thaniel Dickinson. It was sold by Mack, who never occupied it himself, to Dr. Simeon Smith, March 7, '98, and by him to Isaac Cutler, in 1803.

In July Col. Lyon sells to Asa Smith and Heman Huffman his grist and saw-mill, and provides " that the saw-mill shall never at any time draw the water away from nor injnre the paper-mill standing, or that may stand opposite to said mill. Nor shall the grist-mill take the water from the paper-mill to injure it in its mo- tion any time from twelve o'clock at noon to twelve o'clock at night." There is to be allow- ed no waste of water by leaky gates and flumes on cither side. The ground in front of the mills is to be reserved as common ground for a mill-

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In August, 1796, having re-purchased the mills, Col. Lyon again sells one equal half of the two mills to Solomon Cleveland, of Hamp- ton, N. Y .- Cleveland moving into town and re-building the mills, with Jonathan Orms for his millwright. Cleveland, in April, '98, sells his equal share to Pliny Adams of Hampton.

Col. Lyon sells one-half the saw-mill, after 3 years, in '99, to Eliel Gilbert, of Greenfield, Mass,-a brother of Maj. Tilly Gilbert-and 1 acre of land, including the house in which Clement Blakesley then resided, which had been occupied by Silas Safford, Esq., at an ear- lier day.

Mr. Adams about this time sold his share of the mills to Stephen Rogers. Rogers sells his half of the saw-mill to Tilly Gilbert, in Septem- ber ; and Lyon closes off the remaining share of the grist-mill to Nathaniel Dickinson.

Angust. 1797, Lyon leases to Moses Scott of Waterford, N. Y., and James Lyon of Fair Haven, for 9 years, the saw-mill "now build- ing" on the Upper Falls, over the iron-works, and all the pine timber on his land on the S. E.'ly side of Castleton river, and N. E. from the new bridge over his upper falls, with 9 years to cut it in.

James Lyon, besides acting as a printer of his father's paper, is said to have been at one time superintendent of the paper-mill; and again to have tried his hand at selling his fa- ther's iron-a work in which he was mainly successful in getting rid of a good sleigh-load of the iron, together with a valuable span of herses, without bringing home with him any appreciable equivalent. He is said to have married a worthy and beautiful young lady in Waterford, N. Y., and to have resided at one time in the east part of the Boyle & White house, occupying the front for a printing-office, and having with him as apprentices two young men-Jacob Hoffman and Edward Ritchie. It is said, also, that the house at the foot of the hill, where Cyrus C. Whipple resides, was used for a printing-office. In which of the offices the " Scourge of Aristocracy" was published it is impossible to tell.

James Lyon built the house which stood where John D. Goodwin now resides, previous to '98, and was postmaster here in January of that year. He commenced the publication of the Scourge in October, '98, continuing it one year. In November he acted as clerk or agent for his father in a lottery scheme, and had a book store in town-perhaps at the Boylo & White stand. His father had purchased at

Rutland, of John Wood of Kingsbury, N. Y., formerly of Pittsford, Vt., the grant or charter for a lottery, paying $500 for the same. The scheme comprised one prize of $1,000, " to be paid in a house and farm of good land and con- veniences, on the main road in Fair Haven; one of $1,500, to be paid in a farm in West Haven, containing 500 acres, about five miles from Whitehall, on East Bay; and fifty ten dollar and six dollar prizes, to be paid one-half in cash and one-half in books, at cash prices, at the book-store in Fair Haven," where the lottery is to be drawn, and where James Lyon is said to keep a complete assortment, and choice of books will be given. James Lyon countersigns the tickets as clerk.

From the lottery business Col. Lyon is said to have obtained the means to pay his fine and costs, after his liberation from prison, and to have realized a surplus of $3,000. However this may be, it appears that at the expiration of his second term in Congress, in the year 1800, his business in Vermont, as well as his personal and political relations, were such that he did not deem it prudent to return hither to reside; but, turning his feet westward, estab- lished himself near the Cumberland river, in Kentucky, at what is now Eddyville, Lyon county.

As he had done in Fair Haven, so here in his new home he engaged with his wonted en- ergy in politics and business-taking out his family, transporting type and machinery on horseback over the Alleghany mountains, with which to eatablish the first printing office in Kentucky-persuading others to immigrate to his new abode, and using every means to build up his place. In 1802 he was elected to the Legislature of Kentucky, and in 1803 or '04 to Congress, where he remained by re-elec- tion till 1810.

In writing from Washington to judge With erell in January, 1805, he makes earnest inqui- ry as to what had become of Stephen Rogers, and if he could not obtain him to come to Ed- dyville, both for Rogers' sake and his own, as he had 100 hides of leather, taken off his own cattle the previous summer, and tanned by a negro man, whom he owned; but he would prefer Rogers' tanning and shoemaking, as Rogers formerly worked for him. Ile wants Rogers, he says, to rise again in life, and en- closed money to get him to the Monongahela river in March. He shall not remain, he says, to the close of Congress, as he has more gunboats to build, and shall have to crect a forge to

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make the iron for them in the summer. He wants a bloomer and refiner who will teach the negroes.

Gen. Whitehouse, he says, is doing well, and wants his wife, " Patty," to come to Eddyville ; and he gives money and directions for her to re- move.

He inquires about Ithamer Hosford, Mrs. Beddow's son, if he is worth encouraging to come to the West. He says James Lyon is engaged in ship-building on his own account, and this business has made money circulate, and attracted many traders to the place. He wants more ship-carpenters and joiners-in- quires about his friend Cutler-if he has not got what is to be had of Dr. Smith's relics. with which he could come to Kentucky ? says he would do any thing in his power for him, and " could fix him in a store or tavern."

Alluding to his lottery business, he says he has sent money to Boston to buy up those tick- ets James sold there, and there are tickets yet at Baltimore-" has not had time to look over the last year's packet, and dreads to do it- wishes he could have a more pleasant account of the business," etc.

In another letter of a prior date, he says it would not be convenient for him to come to Vermont this year, but " I wish you, seriously. to acquaint yourself with the situation of the lottery business ; see how many tickets friend Cutler has taken up-how many there are in the hands of others, who claim payment or are uneasy. Hyde will make a noise for nothing. I want much to get this business settled in a way that cannot be said to be injurious to my reputation ; and not being able, as I contem- plated, to go and finish the drawing of the lot- tery makes me reflect again whether it is not best to buy in the two dollar prizes, and the two and three dollar tickets that are out, for value received. Make no noise about this; consult friend Cutler about it, and write me what has become of my books at Rutland; he had charge of them." James Lyon, he says, is worth a good deal of money, by good luck and good management.

In October, 1798, Col. Lyon, " for the consid- ation of the friendship he bore the town of Fair Haven," deeded to the town five pieces of land, " the first being an acre for a burying-ground. to be laid out within one year, including the graves already made, on the spot S. W.'ly from the meeting-house," and " four six rods square pieces on the four nearest corners of my land to the meeting-house, and containing 96 rods,

so as to make the Green 18 rods square, in- cluding the highway."

The 18 rods square Common covered tl.o land on which the old meeting-house-1:0 Dan Orm's dwelling-house-then stood, and the ground now occupied by the school and town- house, and that on which the Methodist church stands.

August, 1799, Lyon sold to Eliel Gilbert of Brookfield, Mass., "all that part of a lot of land which I live on," the 2d division of Na- than Allen's right, except what has been men- tioned before ; also, the land which is now the public Park; and, the same year, to Josiah Norton of Castleton, his paper-mill and 32 acres of land on the Ist and 2d divisions of his own right : and he also sold, while in Philadelphia, in March, 1800, to Edward Douse of Dedham, Mass, his slitting-mill and iron-works, and an extensive tract of land lying south and east of the river : and, in November, closed off to Mr. Norton what remained to him in the town, in- cluding the saw-mill on the Upper Falls, at the expiration of Scott & Lyon's lease.

Mr. Norton took up his residence in 1800, in the house built by James Lyon, east of the church, where he succeeded Lyon as the post- master, and also kept a small stock of goods for sale. He was town clerk in 1801, re-electod in '02 and '03, but died suddenly of apoplexy, or disease of the heart, in March, '03. He was a man much respected.

Tilly Gilbert, who returned to the town in 1799, first moved into and occupied the house of Boyle & White, opening a store of goods in the west end. Upon Col. Lyon's removal from town he took up his residence iu the house vacated by Col. Lyon's family, where the Ver- mont Hotel now stands-the place being then owned by his brother, Eliel Gilbert. Major Gilbert succeeded Mr. Norton as town clerk and in the post-office, which he kept in the old store for about a year-being followed by An- drew McFarland, who kept a store in the same place in 1805-Maj. Gilbert about that time erecting a store for himself, near the place where John G. Pitkin now resides.

Thus, within the village around the mills, at the close of the century, the property which was all owned by Col. Lyon in 1790-'91, had all changed hands : the iron works were owned by Edward Douse of Dedham, Mass .. except the two south fires in the forge, which belong to William Lee of Poultney. Josiah Norton owned the paper-mill and lands south and west of it-the saw-mill on the Upper Falls, and the

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house and land east of the church and west of the Castleton road. Tilly Gilbert owned the lower saw-mill in company with his brother Eliel of Brookfield, Mass., who had a deed of all the land on the east side of the village, ex- cept Boyle & White's store and 2 acres. Steph- en Rodgers and Nathaniel Dickinson owned the grist-mill, and Rodgers had a place on the west side of the village. Dr. Smith of West Haven owned the tavern-house and land, and John Taylor of New York the Hennessy store north of the tavern.

Paul Guilford, sen., came from Conway, Mass., in the fall of '98, and bought the place owned by John Brown, north of the village, near Mr. Whipple's. He was advanced in life, and died suddenly of heart disease, in the corn-field, June 20, 1811.

Joseph Sheldon of Dorset purchased in Jan- uary, '99, the right of Jonas Galusha, of his son Joseph-the father of our present townsmen, Joseph, Harmon and John P .- came hither in the year '98, taking up his abode on the land which he purchased, in part, of his father, in May, 1804, and partly of his father's heirs, in December, 1806. Having married Diadama Preston of Poultney, in the year 1800, he first settled in a log-house-afterward building him a frame-house on the place which he occupied so many years, and where his son Harmon has recently erected a new residence.

Ethiel Perkins of Derby, Ct., December, '95, bought of Levi Trobridge the 2d division of Oliver Sanford's right; in '98, of Moses Shiel- don of Rupert, the 2d and 3d div'ns of Jacob Roback's right; and, in March, '99, of Beriah Rogers, the place on which Mr. Procter died, and where he made his home for some years- selling the place, in 1806, to his son, Roger Perkins. He is said to have been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and that he was in the battle of Bunker Hill. He married Esther Fox. He is said to have been deranged after he came to Fair Haven. He died here in 1826.

In October, 1794, Curtis Kelsey, sen., peti- tioned the Legislature, then in session at Rut- land, " to establish a school district in Col. Ly. on's vicinity, and relieve him-he being nearly the only fariner in the district, and having a large list-while Lyon's hands have no list, but many children, and Lyon, by his influence over the listers, has prevented any assessment of his forge, saw, grist, and slitting-mills. * Nei- ther," le says, " have the merchants been as- Bezsed who have stores of Lyon."

Oct. 2, 1799, Michael Merritt, Philip Priest,

| Charles McArthur, Isaac Cutler, John Brown, Nathaniel Dickinson, Jonathan Orms, Timothy Goodrich and Ethan Whipple petition the Gen .- eral Assembly of the State, convened at Wind- sor, to be incorporated into a body politic, by the name of Fair Haven Library Society. The charter was granted Oct. 23, '99. Whether any action was ever taken under this charter we are not informed.

THE IRON WORKS.

Lyon built the dam on the Upper Falls to bring water to his iron-works in July, 1785. He must have built the works during the sea- son, bringing his machinery on wagons from Massachusetts. In October he petitioned the General Assembly of the State, which was then an independent sovereignty, to lay a duty of 2d per pound on nails coming into the State, to enable him to build his works and supply the State.

The business was carried on here by Col. Ly- on under various superintendents-Gen. David Erwin being remembered as, for a number of years the managing foreman or boss-until Ly- on's removal to Kentucky in 1800. The busi- ness appears to have been partly the manufac- ture of axes, hoes and various agricultural im- plements, but mainly the making of iron from the ore imported from abroad into nail-rods, the rods being manufactured into nails by hand. It was not until several years later that ma- chinery was invented to cut the nails directly from the rolled plates.

Col. Lyon is reported to have kept a large number of men in employment about his works. In January, '94, he sold to William Hennessy the two south fires in his forge, a hammer, anvil and coal-house ; and, having decided to leave Vermont, while at Philadelphia in March, 1800, he sold the remainder of his works to Edward Douse of Massachusetts.

The slitting-mill was leased by John Brown, attorney for Mr. Douse, to David Erwin, for 2 years-Erwin to pay for the use of the same in iron rods as fast as manufactured; but Er- win does not appear to have retained it, and Mr. Douse leased the works to Dan Smith of West Haven, in July, 1801. Mr. Smith started the works, and finally purchased them of Douse in July, 1803. In October, '07, Jacob Davy, who had come into town in the spring of 1804, and taken charge of the works for Mr. Smith, purchased them of him.

The works were burned down in November, 1 1815, and re-built by Mr. Davey. In May, '29

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Mr. Davey sold one-half interest in the works to Edmund Kingsland, Jonathan Capen and Jacob D. Kingsland, and they took charge of the business, making $500, each, in the first six months, and losing what they had made in the second six months. Mr. Capen and Jacob Kingsland sold to Edmund Kingsland in the spring of '31. Mr. Capen hired the works one year, in'32, and made $1,000 iu running them. Mr. Kingsland sold to Mr. Davey, and Mr. Da- vey offered them for sale for $3,000.

In 1838, Alonson Allen leased the works for 5 years; and ran them till they were burned down a second time, in Mareli, '43. Mr. Davey, with his customary energy, re-built them the same season, and leased them to his son-in-law, Artemas S. Cushman, and his son, Israel Davey, then of Castleton.

Mr. Davey died in October, 1843, and in No- vember, '45, the works were sold at auction to Artemas S. Cushman ; Israel Davey, adminis- trator, deeding to him, June 26, '46. and Mr. Cushman conveyed baek to Israel Davey an un- divided three-fifths interest in the same. Mr. Davey bought out Mr. Cushman, Jan. 26, '53. In August, '59, he deeded one half interest to Benjamin S. Nichols of Whitehall, N. Y. Mr. Niehols deeded back to Mr. Davey, in August, '65, and Mr. Davey died in August, '69, sole proprietor of the works, which have been kept in operation for the benefit of the estate by Ru. fus C. Colburn.

THE PAPER.MILL

Was started by Col. Lyon about 1790 or '91. His son James is reported to have had charge of it at one time, and they must have made the paper generally used, both for writing and printing purposes, in the town and most of the country about. We have no information as to the men who were employed in the mill while it was owned by Col. Lyon, but we have spee- imens of the paper, both in blank books and printed sheets, which was manufactured during the period. Some of this is very eoarse and muddy, and indicates the imperfection of the hand process, or art of manfacture then prac- ticed.

The mill was sold by Col. Lyon to Josiah Norton, Esq .. of Castleton, in September, 1799. At Mr. Norton's decease in 1803, it was set to his oldlest son, Salmon Norton; and by him it was sold to his brother-in-law, Alexander Dun ehue of Castleton, in 1804, by whom it was rented, in '05, to John Herring, Moses Colton and Joel Beaman-and they, after running one

ring and Colton taking their shares south to Troy and New York, and Beaman selling his in Montreal

The mill being burned in March, 1806, Mr. Dunebue sold the site to Herring, Colton & Bez- man, and they re-bnilt the mill. Herring and Colton bought out Beaman in April, '11, and Herring sells to Colton, Mareh, '13. Colton sold one half the mill, in April, to George War- " ren. The mill was thus in the hands of Messrs. Colton & Warren from April, '13. In January, '19, they took David C. Sproat iato partnership, and conducted business under the firm name of Colton, Warren & Sproat for several years, en- gaging also in distilling whisky and selling merchandise.

Warren & Sproat failing in 1827, an assign- ment of the mill and other property was made by Sproat, on the 5th of July ( Warren having left town in the early morning of that day) to John P. Colburn, Jacob Davey, Barnabas Ellis and Harris W. Bates. The mill was run that season by H. W Bates & Co. It was deeded in May, '28, by Warren, who was then in Al- bany, and Sproat to William C. Kittredge, subjeet to a mortgage to Joel Beaman. Mr. Kittredge deeded to his father, Dr. Abel Kit- tredge of Hinsdale, Mass., in September; and he sold one half of it back to Sproat, in Octo- ber, '29.

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The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 1, Part 55

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: White River Junction VT : White River Paper Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: White River Junction VT : White River Paper Co.
Number of Pages: 868