USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 1 > Part 74
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An Act constituting a new Town by the name of Middletown.
" WHEAREAS, the inhabitants of a part of the towns of Wells, Tinmouth, Poultney and Ira, which are included in the bounds here- mafter described, have, by their petition rep- resented, that they labor under great incon- veniences with meeting with their several towns for public worship and town business, by reason of being surrounded by high mountains.
" Be it therefore enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the representatives of the free- men of the State of Vermont in General
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Assembly met, and by the authority of the | middle of four towns. In the fall of 17:4. same, that the tract of land or district here- inafter described, be and is hereby created and incorporated into a township, by the name of Middletown, and the inhabitants thereof and their successors with the like privileges and prerogatives, which the other towns in the state are invested with, viz.
Beginning at a beech tree marked, standing west 26 degrees south 310 chains from the north-east corner of Wells; thence east 40 degrees south 290 chains, to a white ash tree standing in Tinmouth west line; thence east 10 degrees south 45 chains, to a beech mark- ed ; thence north 33 degrees east 264 chains, to a beech marked ; thence north 10 degrees west 333 chains, to stake and stones standing in Poultney, east line; thence south 10 de- grees west 23 chains, to stake and stones; thence west 11 degrees north 60 chains, to a sinall beech marked; thence south 45 chains; to a hard beech tree; thence west 40 degrees south 207 chains 5 links, to a stake and stones standing in Wells north line ; thence west- couth 4 chains, to a stake; thence south 10 jagrees west 185 chains, to the first mention- folbounds."
Arom Thompson's Vermont we find 3510 and3 were taken from Tinmouth, 6118 acres corn Wells, 2388 acres from Poultney, and Wel, acres from Ira.
"Those " high mountains," with which the petitioners for a new town were "surround- ed,"" seem to have directed the survey ; as all acquainted with the locality well know that the town is surrounded by hills and moun - tains running around it in such directions, that the survey, in running around on the tops of those hills and mountains, gives the peculiar form which Middletown has and ac- counts for the shape of the town.
Joseph Spaulding took the lead in the movement . He was a practical surveyor, and made the survey which appears in the act and in this was governed by his own judg- ment. The people submitted that matter to him, and he, in fact, located the bounds of the town. He ran his lines where he thought it best for all concerned, and no one, either in Middletown or the towns from which it was taken, to our knowledge, was ever dissatisfied.
After he had made his survey, and com- pleted his arrangements for bringing the mat- ter before the Legislature, the people conced- ed to him the honor of giving the name to the town, which he did. Mr. Spaulding had removed here from Middletown, Ct. and that name was thereby suggested to him, and he thought it very appropriate from the fact that the new town would be located in the
the Legislature of Vermont sat at Ruthis !. Mr. Spaulding, with the petition in his pock- et-the necessary arrangements having b ... ] completed-went to Rutland while the L-3- islature was in session. The act was passed Oct. 28, 1784.
RECORD OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWS.
" At a town meeting holden at Middletown. at the *meeting house, on Wednesday, t :.- 17th day of November, 1784, Voted, Ei- mund Bigelow, Moderator ; Joseph Rockw -!! , Town Clerk : Edmund Bigelow, Justice of the Peace ; elected as a committee, Edmund Big. elow, Joseph Rockwell and Joseph Spaulding, to reckon with several inhabitants of the town respecting costs made in getting the town established. The meeting was adjourn- ed to Thursday the 22d inst."
" At the adjourned meeting- Voted, That the amount allowed by the committee chosen for examining accounts for getting the town established be two pounds, 12 shillings and 7 pence.
JOSEPH ROCKWELL. Register."
There is no record of any notice of the meeting. If there was one it was not record- ed.
The first annual town meeting was holden Mar. 7, 1785. Hon. Thomas Porter of Tin- mouth was chosen moderator, Joseph Rock- well, town clerk ; Jonathan Brewster, Jacob Wood and Edmund Bigelow, selectmen ; Ca- leb Smith, town treasurer; Ephraim Wood, constable ; Asher Blunt, Jona. Griswold, Reu- ben Searl, listers; Silas Mallary, collector; Jona. Frisbie, leather sealer ; Samuel Sunder- lin, Reuben Searl, grand juryman ; Nathan Record, tithingman ; Elisha Gilbert, hay ward; Caleb Smith, brander of horses; Increase Rudd, sealer of measures ; Edm ind Bigelow, sealer of weights ; Abraham White, Solomon Hill, John Sunderlin. Benjamin Haskins, Benjamin Coy, Phineas Clough and James Mc Clure, highway surveyors ; Luther Filmore, pound keeper, Thomas Morgan, William Frisbie, and Increase Rudd. fence viewers.
At the same meeting Ephraim Wood, Ga- maliel Waldo, Reuben Searl, Bethel Hurd, Benj. Coy, James Mc Clure and Edmund Big- elow, were appointed a committee to divide the town into school districts. That com- mittee afterwards performed that duty, and the school districts, with a very little altera- tion, remain to this day as recommended by that committee.
* The meeting house mentioned was the log one.
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Immediately following the record of this the first annual town meeting, is a record of what is called " A Roll of the freemen of Middletown." There is no date given to it, and my first impression was, that it was a list of those who voted at a freemen's meet- ing in the Fall of 1785, but on examination of it, and other records and facts that have come to my knowledge, I was well satisfied that it was made in the Spring of 1785. The following are the names :
Ephraim Wood, John Sunderlin, Dan'l Haskins, Samuel Sonderlin, Jacob Wood, Reu- ben Searle, Joseph Spaulding, Jona. Brewster, Benj. Haskins, Jona. Haynes, Increase Rudd, Jesse Hubbard, Barzilla Handy, Gideon Mi- ner, Isaiah Johnson, Abel White, Benj. Coy, Timothy Smith, Francis Perkins, Samuel Stoddard, Benj. Butler, Nathan Record, Jona Mehuran, Elisha Gilbert, Richard Haskins Thomas Morgan, Chauncy Graves, William Frisbie, Anson Perry, Sylvanus Stone, Thom- as French, Gideon Buel, Caleb Smith, Jona. Griswold, Gamaliel Waldo, Joseph Rock- well, David Griswold, Edmund Bigelow, Philemon Wood, Jona Frisbie.
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· We are thus able to give all or nearly all the names of those who settled here prior to the Spring of 1735. We can add the names of Luther Filmore, James and Thomas Mc- Clure and Silas Mallary, who are known to have been here prior to the time this roll was made. Filmore, as we have seen, was here before the Revolutionary war, and was elect- ed pound- keeper at the first annual meeting ; Mallary was elected collector, and James and Thomas Mc Clure are known to have been here about as early as 1779. Were it in my power I should give a biography of each and every man on the roll, and of the four others last named; but I shall give all that I have been able to learn of them, after speaking generally of their character, and of the pro- gress they had made in the settlement of the town up to the Spring of 1785. They were men of great physical strength and endu- rance, decided energy and mental ability, honest, unselfish. A large majority of them were religious men of the Puritan stamp. They were mostly from Connecticut, and came poor, some with nothing but their hands, others with a horse or a yoke of oxen, bringing with them their families and effects upon a wagon or sled. Each selected his place, put up his rude cabin, went into it
with his family and effects, and commenced at once in clearing up his land. Interrupted as the settlement was by the Revolutionary war, yet we find by the first grand list which was taken in the Spring of 1735, that 574 acres of land had then been cleared. The personal property put into that grand list was 81 cows, 47 horses, 36 oxen, 80 steers, 73 head of other cattle, and 22 swine. It is a small grand list when compared with that of the town at the present time, but the. won- der is how they could have cleared up that amount of land and acquired that amount of stock in so short a time. A large portion of this work had been accomplished in the years of 1782, 3 and 1784. My father, who was a son of William Frisbie, told me helbre he died, that when his father's family came here, in 1781, he could distinctly rechtes: what had then been done by way of settle- ment. He was then 6 years old. He said that Filmore had cleared up 3 of 4 acres where the village now is. Morgan had a lis- tle more than that cleared, and the two Has- kins and Azor Perry had made some progress in their clearing. He told me that according to his recollection 6 log-houses hai been :n: up within the present limits of the town. when he came here. Those he gaveme as M :. Jfor- gan's, Filmore's, Clough's and Azor Perry s. Those were undoubtedly all there were in the town, or within what is now the town in the Spring of 1781, except what had been pa: on the " McClure road," as it has been called -for it is well known that Isaac Ciar's old Rifle) settled there as early as 1779, and :has year was made town clerk of Ira, and James and Thomas Mc Clure settled there, it is believed, the same year. My father did not know of this, or it had escaped his recolles- tion.
But few came in 1781, so by far the great- er portion of what was done prior to the Spring of 1785 was performed during the years of 1782, '83 and '84. At this time (1785) we find at least 44 freemen in the town-the number of inhabitants mich: have been 300 to 400, as most of the early settlers had large families. We Bad they had cleared up 574 acres of land, and this was in small patches from 1 to 30 acres is different parts of the town ; they had procu :- ed a charter and organized the town. Two churches had been organized, Congregation- alist and Baptist, a meeting-house bul bees
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built, and initiatory steps had been taken to divide the town into school and highway districts. A grist and saw mill had been erected, and were in active operation. Three framed houses had been built and prepar- ations were being made for building more.
THOMAS MORGAN " made the first clearing," as he once said to me, and of which there can be no doubt. It was about three-fourths of a mile south of where the village now is. Mr. Morgan claimed to have built the first framed-house in town, though he said Filmore and Richard Haskins each commenc- ed building the same season, but his house was first completed. The house is now stand- ing and owned by his grandson, Daniel Mor- gan, and of late years has been occupied by tenants. Mr. Morgan was from Kent, Ct. He was three times married, but had one child only, the late Jonathan Morgan Thomas Morgan lived where he first settled up to about the time of his death, which oc- curred Dec. 20, 1841, at the age of 94.
JONATHAN MORGAN was born in 1782, and was the first child born in Middletown, (that is in what became Middletown in 1784.) Mr. Morgan was regarded by many as being over tenacious of his rights, but was a man of good judgment, well informed, and always kept himself familiar with all the affairs of the town. He was for many years a justice of the peace; represented the town in 1838, and very often held the office of selectman, and other offices, the duties of which he discharg- el understandingly and well. In the latter part of November, 1857, Mr. Morgan then quite feeble, drove his horse and carriage from his house to the village upon somne er- rand, and on his return, his horse took fright soon after crossing the bridge in the south part of the village, threw him out of his car riage and so injured him that he survived the shock but a few days. He died at Mrs. Green's, Dec, 3, 1847, aged 75.
Lorensy, died about 2 years ago; the young. est daughter lives in Lowell, Mass. and is un- married. Daniel Morgan is the only repre. sentative of Thomas Morgan now left in Mid- dletown.
LUTHER FILMORE was the man who felle l the forest where the village now is. He came here from Bennington, but where he was from originally, I cannot say. His grandson once told me that he was a brother of the grand- father of the late President Millard Filmore, and the old folks all agree in giving Mr. Fil- more the credit of being a sensible man, and a good citizen. He seemed to have the pub- lic interest at heart, and did much towards giving a start to the villiage. He had put up his temporary cabin, on the south-west corner of the common or "green," as it is called. He afterwards built a framed-house on the opposite side of the road, and in what is now Mrs. Gray's door yard, or that part of it situated on the west side of the house in which she now lives. Mr. Filmore owned the land now occupied as a burial- ground, and gave a deed of it to the town Sept. 30, 1787. He also owned the " green;" and 150 acres which included the present lim- its of the village. To Mr. Filmore belongs the honor of being the first inn-keeper in town. He commenced keeping tavern soon after he built his house, and a tavern was kept in the house by him and one of the Brewster family until some years after 1800. Sometime after 1811, Henry Gray bought the place, and lived in the house until about 1835, when he built the brick house, which has since been occupied by him and his family. The old tavern house was moved down below " cider-mill hill," repaired, and has since been occupied by tenants of Mr. Gray. Luther Filmore died Feb. 9, 1809, aged 60 years. He left several sons, none are now living. Mrs. Hutchins, the widow of Elisha Hutchins, now living in this town, is a grand daughter of Luther Filmore, and is the only descendant in town left. Mrs. Hutchins has two broth- ers, Luther and Edmund Filmore, who were natives of the town, but are now living in some of the Western states.
Jonathan Morgan lett 3 sons and 4 daugh- ters. The oldest son was in California when last heard from ; the second, Daniel, now oc- cupies and owns the homestead of his father, also the homestead of his grandfather. The third son, Merritt, recently moved from Mid- RICHARD HASKINS, who settled, near where Lucius Copeland, Esq., now lives, did not re- turn after Bennington battle as soon as his brother Benjamin did, but was kent longer in the service. Mr. Haskins was from Nor- dletown to Cambridge, Vt. The oldest daugh. ter, Huldah, married Daniel Cushman, of Pawlet, and now resides in that town ; the second daughter married Nathan Winn, and lives in Wallingford ; the third daughter, i wich, Ct., the same town from which the Wood
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families came ; he had lived with them in Con- necticut. When the Woods came in 1782, they took possession of his settlement there, and Haskins took the next lot north, which is known as Mr. Copeland Haskins' farm. Haskins put that farm under improvement, lived a long and industrious life, raised a large family of children, drew a pension of $96 a year, and died about 1845 in Highgate, Vt., where he had a short time before gone to reside with one of his sons. He was over 80 when he died. He has no descendants now in town.
BENJAMIN HASKINS, though somewhat er- · ratic, was a more useful man to society, in his time, than his brother Richard, and had a more reputable family. He was a member of the Congregational church, and a sober, sedate, eccentric man, and was called " Dea- con Ben," though he never held the office of Deacon. Though to appearances, a dull, slow man, yet when occasion required, he showed himself to be a resolute, and powerful man. On one occasion while driving some cattle from Pawlet to his home, he was set upon by a pack of 14 wolves, near what is known as the Wait place, about 2 miles south of his house. He prepared himself on their ap- proach with a strong cudgel, and succeeded in beating them off, and bringing himself and cattle away unharmed. He was a kind, oblig- ing neighbor, zealous in good works. He died in 1824, aged 70.
have it fail ; that although he was not a pro- fessor of religion, yet he was sensible that property was of no account unless the institu- tions of religion could be sustained. It is al- most needless to add Mr. Clough prevailed. Mrs. Orcutt had 5 children, only one is now living, Phineas C. Orcutt, who resides in Western New York.
AZOR PERRY procured a deed of one of the original proprietors of the town of Tinmouth in 1777, of a large piece of land then in that town, now Middletown. The deed was exe- cuted in Bennington, and in the Spring of 1778, he shouldered his ax, all he had to bring but the clothes he wore, and took pos- session of his land. He put up a log-house between where Mr. Jonathan Atwater's dwell- ing house now is and his cider-mill, and cov- ered his house with poles and bark. He made a bedstead of poles, and used elm bark as a substitute for cords. He lived alone the first year, and managed to get a cow the first Smin- mer, which he wintered on browse; that is he cut down trees, and the cow eat the tons. He was married at Bennington in 1779. Ile had managed, in the year before he was mar- ried, to save enough to get a calico wed ling- dress for his wife, and some few indispensable articles of household furniture to commence with. Mr. Perry was a rough, unpolished man, but of strong will and undoubted cour- age. He was from the town of Orange Ct., but lived awhile in Bennington before coming to Middletown. He was in Bennington bat- tle, and in one or two engagements in the first year of the war. A good many good stories were told of his encounters with bears and wolves, during his first years in Middle- town. On one occasion, he was in the woods about a mile from his house, when he saw a young bear, a cub, and having no weapons to kill it, he ran and caught it, when the cub seizing one of his hands in his mouth, biting through his hand, held it fast in its mouth. Perry, in vain tried to extricate his hand from the cub's mouth, and when he saw he could not do it without help, he took the cub, weigh- ing over one hundred pounds, under his arm and carried it to his house, a mile or more, where he was relieved.
PHINEAS CLOUGH died Sept 24, 1809 on the same farm on which he early settled. He left but one child, a daughter, who married Erasmus Orcutt. She succeeded to the farm and it has since been know as the Orcutt farm. Major Clough, as he was always called, was also an eccentric man, but a man of good ma- terial for a new country. If anything which required great exertion, was necessary to be done, he was not the one to avoid the re- sponsibility. He was not a member of any church, but was a member of the Congrega- tional society. On one occasion, at a meet- ing of the society, some measure was pro- posed which would require a large expendi- ture and was at first strongly opposed by a majority of the society, including in that ma- jority many members of the church. Mr At another time, there was a bear that lived on the hills some where between the Smith Wait and Buxton farms, and had become no- torious for killing the sheep, calves and hogs, Clough came to the rescue. He told the soci- ety he regarded it of vital importance the measure should be carried ; that he was will- ing to give his farm, if necessary, rather than l and destroying the corn in that vicinity.
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There had been a good deal of effort to kill the bear. At length it was resolved to en- gage Mr. Perry to dispatch the bear, which he was ready to undertake. It was in the Fall, and it had been ascertained the old bear visited, during the evenings, a corn field of William Frisbie. Perry came on a certain evening agreeable to appointment, and found a score or so of the citizens of the vicinity col- lected, and ready to render him assistance if he wanted. He told them that he wanted but one of their number ; that one was select- ed, and the two with their musket- made their way to the cornfield. After arriving there, they stopped and listened awhile, and soon heard the bear at work at the corn. As soon as they had ascertained the bear's locality, Perry told his man to go to a certain point and shoot at the bear, saying " If you kill him, very well; if you don't, the bear will be after you, and if he does, run behind me- I will stand here." The man did as directed by Perry, shot at the bear, wounded him and ran towards Perry, the bear in a rage follow- ing. The man took shelter behind Perry, who stood quietly in his tracks until the bear had come up within 20 feet of him, when he raised his musket and snapped it, but there was no discharge. Mr. Perry began to curse his firelock, but rapidly continued to snap it until the bear had approached, walking on his hind feet, near enough to take the muzzle of the gun into his mouth, when the gun went off and, of course, killed the bear. In this affair, he did not appear to manifest any fear, or any other feeling except that he was vexed at his gun.
Mr. Perry acquired a good property-had 11 children, several now living-one, Mrs. Atwater, now lives upon the place and in the house where her father lived and died. Though not a religious man, Mr. Perry, like Major Clough, gave liberally for the support of religious institutions. He was a member of the Congregational society. He died Nov. 15, 1824, aged 69.
JAMES and THOMAS MCCLURE were broth- ers, natives of Scotland ; they landed in this country at Boston, Mass ; there were three brothers, and all came to Vermont, and first stopped at Wallingford. After a little time, the two brothers above named came to this place in 1779, looked this region over and fi- nally concluded to settle in what is now the north-east part of the town-it was then in satne rifle with which her husband had won
Ira, and they were induced to go there by representations of Isaac Clark, who had lo- cated there and had been made town clerk of Ira. Clark represented to them that the vil- lage of Ira would be there. The place where the Mc Clures settled is now in Middletown, and near the line between Middletown and Ira. It is at the upper end of the road, which leaves the main road, running from Middleton to Tinmouth, a little east of what is known as the " Edgerton place." It is not probable that any village or central place of business would ever have been there, if that portion of Ira had not been taken to make a part of Middletown-however, Clark and oth- ers undoubtedly thought so at the time.
The Mc Clure brothers, like the other early settlers, set themselves resolutely at work clearing up their lands,-I should judge, from the early records, that they were much re- lied on, as they held many important posi- tions. Thomas Mc Clure was the first clerk of the Baptist Church, for several years. James Mc Clure was placed on the commit- tee at the first annual town meeting, to di- vide the town into school districts-he often held town offices, and seemed to be actively engaged in laying the foundation of the in- stitutions in the new settlement. James Mc Clure, died Feb. 22, 1815, aged 67 ; Thom- as died younger, and sometime before 1800. Each left a family. Of James Mc Clure's family, were Doctor David G. Mc Clure and Samuel Mc Clure. David G. succeeded Doc- tor Ezra Clark as a physician in town, and was in practice here several years prior to 1822, when he removed to the State of Ohio. He has been dead some years. He left a family of a good deal of talent and enter- prise.
The history of " Old Rifle" more properly belongs to some other town, although he was on our territory for about 7 years. He went to Castleton in 1786, and remained on the " Mc Clure Hill" from 1779 until that time. There are some incidents in connection with his family while residing on the territory, which afterwards became a part of Middle- town which we might reasonably claim as a part of our history. Mr. Clark's wife, if she was not as good a marksman as her husband, was not behind in bravery ; on a Sabbath day, when her husband was absent, discov- ering a bear in the corn-field, she took that
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his name, went out and deliberately shot the bear.
SAMUEL Mc CLURE was a farmer and lived in Middletown until hisdeath, which occurred about 15 years ago. He had a large family ; 3 sons and 2 daughters are now living. Da- vid G., the oldest, now lives in Rutland ; he had 2 sons and 3 daughters; the sons, both have responsible positions on some of the railroads. The two oldest daughters are married-one to C. M. Haven, a route agent on the Rutland and Washington railroad , the other to Albert H. Tuttle, one of the pro- prietors of the " Rutland Herald."
Harry B. Mc Clure, the second son of Sam- uel Mc Clure, always resided and still resides in Middletown, and has for many years been one of the active and leading men of the town. He has a very respectable family of 6 chil- dren, all boys, and all disposed to work for a living.
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