The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 130

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > Vermont > Washington County > The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer: > Part 130

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).

How one day his father found him Hunting on yon mountain's side, And in wrath the chief commanded Him to leave his gentle bride ;

How the son opposed in anger; How the father drew hls knife, And as speeds the feathery arrow, Sped the young Iroquois' life.

On this mountain watched the maiden, For her brave, now cold and dead, Keeping there her lonely vigil, With the same rock for her bed.

Still she waited-yet he came not- Until winter's icy hand Chilled the current of her young life, Bore her to the hunting land,

Where they roam the fields Elysian, Where they climb the mountains fair, Where they fish in shining rivers, Where they hunt the etk and hare.

This is what tradition teaeles Of this mountain, old and wild; Of the bright-eyed Watometa, An Algonquin's lovely child.

As a tribute to this maiden. Sleeping In oblivion's night; Shall we not point westward, saying, That's Algonquin's dizzy height ?

THE LAST BEAR seen in Warren was a huge one, shot the past summer,-almost as much a trophy, not quite, as the Bar- nard catamount.

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WARREN.

In Jan. 1824, Mrs. Hiram Bradley and a Mrs. Howe were coming from Pomfret, where they had been on a visit, and as they came into Granville wood, found the water had flooded the road. They drove into the water and upset. Mrs. Howe told Mrs. Bradley to throw her little son of 2 years out, that he could swim like a duck; but Mrs. B. declined, and Mrs. Howe went back to Mr. Rice's after help. Mrs. Bradley got her horse out where it could stand, and held her child in her arms from 2 o'clock in the afternoon until 9 P. M., when a man came along with a team and took her in. Her clothes were frozen on her, and she came very near dying from the effect.

Mrs. C. E. Greenslit tells one of her fath- er's stories-written for one of her boys to speak at school :

MY MOTHER'S TRAY.

BY MRS. CARRIE E. GREENSLIT.

Long years ago, when the land was new, And good things scarce and nice things few, Among the treasures of that early day, My mother had an old-fashioned tray, Red outside, but as clean within As the heart of man when cleansed from sin.

Week by week, and day by day, The children were fed from that very tray; The great brown loaves were mixed in that, And the butter received its salt and spat ; But grief will come to all some day, And it came at last to my mother's tray.

** Boys," she called, " come in here, now. And take this mess to the sheep and cow." 'Twas steep and slippery down to the barn, And I left her twisting her stocking-yarn. "Now," thinks I, " I will have some fun, For I shall ride and you shall rnn."

So I seated myself in the famous tray, And very soon we were on our way: Faster and faster the stumps went by ; Steer or stop it? no, not 1; Over the wall in my Gilpin flight- And I split the tray from left to right.

Quick as a wink, I raised the tray, For well I knew what my mother'd say ; All out of breath, with my ride and run- " Mother, just see what the buck has done! " " Confound that buck !" my mother said;

" I wish to the land the thing was dead! "

Well, she never knew till I grew a man, For boys can keep secret, I know they can; And she missed and mourned for many a day The loss and use of her cherished tray ; And I got me a sled to slide down hill, Something that would not split and spill.

WARREN PAPERS.

BY C. J. SARGENT.

In the year 1800, 12 men took the free- man's oath here: Simeon Wilcox, Ruel Dolbear, John Sherman, Joshua Richard- son, James Richardson, Amos Rising, Jonathan Shattuck, Wm. Kent and Jonas Rice.

FIRST SELECTMEN.

Simeon Wilcox, 1800; Paul Sherman, 1801, '02, '03; James Richardson, 1804, '06; Timothy Dolbear, 1807, '08, '10; Joseph Raymond, 1809 ; Joseph Eldridge, 1811, '12, '13, '16, '17, '23, '28, '29 ; Amos Rising, 1814, '15; Calvin Gilbert, 1818, '19; Wm. Kent, 1820; Benjamin Buck, 1821 ; Joseph Hyzer, 1822, '27; Winan Gleason, 1824; Zerah Munsil, 1825, '26; Joseph Curtis, 1830; Asahel Miner, 1831 ; Wm. Bragg, 1832, '33; Franklin Wright, 1834, '35, '36 ; Moses Ordway, 1837 ; Ben- jamin Souther, 1838 ; Wm. B. Tyler, 1839; A. Cushman, 1840, 41 ; D. Upham, 1842, '43 ; Pierce Spaulding, 1844; H. Kimball, 1845 ; Lewis Cardell, 1846; Moses Shurt- liff, 1847 ; Azariah Hanks, 1848, '49, '57, '58; H. Gleason, 1850, '52, '53; Daniel Ralph, 1854, '55; Gideon Goodspeed, 1856; Jarius Eaton, 1857; Wm. Kelsey, 1859 ; Charles Green, 1860; Charles Pike, 1861, '62, '66-'70 ; Huzzial Gleason, 1863, '64; H. W. Lyford, 1865; H. G. Van Deusen, 1870 ; N. L. Dickenson, 1871-'76, 78 ; James G. Sargent, 1876, '77; L. E. Hanks. 1879, '80, '81.

TOWN TREASURERS.

Thomas Jerrolds, 1800 ; Samuel Laird, 1801 ; James Richardson, 1802, '3, '4, '15, '16, '17; Jonathan Shattuck, 1805-13 ; Wm. B. Tyler, 1813, '14, '41-'46; Joseph Eldridge, 1818, 119, '35-'40; William Bragg, 1820-24 ; William Kent, 1824-'30; Franklin Wright, 1830-'35 ; Ashel Kend- rick, 1846; Denslow Upham, 1847-'51 ; Nathan Kimball, 1851, '53, '54; Lorenzo Nichols, 1852; Cephas Ransom, 1855; Daniel Ralph, 1856, '57, '63-'74 ; Sylves- ter Banister, 1874-'81.

THE TURNPIKE from Warren to Lincoln, over Lincoln mountain, was for 10 to 15 years kept with toll-gates ; 12}c. for pass- ing with a team, 25c. for round trip.

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ACCIDENTAL DEATHS.

Dennison Sargent, from Woodstock, in the employ of William Cardell, went into the mill where employed, one morning, and down below to cut the ice from the water- wheel. Some one raised the gate while he was there, and he was carried under the wheel, down the raceway, and under the ice below the mill. Mr. Cardell won- dered where Sargent was during the day, and some one looked below the mill, and discovered the body in the ice.

Lewis Sargent, of East Warren, while shingling a building in Roxbury, fell from the roof to the ground, and injured his spine. He lingered several months, and then died.

Oliver Porter, living in the west part of the town, fell from the high beams in his barn on to a flax hatchel, and it injured him so he died in a few days.

Ira Whitcomb, while in the employ of Christopher Moore, was kicked in the bowels by a colt he was leading to water, and died in a few days.

Aurin Ralph, while at work on the roof of his mill, in the south part of the town, fell to the rocks below the mill, and was instantly killed.

Dana Davis, while at work in Fayston chopping in the woods, felled a tree, and it lodged on another one, and while chop- ping that, he was caught when it fell, and one leg was smashed. Efforts were made in vain to staunch the blood, but he bled to death in about 20 hours.

Horace Poland, while at work in the woods, broke one leg, and was injured other ways. He lived several weeks and then died.

Stephen Sterling was sawing clapboards in Lincoln, and went out into the mill- yard to roll down some logs; they lodged, and he went in front to start them, but be- fore he could step out, was caught and crushed by the logs rolling on to him. He was a native of Warren, and was buried here.

Victor Mix went to Canaan to lumber, and while rafting logs on the pond, slipped between them and was drowned.

Mr. Pelton, living near the town line between Waitsfield and Warren, felt so bad when the high water cut through his meadow, that he committed suicide.

Otis Bucklin died very suddenly of heart disease. He ate his supper as usual, and went out in the dooryard, and was giving his hired man some orders about the work, and dropped dead.

THE NATURAL BRIDGE OF WARREN is a very interesting natural curiosity. It is in the south part of the village, on the premises of Don C. Geer. It is a natural bridge of stone, about 20 feet in height, with an arch 12 feet in height, and artists have taken views of it that have been sold through the country.

PATENTS .- Don C. Geer obtained. a patent on a knob latch in Sept. 3, 1878. It is called "Geer's Patent Reversible Gravitating Knob Latch." It is a great improvement on spring latches. Clark E. Billings, born in Warren, is a natural mechanic, and does various kinds of work on wood and iron ; is a first-class gun- smith, and has obtained patents on a num- ber of carpenters' tools, and on several tools combined in one ; also a patent on an apple-quarterer, and on a double-acting knob latch.

SONS OF WARREN-CYRUS ROYCE grad- uated at the Unitarian College in Mead- ville, Penn., and is a Unitarian preacher in Massachusetts. HARTWELL DAVIS went to Minnesota, and succeeded well as a railroad man and business manager, and amassed quite a fortune.

JOHN SENTER is a self-made man. He has obtained his education almost wholly by himself ; studied law and been admitted to the bar, and makes a success of his business. He is on the Board of Educa- tion, and holds other offices.

CLARENCE J. SARGENT, son of Jonas G. Sargent, who came from Randolph to Warren in 1844, is also noted as a success- ful music-teacher, having given over 10,000 lessons on the piano, organ and in har- mony during the last 8 years ; at present, 1882, has a class of 108 scholars, in his little territory embracing several counties.

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WATERBURY.

BY KEV. C. C. PARKER.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF WATERBURY. A Discourse delivered Feb. 10th, 1867, by Rev. C. C. Parker, Pastor of Congrega- tional Church. Waterbury: Waterbury Fob Printing Establishment, 1867.

Ps. 771h, -5th .- I have considered the days of old, the years of Ancient time.

There are few sentiments more universal and rational, than that which manifests it- self in a desire to know the past and es- pecially the history of the persons and places with which we are or have been in- timately connected. To gratify this senti- ment, your attention is asked to the follow- ing Sketch of the Early History of Water- bury.

There is no evidence that the Indian ever made his home within the borders of our town. The first settlers found no indica- tions of clearings or dwellings, and the relics of the Indians found here have been few. But though the Red Man probably never dwelt here, (I) our valley lay in his great thoroughfare from the valley of the Cham- plain to the valley of the Connecticut, and indeed from the valley of the St. Lawrence to the shores of the Atlantic. As power- ful tribes, hostile to each other, dwelt on either side, doubtless many a war party went forth to fight, passing through our valley, and returned, exulting with victory, or sullen with defeat. Doubtless these hills have echoed the warwhoop of many such a party, and the song of their war- dance. It is certain that the 300 French and Indians under De Rouville, who de- stroyed Deerfield, Mass., in March, 1704, passed through this valley, both when they went on their bloody errand, and when they returned with their 112 captives. It may add somewhat to our interest, as we read the sad, thrilling story of the suffer- ings and adventures of the Rev. Mr. Wil- liams and his captive associates, to remem- ber that they made their forlorn and gloomy journey to their long captivity, over the spot where we now cultivate our beautiful fields and dwell in our quiet

homes. Through this valley also passed and repassed the Indians who burnt Royal- ton, and took its inhabitants captive in 1780. The hill in the north part of the town, over which ran the old road to Stowe, was originally called Indian Hill, some say because the Indians who burnt Royalton camped there for a short time. (2) The falls in the Winooski were called Indian Falls by the early settlers ; tradition here, as in so many other like localities, saying that a disappointed Indian maiden, in her despair, threw herself from the highest point of the rocks to the chasm below. Though the Indian never dwelt here, the whole region unquestionably, was familiar to him, not only as lying in his great war-path, but as favorite ground for hunting and fishing.

The town was chartered by Benning Wentworth, Gov. of New Hampshire, June 7, 1763. The war between the English and French was just ended, and the Canadas had become a part of the British posses- sions. Vermont ceased to be border-war territory, and the obstacle to its settlement was removed. Numerous towns in this part of the State were chartered about the same time with Waterbury,-Burlington, Colchester, Essex, Williston, Bolton, Dux- bury, Moretown and Charlotte, were char- tered the same day,-Jericho, Underhill, Middlesex and Berlin the day following. But as nearly the whole of Vermont was then an unbroken wilderness, few settle- ments were made, so far north as these towns, before the Revolution. The few that were made were then broken up, and were not recommenced until the war closed. -This accounts for the wide space between the charter and first settlement of nearly all the towns in this part of the State.

Waterbury was chartered to several in- dividuals in Connecticut and New Jersey. It quite probably took its name from Wa- terbury, Conn., as many of the proprietors lived in that vicinity, and as these two are the only towns of that name to be found, so far as I know. The first meeting of the proprietors was held in New Milford, Conn., in 1770-some of the subsequent meetings were held at Newark, N. J.

The notes in this paper are marked by figures, viz .. (1,) (2,) (3.) &c. See Appendix.

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After the Revolution the meetings were held in Sunderland, Arlington, and Ben- nington of this State. The warrant for the meeting in Bennington was issued by Isaac Tichenor, then justice of the peace- subsequently, so long governor of the State.

The town was not surveyed until about 1782. At that time Col. Partridge Thatch- er, of New Milford, Ct., one of the pro- prietors, and the moderator of their first meeting, and also of the meeting in Ar- lington, came on with surveyors and ran out the town. They built their camp a few rods to the rear of Messrs. Case & Thomas' steam-mill, between the railroad and brook. This, without doubt, was the first tenement for a human being built in Waterbury. From Col. Thatcher the stream that enters the river near where his camp stood, was called Thatcher Branch. As we always desire to know the end of those in any important sense identified with the place where we live, I will add that it is said that Col. Thatcher contract- ed a disease from his exposures in the forests of our town, from which he died soon after returning to Connecticut.

The first settler of Waterbury was James Marsh, a native of Canaan, Ct. He had been a soldier in the French war. In the early part of the Revolutionary war he sold his place in Canaan and moved to Corn- wall, Ct. Soon after this he was drafted as a soldier in the Revolution. Having a large family of small children, and his wife being very feeble, he hired a young man as a substitute, paying him $100. To pay this sum, and with the hope of escaping service as a minute man, to which he had been enrolled, he sold his place in Corn- wall and bought a right of land in Bath, N. H., and one in Waterbury. The right in Waterbury was purchased of a Mr. Steele, of New Milford, and deeded in 1780. Soon after this he moved to Bath and commenced a settlement, in the mean- time having buried his wife and married again. After living there some 2 years, he found the title to his land in Bath was bad, and he resolved to begin a settle- ment in Waterbury, having the assurance

that several others would begin settle- ments about the same time. In the spring of 1783 he came on, selected his right, which covered much of the site of the present village (3)-cleared a small piece of land between the graveyard and the river, and having planted it with corn, re- turned. In the fall he came and harvested his crop, putting it into a rude crib for next year's use. The next spring he came with his family to the old fort in Corinth, where he left his wife and five of his eight children, and came on to Waterbury with the remaining three, viz. : Elias, James and Irene, making the journey on snow- shoes, and drawing his provisions and effects on a hand-sled. He took possession of the surveyors' cabin.

· To his dismay he found the corn, so carefully stored the fall before, was nearly all gone. Bears, Indians or travelers, had taken well nigh the whole. We can hardly conceive a condition more sad and dismal. Relying upon his supply of corn, he had taken little provision with him, and there was none in the shape of grain short of a return to Corinth. Hunting and fishing were his only resource. The last of May, having made an additional clearing, and nearly finished planting his corn, he left his children and returned to Corinth for the remainder of his family, expecting to be absent one week, and leaving provision barely for that time. The children, as I have remarked, were Elias, a lad of about 15 years, and who subsequently owned the place where Miss Electa Corse now resides, and whose re- mains lie unmarked in our graveyard ; Irene, a girl about 12 years old, who mar- ried a Mr. Coleman, of.Underhill, and who died there in 1826, and James, a small boy, who lived for many years in the south part of Jericho, and who died there, Feb., 1865, nearly 90 years old. After their father had left, the children found they must put themselves on short allowance to bring the week through. The week ended, and so did their provisions, but the father did not return. Their only reliable means of subsistence then was the wild onions or leeks which grew in abundance on the in-

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WATERBURY.

tervale. To relieve themselves, they re- solved to go down to the Falls to catch fish, having `been told they were abundant there. In attempting to cross Waterbury river on a button-wood pole, the only means of crossing then, the sister fell into the stream, and came near being drowned. After rescuing her, they returned to their desolate cabin, and to the sorry food of wild onions. Thus they passed another week, but no father came. Thinking they must certainly perish if they remained longer, they left for their nearest neigh- bor, Mr. Jesse McFairlane, who had set- tled that spring on the Jones farm in Richmond. On their way down, a huge bear met them near the present residence of Capt. H. Sherman, but their hunting dog, which had been left with them, soon worried him up the side of the mountain, and they passed on in safety to Mr. Mc- Fairlane's, where they were most kindly received and cared for. They were so nearly starved, that it was some time be- fore it was safe for them to eat a full meal.

After about three weeks' unavoidable absence, the father, with the mother and the rest of the family, returned. Driven almost to desperation by his delays, and filled with the deepest anxiety, he thinks his worst fears are realized as he enters his cabin and finds it desolate, and the cold, gray ashes on the rude hearth tell him it has been desolate for several days. Surely his children have perished in the woods or have been devoured by the wild beasts. A young man who had accompanied them from Corinth was immediately sent to Mr. McFairlaine's to see if the children were there. They were found, and before night the family were all together again. The son James, who so long survived the rest of the family, and from whom these par- ticulars were learned, said the meeting of the family was one never to be forgotten. The father had been up the stream to look at his traps, at the beaver-dams, of which he said there were then three between the river and the site of the present mills. Returning, he met his son, bounding with boyish glee through the woods to meet him. Clasping him in his arms, with

tears streaming from his eyes, he exclaim- ed, "Bless the Lord! my children are alive-my children are alive!" and such was his excess of joy at seeing them alive, that it was many hours before he could cease weeping.

During this first summer, this family lived many weeks on wild onions, cooked in the milk of their one cow, the father often gone for many days, in the fruitless endeavor to procure provision. The only occasional relief they had until their corn was harvested, was in the killing of a moose or bear, which in summer could rarely be done. That summer Mr. Marsh built his log-house on his clearing, a little to the west of the graveyard hill, and moved into it. His crop of corn raised near the river was fine, but after he had secured some 20 bushels of it, a flood came and destroyed the remainder. So that for nearly 2 years they lived much of the time on the flesh of the moose, deer and bear. Much of the little grain they had, which was procured in the settlements in Rich- mond, Williston and Jericho, and brought home on the back, was paid for with the skins of these animals and those of the beaver.

In the spring of 1785, Mr. Marsh was made glad by the coming of the second settler, Ezra Butler. But as Mr. Butler left in the fall and did not return until the next spring, for nearly 2 years Mr. Marsh with his family was alone in this wilder- ness. After the arrival of Mr. Butler with his family, a year and a half more elapsed before another settler came. March 29. 1788, Mr. Marsh went to Richmond to meet and conduct to Waterbury its third settler, Caleb Munson. In the afternoon he crossed the river to Mr. Brownson's, to run some pewter spoons. Before he had finished his work it began to be dark, and as the weather was mild and the river be- ginning to break up, he was urged to re- main for the night. But he expressed a strong desire to spend the evening with the family who were to be his new neigh- bors, and taking a long pole, he started to return. A cry of distress was soon heard at the river, but before help could arrive,

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he had disappeared under the ice. His pole was lying across the hole into which he had fallen, but somehow his grasp upon it was lost, and the current being strong, he was carried down the river, and his body was not found until several days after. He was buried at Richmond-only two of the family, the oldest son and daughter, could attend the funeral .?. Their neighbor, Mr. Butler, accompanied them, and it is said, he and the son alternated in carrying the daughter much of the way on their backs, the snow being too deep for her to walk.

The whole story of Mr. Marsh is a sadly interesting one. On account of pecuniary misfortunes elsewhere, he came into the wilderness of our town with a large fam- ily, and almost destitute of any means ot support, except such as his hands could supply from day to day from the forests and the streams. Here they lived for two years, with no family nearer than 10 miles down the river and about 7 miles up the river (Thomas Mead's, in Middlesex.) Hardly can privations and hardships sur- pass what they endured, especially during the dreary winters of these two years. Often they were so near starving. that when the children saw their father return- ing from his long hunt, with a quarter of moose or deer on his shoulder, with knife in hand they would rush to meet him, and each slashing a slice for himself, and cast- ing it on the coals for a moment, would eat it as in the desperation of starvation. He came to his mournful end just as set- tlers were beginning to come into town, and his own privations were giving place to the comforts of home. He seems to have been a hardy, resolute man. Bravely bearing up against a host of difficulties, and yet at times well nigh crushed beneath their burden, tears often starting from his eyes as he looked upon his family and thought of their desperate, forlorn condi- tion. Though he was removed, his family was cared for, his children becoming re- spectable, and some of them influential members of society in this and neighbor- ing towns.

picture, it is pleasant to turn to a brighter page. The second settler of Waterbury, as has been already remarked, was

EZRA BUTLER,

afterwards so well known as a minister of the Gospel, a judge on the bench, and as the governor of the State.

Mr. Butler was the son of Asaph Butler, and was born in Lancaster, Worcester Co. Mass., Sept. 24, 1763. He was the fifth of seven children, four sons and three daughters. In his 7th year, his father moved to West Windsor, Vt., where his mother, whose maiden name was Jane McAllister, soon died, and where he spent the next 7 or 8 years, mainly in the family of his elder brother, Joel Butler. When about 14 years of age, he went to live with Dr. Stearns, of Claremont, N. H., as a laborer on his farm, and with the excep- tion of 6 months in his 17th year, when he was a soldier in the army of the Revolu- tion, he continued in the service of Dr. S., having almost the entire management of his farm, until he was of age. In 1785, having spent a few months previous in Weathersfield, he came to Waterbury in company with his brother Asaph, next older than himself. They came to Judge Paine's, in Williamstown, with an ox- team. The rest of the way they came on snow-shoes, drawing their effects on a hand-sled, the snow being 3 or 4 feet deep, and reached W. the 20th of March. It must have been a joyful day to the Marsh family when these two young men, with their hand-sled, hauled up before their door. Their loneliness, in part at least, was ended. Mr. Butler and his brother immediately made their pitch, near where Mr. C. C. Corse now resides, and made a small clearing, planted it to corn, and re- turned to Weathersfield, where in June of that year, Mr. Butler was married to Miss Tryphena Diggins. He soon returned, and finding the title to the land on which he had pitched, bad, he selected another right a little below the village, made a clearing, built a log-house very near the present residence of Deacon Parker, and

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The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 130

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press
Number of Pages: 1066