USA > Vermont > Washington County > The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer: > Part 131
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After contemplating so long this gloomy in September of 1786, moved into it with
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his wife and child, and on that place (now mainly owned by the State for the Reform School), he spent the remainder of his eventful life. He and his wife made their journey from Weathersfield on horseback, much of the way by a bridle-path, and in this way brought some of their effects deemed most necessary in the matter of housekeeping. The brother who first came with him settled in. Richmond, and twenty or thirty years after moved to the West.
Mr. Marsh had subsisted his family, to a great extent, by hunting and fishing, and into this pioneer life, Mr. Butler was soon initiated. Their meat was that of the moose, the deer and the bear, and in their pursuit they were often led far from home, into the wilderness of neighboring towns and far up the mountain sides, not unfre- quently camping out, the cold winter nights, to renew the chase in the morning. If faint with weariness and hunger, they were ready to despair, and to return with empty hands, the thought of a starving wife and children put new vigor into their limbs, new resolves into their hearts, and nerved them with the energy of despera- tion. Food they must have or perish in its pursuit. It was a battle for life for themselves and their families, and bravely they fought it. It was a life full of thrilling incidents and adventures, with which, had the story of them been treasured, a vol- ume might be filled. By these hardships the constitution of Mr. Butler was seri- ously impaired before he was 30 years old.
As Mr. Marsh was drowned before the next settler arrived, Mr. Butler was prop- erly regarded as the pioneer man of the town. Though a young man, he took a prominent part in all private enterprises and public movements. He built the first framed house in the town-so long occu- pied by his son, Russell Butler, now owned by Deacon Erastus Parker. To him was issued the warrant to call a meeting of the freemen of Waterbury, in 1790, to organ- ize the town, and at that meeting he was chosen town clerk. From this time the official life of Mr. Butler was a remarkable one. From this humble beginning he
went through almost every grade to the chief magistracy of the State.
From 1794 to 1805, with the exception of 1798, he represented the town in the General Assembly. In 1807, he was chos- en both as a representative and as a mem- ber of the Council ; and by the record of votes, sems to have acted part of the time in une body and a part in the other. (4) In 1808, he was again elected to the Council, and with the exception of 1813 and 1814, when he was in Congress, he was annually re-elected to this body until 1826. In 1803, he was elected assistant judge of Chittenden County Court, Water- bury at that time belonging to that county, and was re-elected to that office the two following years. In 1806, he was elected chief judge of that court, and continued to hold that office until 1811. In 1811, Jeff- erson, now Washington County, was or- ganized, and Judge Butler was elected chief judge of that County court and except the 2 years when in Congress (1813 and '14) and 1818, he held that office until 1825, when the judicial system of the State was changed to substantially its present form, when Judge Butler was chosen first assistant judge of the court. In 1806, he was chosen a member of the Council of Censors, and in 1822, a member of the Constitutional Convention. In 1804, and again in 1820, a presidential elector. In 1812, he was elected a member of Con- gress on the Republican general ticket along with James Fisk, Wm. Strong, Wm. C. Bradley, Richard Skinner and Charles Rich. In 1814, the candidates of the Fed- eral party were elected, entirely changing the delegation of Vermont. In 1826, he was elected Governor of the State, and re- elected the following year, and each time without an organized opposition. Imme- diately after his second election, he de- clined another election, and at the close of that term, retired from official life, having been in office without interruption, from the organization of the town in 1790, often holding two or more important offices at the same time.
In addition to these civil and political offices, he was a committee with Elijah
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Paine and James Whitelaw, to fix the site for the first State House in Montpelier,- a commissioner in 1807, with Samuel Shaw, John Cameron, Josiah Wright and Elihu Luce to determine the place and plan for the State Prison, and subsequently a commissioner to locate the State Arsenal. He was a trustee of the University of Vermont, from 1810 to 1816. Indeed, there was hardly an office of honor or trust in the gift of the people or Legislature that he did not fill. In this respect, the career of Gov. Butler from an unlettered pioneer -(his schooling was limited to 6 months in his boyhood,)-from a hunter and trap- per up through almost every grade of office to the chief magistracy of the State, is a remarkable one and has few parallels in history. These honors and trusts he won by his sterling sense and honesty, and by his great energy and strength of will. Everybody felt that whatever trusts were reposed in him were safe-that whatever was given him to do, would be done, and so they always found it.
Mr. Butler had a religious as well as pol- itical history, and the former was as marked and positive as the latter. When he came to Waterbury, he was an irreligious and profane young man, and not a little disposed to quarrel with certain great doc- trines ; and so he continued for some 3 or 4 years. The story of his conviction and conversion is an exceedingly interesting one. At a time of the profoundest indif- ference in regard to religious things, when he did not know of a religious man in town, and before there had been a gospel sermon preached in it, his attention was called to the subject of personal religion in the following singular manner. I give it substantially in the words of one who re- ceived it from his lips :- " Being obliged to work hard during the week, and there being no public worship in town which he could attend, if he desired, he was in the habit of spending much of the Sabbath in sleep. On a certain Sabbath, awaking from his sleep, he found his wife reading a pamphlet, and proposed to read it aloud for the benefit of both. The beginning and end of the pamphlet were gone, and he
never knew whence it came, what was its title, or who its author. But he found it treated of a subject which in former times had given him great perplexity, viz. :- how a man could be blameable for a disposition which he did not create. He would admit the justice of God in punishing overt acts, but not wrong propensities. The author he was reading made it appear that we are justly condemned for wrong dispositions, as well as wrong actions. After reading awhile, he exclaimed to his wife, ' If this is true, we are undone.' In a moment all the convictions he had formerly had re- turned upon him and he was cast into the deepest anxiety. After days of profound- est darkness and sharpest distress, border- ing on despair, he was brought into the clear light and liberty of the Gospel. His feet having been set in the way of life, he walked circumspectly in that way to the end." His was the first conversion in Waterbury. A few days after his conver- sion, Rev. Mr. Call, a Baptist clergyman from Woodstock, came along and preached the first sermon preached in Waterbury. About a year after this he was baptized by the Rev. Mr. Call, and united with the Baptist church in Bolton. At the organ- ization of the Baptist church in Waterbury, in 1800, or 1801, Mr. Butler was ordained as its pastor, and amid the multitude of his civil offices, he continued to discharge the duties of this office until within a few years of his death, and that without salary or remuneration. In all the conflicts of party politics and all the labors and perplexities of official life, it is said the meekness, dig- nity and propriety of the gospel ministry never forsook him. He walked uprightly and with a serious Christian deportment amid them all. Well may his children venerate his name and the community hold it in lasting remembrance.
His form was slightly stooping, his com- plexion dark and sallow, and his whole ap- pearance quite unprepossessing ; but his penetrating black eye and the calm tones of his voice quickly told of intellect and will of no common order. He died July 12, 1838, in the 75th year of his age.
The third settler was Caleb Munson
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He moved from Torrington, Ct., in the spring of 1788, and settled up the river, near where Mrs. Amy Woodward resides. He subsequently moved across the river. About the same time Mr. Richard Holden settled on the place where Dr. Fales re- sides ; Amos Waters on the interval now owned by Sylvester Henry, and Reuben Wells on the street near the present resi- dence of Mr. Bebee. In 1788, Mr. Stiles Sherman and Jonathan Wright came into town. Mr. Sherman, from Hoosic, N. Y., made his pitch and built a log cabin on the place where he so long lived-the place recently owned by Mr. L. Bebee, now owned by Messrs. Thompson-and the next year moved on with his family. In 1790, March 2d, Jason Cady moved into town from Shelburn, Mass., and settled near the arch bridge. He and Mr. Sher- man soon opened their log-houses for the entertainment of travelers (5). About this time or earlier, Dr. Daniel Bliss, the first physician, settled near Waterbury river bridge. The same year, Jona. Wright, (6) from Williamstown, Mass., built a house near the residence of Albert Dillingham, being the first that settled away from the river, unless a Mr. Smith had settled earlier on the hill near the residence of Geo. Stearns. In 1791, there were 93 in- habitants in town. In 1793, when Eben- ezer Corse, father of E. W. Corse, moved into Duxbury, there were 15 families in Waterbury. In addition to those above named, Mr. John Craig had settled near where Mr. Remington lives-the farm owned by Geo. W. Randall and occupied by Wm. Humphrey. Col. Kennan, who became one of the prominent men of the town, had made an opening and built a house where Mr. E. Moody now resides- a Mr. Isaac Wilson was living near the site of the Waterbury hotel. Elias Marsh was married and lived, as has been re- marked, near the residence of Miss E. Corse. Philip Bartlett, who had married the widow of Mr. Marsh, was living on the Hawley place, now, October, 1867, owned by Mr. H. Carter. The road, which originally ran across the interval near the river, had been opened sub-
stantially on the present line of Main street.
Dr. Daniel Bliss, the first physician of the town, and represented as an excellent man, was the first representative.
From about 1793, the town was settled very rapidly, so that in 1800 it had 644 inhabitants, having gained 551 in the pre- vious 9 years. Among those who came into the town during this period, were Dea. Asaph Allen and Mr. David Austin, both coming in 1796. Dea. Allen was a native of Bernardstown, Mass. He set- tled on the stream a little east of the Centre, where Mr. Demeritt now lives, where he spent the remainder of his long life, being one of the first to settle in that part of the town. Mr. Austin came from Connecticut, and settled on the place now owned by Mrs. Job Dillingham. Previous to this time, though the town had been settled more than 10 years, and the in- habitants had now become quite numerous, there had been no regular meetings on the Sabbath ; indeed, no meetings at all, ex- cept as a missionary or minister passing through might preach an occasional ser- mon. These two men, having had their discipline in the straight and orderly ways of Connecticut and Western Massachu- setts, could not consent to live and bring up their families in this semi-heathen way. They immediately set themselves to work, in connection with a few others of like mind, and soon established regular meet- ings on the Sabbath, and from that time, so far as I can learn, there has been no interruption of public worship on the Sab- bath to the present day.
In the year 1800, in connection with the labors of Rev. Jedediah Bushnell, then a Missionary from Connecticut, subsequently for many years pastor of the Congrega- tional church in Cornwall, Vt., and of others, occurred the first general revival in town. As the result of this and at nearly the same time, the Congregationalists, Bap- tists and Methodists organized churches. The Congregational church was organized by Mr. Bushnell, July 10th, 1801. Not far from that time, probably a little earlier, Gov. Butler was ordained as a gospel min-
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ister and chosen pastor of the Baptist church. As the early records of that church and also of the Methodist church are not to be found, little can now be learned of their early history .* At the organization of the Congregational church, the following persons constituted its mem- bers : Asaph Allen, David Austin, Hugh Blair, Edward Bates, Moses Bates, David Town, Amos Slate, Samuel Slate, Thomas Kennan, Zebulon Allen, Mary Austin, Jane Blair, Ruth Rich, Lydia Town, Esther Slate and Bathsheba Slate,-10 males and 6 females. Thomas Kennan and David Town were received on profession and were baptized. The organization was completed by choosing Asaph Allan mod- erator, and Thomas Kennan clerk. In November following, Mr. Allen, who had been a deacon in his native town, was elected the first deacon of the church, and in December David Austin was elected as the second deacon.
December 22, 1802, the church voted to call Rev. Jonathan Hovey to settle over them in the gospel ministry. On account of certain difficulties raised by the town with reference to the minister's right of land, Mr. Hovey was not ordained until September 1, 1803. Mr. Lyman of Brook- field preached the sermon, the services being held in a building erected for a county grammar school, and which stood a little back of the Congregational church. Mr. Hovey labored with the church, before and after his ordination, about 5 years. He was dismissed for want of adequate support, Dec. 31, 1807. Mr. Hovey was born in Mansfield, Ct., 1756. His first profession was the law, which he practiced a while in his native town and then in Randolph, Vt. He was nearly 40 years old when he entered the ministry. His first settlement was at Waterbury. After leaving Waterbury he was settled in Pier- mont, N. H., where he remained until 1817; his last labors' were in Wolcott, N. Y., where he died in 1827, aged 71 years. He possessed a clear, strong mind, -was more remarkable for sternness and rigor, than for benignity and affability,-
had more power to convince than to win, - to gain respect than affection. While in Waterbury, he lived mainly in the Kneeland district in the house where Mr. A. Murray now resides, which house he built. His meetings were alternately in his own neighborhood, in barns and private houses and in the school-house at the Street, or " at the River," as the village was then termed. From the dismission of Mr. Hovey, for the space of 18 years, the Congregational church was destitute of a pastor and of the stated preaching of the gospel. During this time, meetings were regularly held on the Sabbath, Dea. Allen taking the charge and Gen. Peck, a promi- nent citizen of the town, father of the late Hon. L. B. Peck, ordinarily reading the sermons. Thus the fire was kept alive on the altar through all those long dreary years, until a better day dawned.
In 1802, the first successful merchant of Waterbury, Mr. Amasa Pride, established himself in the place and opened a store. A Mr. Farnsworth and a Mr. Yeomans, the latter from Alstead, N. H., and who died in this place in 1803 or 4, had opened small stores, but had done little business. Mr. Pride was a native of Newington, Ct., but was then from Brookfield, Vt. He was a young man almost destitute of means ; but by his good sense, energy, enterprise and integrity, he became for wealth, character, public spirit and influ- ence, a leading man in the community. He outlived for many years nearly all his asso- ciates, and died August, 1872, aged 86 years. In 1805, Dan Carpenter, a young lawyer from Norwich, opened the first law- office in town. Mr. Carpenter immediately became a prominent citizen in the town and a leading lawyer and a prominent man in all the region. He was identified with the history of the village and town for nearly 50 years. There was hardly an honor which his fellow citizens could bestow or a trust they could repose, which he did not receive at their hands. For 14 or 15 years he represented the town in the legis- lature, and for many years was a judge of the County court. Judge Carpenter died December, 1852, aged 77 years.
See Appendix 2.
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About the same time that Judge Carpen- ter came, Mr. Roswell and Mr. Cephas Wells took up their residence in town, and were numbered among its valuable citizens. About the same time Mr. Paul Dillingham, father of Gov. Dillingham, settled near the Center. (8) But time would fail in men- tioning names worthy of record. At this time the town was settled, more or less, through nearly its whole extent. Mr. Bickford was the first settler on Indian Hill, followed soon after by Mr. Isaac Parker, father of Dea. E. Parker. Mr. Silas Loomis was the first on Loomis Hill. He commenced where his son Elam now lives, in 1797, having resided in the south part of the town one season previous. (9)
The first school house was built at a very early day, and stood near where the railroad crosses Stowe Street,-and in this house nearly all the meetings of the Village were held .- About 1801, a building for a County grammar school, to which allusion has been made, was put up and covered,-the expense being defrayed by private subscription ;- but the town de- clining to do anything, as a town, to aid in its completion, the building was sold, moved across the street and turned into a hotel, which was subsequently burned. Regarded from our present point of view, the action of the town in refusing to aid this enterprise, whatever may have been its immediate cause, was most unfortunate. The influence for good upon all the best interests of the town, which such a school as was contemplated would have had, can hardly be overestimated. From nothing has the town suffered more, for the last 40 years, than from the want of such a school. It is now its great imperative want. Sure- ly, in its short sighted action, the town knew not what it did-what a power for good it was putting from it.
The first school taught in town was a private school, taught by the daughters of Mr. Reuben Wells. They were very small in stature, and though young ladies, were sometimes mistaken, by strangers, for children, of which amusing incidents are told. Their father was the first tanner in town. Seth Chandler. brother-in-law of
Dr. Bliss, was the first blacksmith ; he lived near the present residence of C. Haskins, and was killed by the fall of a tree, while clearing land near his house. A Mr. Warren, grand-father of Rev. Dan- iel Warren, is said to have done the first carpenter work in town. A grist and saw- mill were put up about 1792, by Mr. John Carpenter, from New Milford, Ct., Mr. Munson, Mr. Cady, and Mr. Knapp doing the work. Mr. Mason was the first miller. These mills were on or very near the site of the saw-mill in Mill Village. Polly Butler, eldest daughter of Gov. Butler, born Oct. 23, 1788, was doubtless the first person born in town. The first male child was. probably Tilman Wright, who died in 1842. The first marriage was that of Mr. Philip Bartlett and Mrs. Marsh. Dr. Seth Cole, who so long practiced in Richmond, was the second physician in town .* Rich- ard Holden, Caleb Munson and E. Butler were the first selectmen-Caleb Munson first treasurer-Elias Marsh first constable -Phineas Waters first highway surveyor and fence viewer.
It is a remarkable fact in the history of the town that it had no meeting-house until 1824. Considering the importance and population of the town, and the fact that 3 churches, with such fair promise, were organized so early, probably a par- allel to it cannot be found in the State. Ordinarily in the history of New England towns, one of the earliest facts recorded is that of building a house for the worship of God. The history of Waterbury in this respect is peculiar. For 40 years after the settlement of the town, and for 23 after the organization of its 3 churches, the Ark of God had no resting-place. The meet- ings were held in school-houses, private houses and barns. Several efforts were made to build a union house, and com- mittees were appointed to locate it. Twice the stake was stuck-once on the brow of the hill near Lucius Marshall's ; once near the east store at the Centre-but for some cause, both projects fell through.
On a certain day in the spring of 1823, Judge Carpenter and Mr. Pride met, and
See Appendix 2.
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their conversation turned upon the matter of a meeting-house. They had taken active parts in the previous undertakings, and felt that it was a great reproach to the town and a sad detriment that it had no place for public worship; they resolved that it should be so no longer, though neither of them, then, was a professor of religion. That day they laid the matter before their neighbor, Roswell Wells, and found from him a hearty response, and before the day closed, these three men had combined together, and the matter of building a meeting-house was settled. If need be, they had resolved to do it at their own expense (10).
The house was erected and finished in 1824, and was dedicated to the worship of God near the close of that year, Mr. Chandler, of Waitsfield, preaching the sermon.
The building of this house marks an era in the history of the Congregational church and of the town. All honor to the mem- ory of the men who set the work forward, and with resolute hearts and open hands carried it to completion.
The house thus built was not long un- occupied. Soon after its dedication, a young man, just graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary, stopped for the night at the hotel, then kept by Mr. Pride. Learning that Rev. Mr. Blodgett, of Jer- icho, with whom he had been acquainted, was to preach on the ensuing Sabbath, he concluded to stop and hear him. Mr. Blodgett did not come, and the young man was asked to supply the pulpit. He consented, and thus the Rev. Daniel Warren preached his first sermon, and began his 13 years' work in Waterbury. All were pleased. He was asked to re- main, and in a few months he had a unan- imous call to settle over them, and was or- dained pastor of the church Dec. 7, 1825. From that period everything has worn a new aspect in town. Mr. Warren was dismissed June 26, 1838 (11). There were two revivals during his ministry, extend- ing through the town-one in 1826-'7 ; the other in 1835-'6 (12). In 1832 and 1833, the Baptists and Methodists built meeting-
houses at the Center. During this period, in 1836, the Methodist church at the vil- lage was organized. Their house of wor- ship was erected in 1841. The Free-Will Baptists built their house on Waterbury river 5 or 6 years later.
With the building of the houses of wor- ship we cease to have to do with early set- tlement and settlers of Waterbury, and the work we proposed is done. I have spoken of the sufferings of the first settler and his family. They were peculiar, but all the early settlers endured hardships difficult for us to conceive. The labor of clearing the forests from the hills and meadows, now so smooth and easily tilled, was im- mense. Their houses were rude log-cabins, often with hewn plank floors and windows equally primitive ; their furniture was the rudest and scantiest. Their roads were rough, unwrought paths, the natural ob- stacles very great. They had no mills ; the nearest for several years were in Jer- icho, some 15 miles away, to which often they carried their grists on their backs. Much of the corn used was ground in what were called, plumping-mills, a contrivance made by burning and cutting a hole into a solid stump, and pounding it there with a weight attached to a spring pole, arranged after the fashion of a well-sweep. At the close of the day, it is said, the sound of these mills could often be heard through the whole settlement, preparing for the meals of the coming day. Their food al- ways was the plainest and simplest ; often for the want of this with their large fam- ilies they suffered exceedingly.
As from year to year, with glad, if not thankful hearts, we come around the festive board, it may interest us and do us good to know how the first Thanksgiving was kept in Waterbury. On that day, 1786, the year that Mr. Butler moved into town, he called on Mr. Marsh, and said to him, " This is Thanksgiving day ; how shall we keep it?" Mr. Marsh, in his wilderness life, had lost the run of such days, and this was news to him. He replied that his family were almost destitute of food, and he was in a sad condition to keep such la day. Mr. Butler proposed that they try
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