The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 92

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 92

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ners. The boys left the house by the shortest way, and run, some up street, some down, and some across. The Col. pursued hotly in one direction. Leaving his hat in the church, he soon lost also his wig. But without stopping to replace that, he followed on. At length he closed in with one of the intruders, and shaking him and cuffing him in a way more frightening than damaging, and heading him toward the church, he said, " what are you about here, you little cuss, you ? Why ain't you up in there getting some religion, as you ought to be, instead of being out here raising the devil in this way ?"

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some hair on your head ?" It was an im- pudent question, and the Colonel knew it. Looking savagely on the red head of the saucy young stranger, he replied, " When they made me, and had me all finished ex- cept my hair, they told me that they had nothing left except red hair. I told them, then, 'I gad,' I wouldn't have any. I had rather go without. They might save that for impudent young popinjays and fools." The young inquisitive and joker was perfectly willing to drop the subject.

[ ARGUS & PATRIOT BUILDING, MAIN STREET ]

PRESIDENT MONROE'S VISIT.

(From " THE PRESIDENT'S TOUR," By S. Putnam) Waldo, published at Hartford, Ct., 1819.)

" At 10 (A. M.) he was met and wel- comed by the committee of arrangements, at Mr. Stiles', in Berlin. The procession was then formed, under direction of the marshals, and proceeded to Montpelier.

A little before 11, a discharge of artillery announced the near approach of the Chief Magistrate of the nation. On entering the village, he alighted from his carriage, and proceeded with the cavalcade, on horseback, to the Academy, through the Main street, lined on each side by citizens, under direction of Joseph Howes, Esq. Returning to the head of State street, the President dismounted, was received by the ' First Light Company,' commanded by Lieut. E. P. Walton, and conducted to the State House under a national salute from the ' Washington Artillery.'

In front of the State House, between three and four hundred masters and misses, students of the Academy and members of the schools in the village, dressed in a neat uniform, each tastefully decorated with garlands from the field of nature, were ar-

ranged in two lines facing each other, in perfect order. Previous to the arrival of the escort, the two companies of Cavalry, with an expedition and regularity which did them honor, had placed themselves at a proper and convenient distance on the left of the juvenile procession.

The President walked through this assem- blage of youth, uncovering his head, and bowing as he passed, entered the State House under a fanciful arch of evergreens, emblematic, we trust, of the duration of our liberties, on one side of which were these words : 'July 4, 1776; ' on the other, ' Trenton, Dec. 26, 1776.' When in front of the house, in the portico of the second story, the Hon. James Fisk, chairman of the committee of arrangements, in presence of the military and a great concourse of assembled citizens, delivered the following address :

To the President of the United States :--

" SIR :- The citizens of Montpelier and its vicinity have directed their committee to present you their respectful salutations, and bid you a cordial welcome.

The infancy of our settlements places our progress in the arts and sciences something behind most of our sister states; but we shall not be denied some claim in a share of that ardent love of liberty, and the rights of man, that attachment to the honor and interest of our conntry, which now so dis- tinguish the American character ; while the fields of Hubbardton, the heights of Wal- loomsack, and the plains of Plattsburgh, are admitted to witness in our favor.

Many of those we now represent, ven- tured their lives in the Revolutionary con- test, and permit us, sir, to say, the value of this opportunity is greatly enhanced by the consideration, that we now tender our respects to one who shared in all the hard- ships and dangers of that eventful period, which gave liberty and independence to our country ; nor are we unmindful that from that period until now, every public act of your life evinces an unalterable at- tachment to the principles for which you then contended.

With such pledges, we feel an unlimited confidence, that should your measures fulfil your intentions, your administration under the guidance of Divine Providence, will be as prosperous and happy as its commencement is tranquil and promising ; and that the honor, the rights and inter- ests of the nation will pass from your hands unimpaired. JAMES FISK,

For the Committee.

" To this address the President made an affectionate and appropriate reply, which was received with three times three ani- mated cheers by the citizens.

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The President then, with his suite, com- mittee, marshals and clergy, visited the schools in the Representatives' room, which was adorned with maps and globes drawn by the scholars ; while the front of the gallery and chandelier displayed a beautiful variety of vines and ornaments. The scholars received him by rising, and Mr. Hill, the preceptor of the Academy, by saying, 'I present to Your Excellency the finest blossoms and fairest flowers that our climate produces'-he replied, ' They are the finest nature can produce.' After

CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH, MAIN STREET.

inspecting the maps and globes, with ap- probation, he retired ; was received at the door by the ' Washington Artillery,' com- manded by Capt. Timothy Hubbard, and escorted through a line of citizens extend- ing from the State House to the dwelling of Wyllis 1. Cadwell, Esq., where he par- took of a cold collation served up with ad- mirable taste and elegance.

The schools then formed a procession, preceded by the ' First Light Company,' with instrumental music, and moved to the Academy. In passing the President's quarters they saluted him ; the masters, by uncovering their heads; the misses, by lowering their parasols.

The President having signified his pleas- ure to dispense with the escort of cavalry,

after taking an affectionate leave of the committee of arrangements, ascended his carriage, and resumed his journey to Bur- lington."

GEORGE W. BARKER. BY COL. H. D. HOPKINS.

Mr. Barker was at one time postmaster of Montpelier, and then high sheriff of the County, and at the time of his death, a well-known railroad contractor at Manito- woc, Wis. For many years he was, in Vermont, a leading man at the Capital, and exert- ed a strong influence in shaping the action of the democratic party, both . personally and through the Vermont Patriot, with which he was for a time connected. When the Vt. Central railroad was build- ing, he was one of the contractors, and made about $10,000-a hand- some amount for the time. He subsequently took a contract on the New York end of the Rutland and Washington railroad, but when a crash came in the affairs of that road, he. with others, was obliged to succumb and go down. MATTHEWS. His loss was a heavy one, and involved others than himself, notably the late Hon. R. R. Keith, who suffered to the amount of $15,000. Mr. Barker's next venture was at Paineville, Ohio, and would have result- ed favorably to him but for the fact that the company proved to be insolvent. His next move was Manitowoc above named. Judge Keith, who knew Mr. Barker better than any other man in Montpelier, though he lost by him, always had confidence in his capacity and integrity. Mr. B. was a genial man, a kind neighbor, and especially delighted to speak encouraging words to young men, and the results of some of his endeavors in this line happen to be known to the writer of this brief notice. Mr.

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Barker was a man not to be forgotten. In stature,'he was very large, and in manner, exceptionally genial. Though a man of position and well-formed opinions, he could tenaciously maintain his own view of a question without wounding the feelings of another. Mr. Barker was very fond of church music-especially of the fugue tunes in vogue in the early years of the present century, and he, Ferrand F. Merrill, Capt. A. A. Sweet and Dr. Gustavus H. Loomis, all of whom were as fond of that style of music as Mr. Barker was, used to have many a pleasant sit-down together, re- hearsing them, and deploring their de- parture from the choirs and the choir re- pertories. · Of these four gentlemen, only Capt. Sweet is living at this present writ- ing, Jan. 1882.

ATTHEAS

RESIDENCE OF GEORGE C. SHEPARD, MAIN STREET.

ing a home as the town can boast of. Mr. Shepard availed himself so well of our schools and Academy, that he has been able to discharge successfully every public duty. He is prominent socially, polit- ically and financially. For some years he was Director, Vice-President and Presi- dent of the old Bank of Montpelier, and he has been Director and Vice-President of the Montpelier National Bank. He represented the town in the Legislatures of 1862 and '63, and has also represented his Congressional District in a National Con- vention of the Republican party.

E. P. W.

COL. ABEL CARTER,

who during the last days of his life occu- pied the house now owned and occupied by Col. Fred E. Smith, on Elm street, was a man to be remembered. He was by trade a saddler and harness-maker, and a man of very positive feel- ings and opinions, espe- cially in politics. As an abolitionist, he was out- spoken, even to bitterness, · and delighted to get into an argument with a con- servative whig, that he might ply him with hard questions. His hatred of slavery, slave-holders and their apologists-Northern dough-faces, as he delight- ed to call them, was most intense. He was sheriff of Washington Co. from 1833 to 1837, and held the office

GEORGE C. SHEPARD, youngest son of | of Sergeant-at-Arms at the State House the late Jonathan Shepard, was born in one year, 1837 to '38. Montpelier, Aug. 26, 1820, and has been Another prominent and well-known cit- izen of Montpelier for many years previous to 1868, was eminently a Montpelier man, not only spending his life here, but bringing a wife here, who is a grand-daughter of one of GAMALIEL WASHBURN, the earliest citizens of Montpelier, Thomas who occupied a small cottage house on Elm street, opposite the old cemetery. He was for many years jailor, and also janitor in the old Brick Church, and his polite attentions to the needs of all wor- shipers there, are well remembered. He was a prominent Mason, and as such was Brooks, and daughter of Joseph Brooks, who was a native of Montpelier ; and he brought her to a beautiful Montpelier home, in the dwelling of the late Hon. Samuel Prentiss, which has been remodel- ed and improved so as to become as charm-

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highly respected. Two lodges of the order are named in honor of his memory, one at Danville, and another in Montpelier. He died in Dec. 1868. H. D. H.

THE OLD BRICK CHURCH.

BY COL. H. D. HOPKINS.

[From a full account of the " Old Brick " and the new "Bethany " church iu files of the Argus & Patriot.]

Appreciating the uses of Christian wor- ship, the fathers of the town began in 1817 to discuss the propriety and necessity of a house for this purpose. The first act was the forming of the "Montpelier Meeting-

INTERIOR OF BETHANY CHURCH.

house Society, consisting of 62 gentlemen at first, and which list embraces, we judge, all the then prominent men of Montpelier : Samuel Prentiss, Samuel Goss, E. P. Wal- ton, Geo. Worthington, Nicholas Baylies, Sylvanus Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Holden Putnam, Jonathan Shepard, and others. In Dec. 1820, the list was augmented by 25 names more. Of these active men none are now living.

The society at its first meeting, Nov. 4, 1817, voted to build a house, Sylvanus Baldwin, Jeduthan Loomis, Samuel Goss, Calvin Winslow and J. H. Langdon to re- port a plan; Lovewell Warren, Joseph

Wiggins, Joseph Howes " to view the sites proposed, ascertain prices and conveniences of each." Nov. 12. " committee on plan " made their report, not accepted ; were in- structed to furnish a plan with steeple or cupola.

Nov. 24th, it was voted the house should be for the use of the First Congregational- ist Society in Montpelier, under the control of the proprietors ; the sale of pews to commence at the State House, Nov. 29th ; every note for the purchase of a pew should be payable to the society, and divided into three equal annual payments, one-half in neat stock or grain, and one-half in money ; and the house was to be 60 x 70 feet, " exclusive of cupola or stee- ple," with 122 pews.

Three lots were sharply contested for, one the site of the old brick house back of Mrs. Hyde's ; one the lot of Mrs. Joseph Reed, oppo- site the State House, and the other that on which the Brick church was built. They had to resort to the ballot, taken at the State House, Dec. 10th, which resulted for the Houghton "spot." The house cost over $6,000. We cannot state when it was ready for occupancy, but its use was tendered to the General Assembly for the Election Sermon on the 2d Thursday, Oct. 1820, and to the Masonic Society the day previous, and Dec. 29th, 105 pews had been sold for $7,620, of which Calvin Wins- low, the contractor, received $7,000. The highest price paid for a pew was $151, by Joseph Howes. Richard Wilkins, Jedu- than Loomis and Samuel Goss paid $150 each for a pew ; Chester Houghton, $140 ; Jonathan Shepard, $120; Salvin Collins, $117. And the old Brick church remained the Sabbath home of this society for more than 45 years. The last service in it was Sunday, May 6, 1866. In a few days the walls of the old church and the

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Masonic hall were leveled to the ground, and the present Bethany church occupies the site.

Bethany exterior, 124x72, height of nave, 65 feet ; Gothic architecture ; tower height, 68 feet, 21x21; chapel, 50 x 35; ridge, 36 feet from ground ; church and tower, walls and buttresses, dark red stone : arches, mouldings, etc., dark blue stone ; chapel walls, Burlington stone, almost white, with warm flush of rose ; trimmings, of dark red stone; at eastern vestibule, with wide corridor and three porches, with the chancel is supported by detached shafts,

opens up : Interior divided by columns into nave and aisle, with an apsidal chan- cel ; church and chancel, deep wainscotted in chestnut, with black walnut cap and base ; beams of the roof cased in chestnut ; ceiling, a clear blue ; walls, a soft stone color ; aisle-roof, nave-roof, arches, clere- story, spandals pierced with capsed open- ings, all highly ornamental ; principal tim- bers of the roof, richly moulded ; roof open quite to the ridge, 60 feet high from the floor of the audience room. The roof of

RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH POLAND, SCHOOL STREET.

tall gables finished with cappings of the dark blue stone, terminated with foliated crosses ; and in the gable of the centre porch, in wall-recess, with pointed arch, the great rose-window, rich in tracery and stained glass; from the cornice of the belfry rises the spire, enriched with shafted windows, canopies, ornamental slating, to a finial and cross of gold, 153 feet from the ground ; between the side walls of the church, arched windows, supported by but- tresses, filled with tracery ; roofs of church, chapel porches, covered with slating in al- ternate bands of plain and shell-work.

As you enter from the vestibule, thus it

their moulded bases resting on corbels in the angles of the apsis ; carved ribs rising from these shafts to the stained glass sky- light in the centre ; the chancel is separated from the nave by a richly-moulded arch, resting on clustered shafts ; windows all with arched mouldings, resting on orna- mental corbels.

Choir and organ in the chancel, sepa- rated from the pulpit by columns and in- terlacing arches. The blue ceiling here has crimson and buff borders, panels with ornaments in color and panels with me- dallions. The walls of the chancel are maroon, border of crimson and buff, vine

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of oak leaves in blue ; chancel windows, stained glass, bordered in blue, each with medallion in crimson ; purple wall below each window, border of olive, white and green, with two panels with Gothic heads and spandrels filled with ornaments. The ' whole coloring of the interior is exceed- ingly rich and chaste, over nave and aisles, as well as chancel. The compartments formed in the blue ceiling by the roof timbers, have wide, rich borders-diag- onal bands of crimson and buff. The roof timbers are a rich maroon, flecked with orange, yellow, and a stellar pattern in lighter maroon ; the shields on the ends of hammer-beams, a white ground with crim- son border and scroll ornaments ; " walls and columns below, neutral gray ; shafts,

MATTHEWS.

BAPTIST CHURCH, SCHOOL STREET.

arch - mouldings of windows and doors flecked out with crimson, green, purple and flesh color." We are taken with the beauty of the coloring, "the effect" of which ." is much enhanced by the rich

colors of the stained glass in the whole interior, chancel, side walls, clere-story, exceedingly beautiful. The chancel win- dows and large rose windows are es- pecially rich," with a declaration of the Most Holy Trinity in the centre light of the great rose window.

Our view represents the Interior of this church. For the history of Bethany, see Mr. Walton's paper, page 288; also 396-407. For the historian who writes up the history of the next hundred years of Montpelier, this handsome edifice of stone will remain perfect, as now; to the old which has already passed away, we there- fore give the more space and the more care to gather up its fragments now, before ir- revocably lost.

The organ is superbly pleasing to the eye, har- monizes admirably with the interior of the church, and for general quality of tone, and characteristic voicing of individual stops, we have never heard ex- celled : The clarionette seems like the veritable instrument itself, the obeo approximates more nearly to the true imitation than any stop we have ever heard called by its name- the vox humana-people hearing it are actually de- ceived by it, and look around to see who is sing- ing. We have many times heard it pronounced sec- ond to no instrument in the country of its size, and are not prepared to deny the statement. Its first concert was the evening before the dedication of Bethany.

AN OLD-TIME SINGING-MASTER,

Col. H. D. HOPKINS, who for 35 years knew all that was going on in all the choirs around ; knew all the leading singers ; kept singing-school ; conducted musical con-

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ventions, and for 27 years conducted the music in "Brick" and "Bethany" churches, and so on; who knew the leaders in the " Old Brick" from the first day to the end, and who ought to have been asked for a paper on this subject, and would have been, had the Compiler been aware of his relations to these matters in time. Moses E. Cheney, of Barnard, the old popular singing-master of the State, says, " Brother Hopkins must be remembered when you notice the churches, certainly. He has done more free labor in Montpelier than any other man, and that so well."

The first transient singing-master that ever taught here, says Mr. Hopkins, was Joseph Wilder, from Derby, Vt., and the early choristers of the Brick church were Hon. Joseph Howes, O. H. Smith, Esq., several years, Dr. Gustavus Loomis, Chas. W. Badger, and Moses E. Cheney, who

May, 1839, and was attended by towns- people not only, but by clergymen and lawyers from all parts of the State. The facts relating to this convention should not go unmentioned, and the honor of it should be placed where it belongs, with Moses E. Cheney, the true Vermonter and antiquarian.

John H. Paddock was the first organist here. George W. Wilder, who is in busi- ness now at the head of State street, an esteemed citizen of Montpelier at the pres- ent time, was another organist at the old Brick, also Miss Hosford and a Mrs. Bigelow ; and John and Zenas Wood were leading singers at the " Old Brick" in its palmy days, and perhaps others -- doubtless:

Mr. H. assisted at, and reported for all the musical conventions held at Montpelier for more than 20 years, in which he says, in report of the Annual Central Vermont Musical Conven- tion, held at Wash- ington Hall, in this village, Jan. '67- four days. Mr. Phillips, of St. Albans, elicited the first hearty applause, and Pro- fessor N. L. Phil- lips, of Barre, the man who perhaps has taught more singers than any other in Central Vermont, appear- ed in a superb solo. We are always MATTHEWS. astonished at the vigor and force of that voice, a grand type of what we wish all voices might be at sixty. The 5th and 6th same annual conventions Mr. Hopkins directed.

MONTPELIER UNION SCHOOL BUILDING.

led the singing of the old Brick church about 1840, for 3 years, and did much to inspire the service of song with new life. He, also, was the projector and conductor of the first musical convention ever held in Vermont, and it is believed in America. It has been so stated in the public prints, and has never been denied. The con- vention was held in the old Brick church,

His first letter to the Boston Journal was written in 1859, and until the failing of his health, in 1875, he was the only regular Vermont correspondent of that paper. He has also written quite exten- sively for the Montpelier and other State

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papers. For some few years he has been too much of an invalid for business labor, but occasionally now writes a good article for press. We have been indebted on these last pages to his present pen and huge old scrap-book for several articles. As a speci- men of the Colonel's humorous vein, we purloin the following :

TO MY OLD BOOTS. BY SOME ONE.

For three full years, and something more, You've served me a faithful " pair ;" I therefore don't wonder that, all things considered. You're looking " the worse for the wear."

SONG OF THE DYING YEAR. BY JOSEPHINE M. SWEET.

In the race that thou hast run, In this cycle of the sun,

Hast thou in life's battle won ? What hast thou done ? What hast thou done?

When fears shadowed o'er the field, In temptation didst thou yield ? Or hast thou in life's battle won ? What hast thou done ? What hast thou done ?

Hast thou fainted by the way, 'Neath the burden of noon-day ? Or hast thou in life's battle won ? What hast thou done ? What hast thou done ?

RESIDENCE OF MR. M. D. GILMAN, BALDWIN ST., NEXT DOOR WEST OF THE STATE CAPITOL.

Josephine M. Sweet, a native of Montpelier, a contributor to the Watch- man, Green Mountain Freeman, etc, under the nom de plume of " Evan- geline," for many years.

The zephyrs commence to come, the poets from abroad join to help Mont- pelier sons and daughters sing - one, [was it the Hon. Wm. C. Bradley?] It is like his wit, very, and of his palmy time, joins in a

LAMENTATION,

[Written soon after the adjournment of the Ver- mont Legislature, Nov. 1826.]

Your "bottoms" and "uppers" were "A number one," And fitting so snugly about,

Have made a good place to keep " a foot in," While the damp and the cold you kept out.

Yes, " A number one ! " I wear nothing else ; Double soles-oak-tanned and French call, Albeit old Crispin, with impertinence, said, " You wear number nine and a half."

'Twas a way you had, much to your credit. In parting, permit me to say, Of being quite constantly " round under foot," And yet, not much in the way.

In bidding you now a long adien, And remembering the good you have done,

I give you permission, if the d-1 don't get you, To say that your " soles are your own."

And if in the place where you finally stop, There should chance to be paper and quill, Please write me a leiter, and tell me if They permit you to " go it boots" still.

Montpelier mourns-her streets are still, Save when the street-yarn ladies spin ; And scarce a stranger's seen at Mann's, Or Campbell's, or at Cottrill's Inn.

The guardians of the people's rights Have done their work, gone home to prove il ; And let the State-house stand, because Barnum and Bailey could not move it.

But though the building stands secure, And long may stand the village boast,' The villagers are called to mourn The comforts and the friends they've lost.

Thelr Butler's gone, their Baker, too; Their Clarkes have fled as Swift as thought; Their Barber's left their chins unshaved, And e'en their Potter's gone to pot.

Their Walkers nimbly walked away, Their Mason and their Smiths are still; Their Carpenters lay down their tools, Thelr honest Miller leaves his mill.

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Their skillful Fisher-man has gone

With Bates to ture and Spear to strike ; With him are fled the Finney tribe, But more especially the Pike.

The Swan they dearly loved to pick, Has flown, with plumage bright as gold ; Their Buck has bounded o'er the hills, Their playful Lamb has broke his fold.

The Noble and the Young have gone, The Rich have left them to despair; Their Gay, their Best attire is lost, And not a Spencer's left to wear.

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The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 92

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