USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 2 > Part 35
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The ancestors of Charles Burt, Joel Beaman and Rev. Drs. Charles and Aldace Walker and others, went over this road, or its predecessor, the old Indian path, during the Colonial wars
When, at length, the English flag floats in triumph from Florida to the St. Lawrence, the don : the New Hampshire grantees file a cave- at, and the grant is postponed several years, although the York petitioners had sent up the Scotch surveyor, William Cockburn, to survey the premises.
New England soldiers remember the fertile soil, the valuable trees and the convenient water- privileges that so abounded in the Green Moun- tain territory. And although New York had, in 1750, put forward a claim to this State, yet, in 1761, New Hampshire issued 60 charters for towns in Vermont.
The charter of Rutland was dated the 7th day of September, 1761; it is now extant in fifteen pieces; it cost about $ 100; it was pro- cured by Col. Josiah Willard of Winchester, N. H. Tho first named grantee is John Mur- ray, an Irishman, the principal citizen of Rut- land, Mass., and the man, probably, that named this town. The grantees are chiefly of New Hampshire-none of them ever lived here ; among them . "e the captives, Mrs. Johnson
and Mrs. Howe; and the familiar names of Bardwell, Hawks, Willard, Stone, Arms and Field. The grantees claimed that the charter was granted to them "as a reward for their great losses and services on the frontier, during the late war."
Rutland was also granted, in 1761, by the name of Fairfield. The grantor was Col. John Henry Lydius of Albany. He claimed by deed of the Mowhawk chiefs, and confirmation by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, as royal agent. But the act of Lydius which most in- terests us now, was his employment of a sur- veyor to survey Otter Creek. The surveyor came from Connecticut-his name was Asa Pea- body. Peabody is now so distinguished a name that we are interested to learn. Tradition says it signifies " The Mountain Man." and is deriv- ed from a relative of Queen Boadicea, who re-
Between the charter and the settlement of Rutland eight and one half years intervene. George II. had taken Vermont from Massachu- setts and given it to New Hampshire; George III. takes Vermont from New Hampshire and gives it to New York, but forbids New York granting the lands: New York speculators pe- tition the New York government for the char- ter of a new town, to be called Socialborough, to include Rutland, Pittsford, and part of Bran-
Meanwhile John Murray sells his right in Rutland, about 350 acres, for 2s, or over ten acres for lc. During this interval, also, Jolın Chipman and fifteen other young men from Salisbury, Conn., pass through town with cart and oxen, along the banks of Otter Creek, on their way to Addison county. When they had passed Sutherland Falls, they converted the trunk of a large tree into a boat, load the boat with their provisions and farming utensils, at- tach their cart to the rear of the boat, and then row the boat and drive the oxen northward.
The ever-active Skene is at Whitehall ; the
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idle British officers leave their garrisons on the Lake, prospecting for land speculation; York- ers, New Hampshire men and Lydius are busy with survey and deed ; the southern part of the county rings with the axe of the wood chopper and the merry prattle of children. Clarendon is settled two years before Rutland.
JAMES MEAD
was the first white man that ever settled in Rutland. In 1764 he and several other men with their families, emigrated from Nine Part- ners to Manchester, Vt. Nine Partners was joined on the east of Salisbury, the northwest corner town of Connecticut. Mead, acting as agent for others, soon became acquainted with this town. It was on the 30th day of Septem- ber, 1769, that Mead made his first purchase in Rutland, and that same day he sold half his purchase. He bought 20 rights; he sold 10 rights; there were seventy rights in the whole town: one right contained about 350 acres- so that Mead retained about 3500 acres. The price alleged in the deeds for the purchase was £100, or $333.33: price of sale £ 40, or $ 133.33. If the deeds say true, Mead lost £ 10 in the trade, and paid $ 200, or less than six cents per acre, for the land he retained. Mead's daughter, Mrs. Smith, thought he paid for the land in horses. He bought of Nathan Stone of Windsor-he sold to Charles Button of Clarendon. Both Stone and Mead, in their deeds, describe Mead as of Manchester, in the county of Albany, and province of New York. These twenty rights of Mead and Button each owning one-seventh part of the town, were lo- cated in the southwest part of the town undivided.
That same fall Mead built him a log house half a mile west of Centre Rutland, near the banks of West Creek. In this immediate vi- cinity there was an ancient clearing, made by a community of decidedly democratic proclivi- ties-neither Mohawks nor Algonquins, neither Yorkers nor Green Mountain Boys. They had no churches, no court houses, no ballot-boxes, no rum, no tobacco; they were models of in- dustry and thrift; yet, unversed in law, they had not secured their title to the property by any proper legal deeds, and Mead did not hes- itate to appropriate to his own use both their meadow and their dam.
The first settlement of Rutland occurred in March, 1770. Mead was now forty years old. Ile had a wife and ten children : his oldest child, Sarah, at the age of seventeen was the wife of Wright Roberts. These thirteen per-
sons were three days moving from Manchester to the present Wells meadows. They came not along the valley of Otter Creek, but over the uplands west, stopping the first night in Dorset, the second in Danby-passing through Tin- mouth, West Clarendon and Smithtown. Com- ing through Chippeuhook, Sarah and Mercy riding on one horse, and Roberts on foot, driv- ing the cows, far in the rear of the others, lost their way. Before wandering far they found the house of Simeon Jenny, a noted Yorker and Tory. He showed them where to go.
The third evening they camped on the pres- ent farm of Robert Chapman in Clarendon ; but a warm supper, the browsing of the horses, the moonlight glittering on frosty foliage and snow draped earth, cheer them on to finish their jour- ney before sleeping. Late in the evening. on foot, on horseback and in the sleigh, they reach their log house. But this building has no roof, and it is too near the Creek: snow, water, ice and cold make it unavailable. .
Near by, on a more elevated site, is a wig- wam, with perhaps nine or ten Caughnawaga Indians around a cosy fire. Mead applies to share the wigwamn. The Indians shake their heads, talk Indian, then rising and throwing their hands apart, they cry, " Welcome ! Wel- come !" gather up their traps, abandon their hut to the pale faces, and quickly build another for themselves. So on the 16th of March, 1621, Samoset enters the village of Plymouth and cries, " Welcome, Englishman ! Welcome, Eng- lishman !" In that wigwam the Mead family lived until late in the Fall, when they built a substantial log house, in which they wintered.
As early as May, 1770, Thomas Rowley was in Rutland, surveying lots. In the year 1770 three children were born in Rutland. The first of the Anglo Saxton race, whose mani- fest destiny it was to be born in Rutland, was William Powers, son of Simeon Powers, s cooper from Springfield, Vt. This birth occur- red Sept. 23, 1770. The second child born in town was Capt. William Mead, who died a few years since in Granville, Ohio. He was the son of James Mead, and was born one day lat. er than Powers. The third child was Chlos Johnson, daughter of Asa Johnson, from Wil- liamstown, Mass. She was born Oct. 3, 1770 -these first three births occurring within ten days of each other.
Siteon Powers, his wife Lydia, and their first-born child had settled, in the spring of 1770, west of Otter Creek, on the present Kel- ley farm. In the fall William Dwinell and wife
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came and lived with his relative Powers .- These four families, Meads, Powers, Dwinells and Johnsons, are the only white persons pos- itively known to have lived in Rutland in 1770, although the surveyor Rowley's record shows a clearing " by one Brockway." Thus the population of the town in the Fall was about two dozen.
It is said that a few days before the birth of William Powers, his mother and others were upset in a boat on Otter Creek, a short distance above Centre Rutland Falls. She floated down near the brink of the Falls, where she caught hold of a slippery log, and held on till she was rescued.
In 1770 the best land sold for a few cents an acre: there was not a wagon or bridge in the town : Mead kept a boat each side of Otter Creek, at Centre Rutland : there was scarcely any land fitted for plowing. Trout and venison were plenty, grain scarce-no gristmill nearer than Skenesborough (now Whitehall) and Ben- corn coarse. Wild ducks, butternuts, wild ber- ries, shad plums, maple sugar and fowl abound- ed. Nor may we disdain to mention two social companions, parting presents to the Meads from their Manchester friends, viz. : a cat, and a lap-dog rejoicing in the name of "Fancy."
Thus far we have condensed or omitted his- tory. Now we can only index our materials. In 1771 New York granted a charter of So- cialborough, in direct violation of the King's order. Again, Cockburn, the Scotch surveyor, is here ; he surveys the road, now Main Street ; Mead and Johnson stop him-men, dressed as Indians, threaten him, and he leaves. In 1772 Rutland sends a delegate to the Manchester convention, and the convention sends delegates to England. In 1773 Rutland had 35 families, a clergyman comes, a log meetinghouse is built, a church is formed with 14 members --- 4 out of town, 2 from the west side of the town, and 8 from the east. In 1774 the will of Daniel Harris is made-a will that, cre- ating an estate-tail, roused Vermont with law doctrines that have so often shaken Westmin- ster Hall. In that year New York condemned two Rutlanders to death without trial, and Rhode Island sent two men to encourage em- igration from Rutland to Sherburne. In 1775 Rutland sent soldiers to capture Ticonderoga,
and the seige of Quebec. During the Revolu- tionary war Rutland furnished Bowker, the president of the State conventions-had two forts and two militia companies, over eighty taxable inhabitants, and two representatives to each session of the Legislature; the land of three Tories was confiscated, and the town was honored by a visit from the illustrious Kosciusco, the Washington of Poland.
In 1786 an anti-court mob, a miniature Shay's rebellion, reeled through our streets, and the courts of justice were paralyzed. In October, 1804, the seventh and last Legislature met in Rutland, in the midst of a violent snow-storm.
And now abruptly we close our theme. To In 1870 Rutland has 2000 families and 10, 000 inhabitants. The cash value of the town is several millions of dollars. some, all study of the past is useless antiqua- rianism. To the servant of the great Hebrew propliet it seemed that he and his master stood alone, begirt with a vast host of beleaguering foes. The Lord opened his eyes, and now the mountain sides are flashing and burning with horses of fire and chariots of fire round about Elisha. So the patriot, musing o'er his coun- try's history, hears the rustling wings and sees the angelic forms hovering and stooping to nington : Mead had an iron hand-mill that ground | bless the people who remember and honor the
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF RUTLAND.
There are certain times, seasons, periods and events which always, to a thinking mind, present peculiar claims to our thoughtful atten- tion. Such, for instance, is the termination of the old year, and the comencement of the new. If so with years, much more so with centuries and half centuries. The Mosaic law required that they should "hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you" (Lev. xxv: 10.) In compli- ance with this command during that dispensa- tion, and ever since down to the present time centuries have formed divisions for man, and the lapse of their principal and ordinary divisions or parts has been marked with peculiar emphasis. From this naturally come our Centennial and semi-Centennial celebra- tions. It is not, as many profess to think, an idle and unmeaning custom and ceremony. It has its seat and birthplace in the heart of each and all of us, and is a part of our very human nature. We and our children delight to celebrate with appropriate ceremonies our birthdays-as we now propose to celebrate the birthday of our town and community. Such customs and celebrations form landmarks to connect those of us who, by the blessing of
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God are permitted to be now here present, both with those who reduced the wilderness to fertile plains and flourishing villages, and to those who will succeed us in the responsi- bilities which devolve upon every citizen who is worthy of the name of citizen. to sustain those municipal and religious institu- tions, without which all would be confusion and anarchy.
from religions motives, or, as they themselves expressed it, to "carry forward the reforma- tion." It was manifest to them that religious freedom could not exist without civil liberty, and it was equally manifest to them that civil liberty, or any government short of anarchy could not exist unless it was founded and formed upon the corner-stone of religion and religious worship. Hence the first thing done was to lay the foundation and establish a form of civil government. This done, then they commenced to make provision for the support of public worship and for the enjoyment of Christian institutions and ordinances. This was also true of Vermont In Bennington, which is the oldest of our chartered tow:s, in the records of their first proprietors' meeting, the first act after the election of officers was the appointment of a "committee to look out a place to set the meeting house." The same is true of the early settlers of Rutland. All through the early records of the town will be found votes in reference to the employment of preachers, providing places of public wor- ship, and kindred subjects. To show the na- ture of these votes, we give the record of the town meeting of January 4th, 1781 :
It would be appropriate, pleasant and instructive, if upon this occasion, standing in a room dedicated to music, and occupied as a place of religious worship by one of, if not the youngest, of the churches and religious societies in the town, I could spend the few moments allotted me in speaking of the dif- erence and changes from and between 1770 and 1870, and of the lessons taught and du- ties devolved upon us by the changed situation of affairs. When we contrast these two distant periods of time, and remember that what was then, to use a threadbare expression, a " howl- ing wilderness," now cultivated fields, then a barren waste, now large and thriving villages then a pathless forest, now cut up and. gridironed by railways, then the hut and wig- wam of the Indian, now magnificent public and private buildings, then the only religious Voted, That Mr. Gideon Miner, John John- son and Joseph Bowker, Esq., act as a com- mittee to endeavor to provide a preacher of the Gospel for this town. worship was that of the simple Indian, and his only church or temple was the vast and uncovered forest, now in costly churches, built with the best architectural skill, with "Voted, That the above committee apply to Mr. Mitchell of Woodbury as preacher aforesaid. spire pointing heavenward-and in the inte- rior, furnished with seats splendidly uphol stered, chandeliers and all that wealth, art and "A motion being put, to know whether it was the minds of the town to settle a minister as soon as they can find one that they can be agreed on, it was voted in the affirmative." skill can contribute to render it rich and at- tractive to the eye, luxurious to the mind, and pleasing in every respect. But I must forbear, and leave these pleasing and instructive topics It is to be regretted that the records of the transactions of our fathers for the first years of the settlement of the town are not extant, so that we could, on this occasion, give the first votes and action in relation to this sub- ject, for we doubt not that we should find here, as elsewhere, that this was among the earliest things acted upon. to other, abler and worthier hands. The few minutes allotted to me this evening will not more than suffice to give in the briefest possible manner the historical and biographical data and facts connected with some fourteen different churches or religious societies and organiza- tions, and of their numerous pastors, so far as it may be proper and my limited time and the material at hand may present. It may THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH. be proper here to remark that in the minds of The proper ecclesiastical history of Rutland may be said to have begun in 1773, when, on the 20th day of October, the first Congrega- tional church and society was formed in Rutland, with fourteen members, namely : Joseph Bowker, Sarah Bowker, William the first settlers of this country, and more par- ticularly those of New England, although they abhorred the idea of any connection between Church and State, yet, after all, in some respects, the matters of civil and religious polity were intimately connected. They emigrated mainly | Roberts, Eben Hopkins, Samuel Crippen,
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Daniel Hawley, Charles Brewster, Abraham Jackson, John Moses, Enos Ives, Jehiel An- drews, Sarah Andrews, Annah Ives and Me- hitable Andrews.
Over this church was settled the Rev. Ben- ajah Roots. This was the tenth church in the State, the second west of the Green Mountains, and the first in the county of Rutland.
[We here omit a generous sketch of Rev. Mr. Roots, having a more complete biography prepared for our work by the Rev. Aldace Walker, so long Congregationalist pastor at West Rutland.]
Rev. Lemuel Haynes, successor of Mr. Roots, in his day and generation, was one of the most remarkable men in Vermont. Fifty years hence it may be, and probably will be, difficult to apprehend the difficult position in which not only he, but also the people of that parish were placed in employing such a clergyman to minister unto them. Mr. Haynes was a partially colored man, his fa- ther being of unmingled African extraction, and his mother a white woman. *
* * [See biographical department that follows the general history for sketch of Mr. Haynes .- Ed:]
He was succeeded by Rev. Amos Drury, who was born at Pittsford in 1792, and studied theology with Rev. Josiah Hopkins of New Haven, and also at the Auburn Theological Seminary. He was ordained at West Rutland June 3, 1819, and dismissed in April, 1829. On the 6th of May following (1829) he was installed pastor of the Congregational church at Fairhaven, where he remained until the 26th of April, 1837, when he was dismissed, and, June 29, 1837, he was installed over the congregational church at Westhampton, Mass. He was succeeded by the Rev. Lucius Linsey Tilden, who was born in Cornwall in 1802 and graduated at Middlebury College in 1823 and, after spending some time in teaching, he commenced the study of theology at Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated and was settled over this church in March, 1830, and dismissed in March, 1839.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Aldace Walk- er, D. D., who was ordained and installed, Dec. 30, 1840, and was dismissed in 1862. He re- mains with us to the present day, ministering in holy things to the people of our neighbor- ing town of Wallingford, where he was set- tled or commenced to labor in 1862.
Rev. Henry M. Grout, a graduate of Williams College, in the class of 1854, who was ordained Sept. 1, 1853, and installed on the 26th of Aug., 1862. He removed to Massachusetts in 1867, and was followed by the Rev. George L. Gleason, who was ordained, Feb. 1, 1866, and installed at West Rutland, Oct. 17, 1867, and dismissed on the 22d of March, 1869. The present pastor of the church is the Rev. James R. Bourne, who was ordained pastor of the church, Jan 12, 1870.
On the 22d of October, 1787, the town was divided into two parishes, by the follow- ing bounds or division line: "Beginning at the center of the north line of said town, thence parallel with the east and west lines of the town till it strikes the Otter Creek, thence up the Creek, as the stream runs, to the south line."
The church in the east parish was estab- lished Oct. 5, 1788, with 37 members.
Rev. Mr. Ball makes a minute, in what is now the first volume of their church records, found by him when he came here (in 1797) was a short note on the back of a confess- ion of faith, signed by Augustine Hilbred, moderator, giving an account of the estab- lishing of the church, in which Pittsford, West Rutland and Poultney with their mem- bers assisted-and that the church was estab- lished "upon the plan of the Convention of the West District of Vermont, which was supposed to be agreeable to the Gospel." They did not however adopt all of the arti- cles of said convention, but made one or two exceptions. During the preaching of Dr. Wilhamns "the half way covenant," as it was called, was adopted, but discontinued in 1767, as Dr. Ball says, because "it was sup- posed to be unwarrantable and defective."
The pulpit was supplied by different candi- dates till near the close of the year 1788, when Rev. Samuel Williams, LL. D., was employed. Hle continued to supply the pulpit until Oc- tober, 1795, when he relinquished preaching, and was succeeded by Rev. Heman Ball, D.D. Since the death of Dr. Ball there have been five pastors-Rev. Charles Walker, Rev. Wil- liam Mitchell, Rev. Silas Aiken, D. D., Rev. Norman Seaver, D. D., and Rev. James Gib- son Johnson.
Rev. Heman Ball, D.D., son of Charles Ball, was born in Springfield, Mass., July 5, 1764, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1791.
Next to Rev. Dr. Aldace Walker, came the | He studied theology with the Rev. Joseph
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Lathrop, D. D., of West Springfield, Mass., and was ordained pastor of the Congregation- al church here, Feb. 1, 1797, the sermon be- ing preached by Rev. Dr. Lathrop, and re- mained pastor until his death.
In 1794, he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Yale Collage, and that of D. D. from Union College in 1816, and was one of the Trustees of Middlebury College from its organization until his death.
Several of his sermons were published, among which was one on the death of Wash- ington, and an Election Sermon in 1804.
Rev. Dr. Sprague says: "He was highly re- spected for his talents and virtues, and exert- ed an extensive influence in the church. He died here Dec. 17, 1821, and was buried in the West street cemetery, and is the only cler - gyman who has died during his pastorate of this church.
Rev. Charles Walker, D. D., was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1791. He studied theology at Andover (Mass.) Theological Sem- inary, graduating in 1821. He was ordained pastor of the Congregational church here, Jan. 1, 1823, and was dismissed, March 14, 1833.
He was installed over the Congregational church in (the east village of ) Brattleboro Jan. 1, 1835, and was dismissed Feb. 11, 1846, and on the 27th of December of the same year was installed over the Congregational church in Pittsford, and was dismissed, Dec. 6, 1864, since which time he has resided in Pittsford, " without charge."
He received the honorary degree of A. M. from the University of Vermont in 1823, and from Middlebury and Dartmouth Colleges in 1825, and that of D. D. from the University of Vermont in 1847, and has been a trustee of Middlebury College since 1837.
He delivered the annual Election Sermon before the Legislature of Vermont in 1829, which was published, as were also some of his occasional sermoms.
Rev. William Mitchell, son of John and Abigail (Waterhouse) Mitchell, was born at Chester, Conn., Dec. 19, 1793, and graduated at Yale College in 181S. Ile studied at the Andover Theological Seminary, graduating there in 1821, in the same class with his im- mediate predecessor, Rev. Dr. Walker, and was licensed, June 5th, of the same year, by the Middlesex (Conn.) Association, and en- gaged as a Home Missionary in Northwestern New York.
He was ordained October 20th, 1321,and was settled over the Congregational church in Newton, Conn., from June, 1823, to May, 1831.
He was installed pastor of the Congrega- tional church here, March 14, 1533, and was dismissed June 2d, 1846, He was acting pastor in Wallingford from August 8th, 1847, to March 28th, 1852. In the Fall of 1852, he became agent of the Vermont Coloniza- tion Society, and served in that capacity three years; after this he served some two years as agent of the New York, and then of the New Jersey Colonization Society.
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