USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Baltimore > The history of the town of Baltimore, Vermont > Part 18
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About this time Jona. Martin took unto himself a wife Harriet Batchelder, daughter of Edmund and Rachel Batchelder. Probably few finer young couples ever began life together in our little town than this one; both were born and reared in Baltimore, and they proved themselves to be citizens of sterling worth, intellectual, in- dustrious and God-fearing. Martin Boynton served as deacon of the North Springfield Baptist Church nearly fifty years, most of which time he lived in Baltimore five miles distant from the church. With the transportation facilities of their day and the busy cares of their daily lives, Martin and Harriet must have sacrificed much and made many a determined effort to serve the interests of God and His Church.
Martin Boynton was a good townsman as well as church man. He was better educated than his father before him as were all those of his generation, thanks be to the efficiency of the early schools of Baltimore. He was a close rival of his cousin Joshua Leland in his service to the schools of Baltimore, serving with him several times on the committee to superintend the schools of the town.
He was town clerk from 1831 to 1838, town treasurer from 1840 to 1859. His fellow townsmen showed their faith in him by elect- ing him not only treasurer but as selectman and trustee of the Sur- plus Money, all in the same year. Besides he often served as moderator, making four offices of importance that he held at least ten different years. He also represented Baltimore in the legisla- ture for the years 1844, 1849, 1854. He may have left town in 1859 as from that time he no longer held office.
Unlike his father, Martin Boynton sought to increase his land holdings. We find that in 1833 Benjamin Litch had died and Jona. Woodbury Jr. was appointed administrator. Martin Boynton was on hand in Apr. 1834 to bid off what appears to have been the entire Litch property for $183.43 subject to a mortgage of $400 due Isaac Ives and the annual interest. In July of that year Martin sold Phineas Leland of Chester a tract of land on the mountain later called the Pierce Lot, receiving $200 for the same. In July Martin and his father mortgaged all the land they owned in Baltimore to Isaac Ives, evidently to settle with the administrator for $500. In 1841 this mortgage was discharged. Martin paid taxes on two houses as late as 1841.
The writer makes no apology in this case or any other for exposing the financial situations of certain of those early settlers. It is an inspiration for those of us who have or will follow in their train to know that not all our predecessors who gained prominence and a competence here in Baltimore had material wealth served them on a silver platter; neither is it evident that they even acquired the Midas-like touch. They worked, planned and saved even as you and I, only more so.
With Joshua Leland, Martin bought the 40 acres east of the road belonging to Daniel Harris, but he soon sold his share to his cousin Joshua.
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Judged by present-day standards the Boyntons farmed in a small way as did all their neighbors. They always kept a yoke of oxen, but from 1828 until 1842 never did they have more than 6 cows at a time or 10 head of cattle at the most. Verily they lived off their land which provided them with fuel, shelter, food and clothing. It required hours of diligent labor and no small degree of skill to make those acres meet all the needs of a growing family.
It came with something like a shock when the discovery was made that in 1859 Martin Boynton was not elected to any office. A survey of the grand list books reveals that Martin paid his last poll tax in Baltimore that year 1859 but had no personal property listed in excess of debts owing, neither that year nor in the year previous. That item of taxable personal property had increased from $211.67 in 1851 to $1104.50 in 1857. The solution might have been that Martin had become speculative and had invested his money on hand in some new venture out of town, thereby incurring indebted- ness.
Martin Boynton with others living under the mountain took up sheep raising in the late 1830's. He and his father had always kept a few to provide for the family needs, but by 1836 the Boyntons had 130 sheep, in 1841 they had 139, in 1843-150. Probably the sheep business proved a very profitable venture for Deacon Boynton.
The Boynton house as we know it today appears to have been the ell part of the first habitation. A large cellar adjacent to the present one confirms this. An examination of the roof from the interior plainly shows that the original ell was greatly enlarged and modern- ized perhaps after the manner of the early 1800's. Possibly the two Boynton families lived separately.
Joseph Atherton Family (The Erwin Sherwin Farm)
In poring over the early records of the town of Cavendish one is impressed by the frequently appearing name of Atherton indicating that the family held a prominent place in the affairs of that town, both as landholders and town officials.
It appears that one Jonathan Atherton at an early date acquired several tracts of land "over the mountain" in what is now Baltimore. In the first year's records of land conveyances in Baltimore, 1794, we read that said Jonathan sold 29 acres to Jona. Woodbury abutting the land on the east that he had sold Woodbury in 1792, now the Basso farm. In 1795 Atherton sold Luther Harris 60 acres in the valley east of the mountain which eventually became the Hastings farm. In 1797 Jona. sold his brother 56 acres off the buildings, probably mountain land. In 1806 Seth Houghton purchased from him 30 acres of undivided or unlocated land presumably on the mountain. In 1816 he sold the Jewell lot to Joshua Martin, 27 acres for $400, the lot being described in part as the field formerly occupied by Wm. Jewell now owned by Jehial Converse. But the
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transaction of greatest interest to us was the sale of 100 acres of land to his brother Joseph Atherton of Harvard, Massachusetts, yeoman, in 1789 for 12 pounds.
Anyone looking up records knows how very confusing it can be if the grantee fails to get a deed recorded until long after the tran- saction takes place. Imagine the surprise that one gets when he discovers that this deed executed June 24, 1789, was not recorded in the Baltimore land records until May 28, 1831. We wonder why Joseph did not record his own deed while he was town clerk.
From a manuscript regarding the Atherton line loaned to the writer we read that Joseph Atherton "moved about 1786 to the independent State of Vermont, several years before its admission to the Union and settled at the foot of the south easterly side of Hawks Mountain." This would make him and Waldo Cheney the earliest settlers in Baltimore of whom we have any account.
Joseph worked here alone one or two summers clearing his land and erecting some buildings before moving here permanently. He married Anna Wheeler of Bolton, Mass., and their first child was born in their new home in Baltimore Dec. 16, 1788.
During the first year of their life in Baltimore there were no roads, and they were obliged to make their way through the forests by paths and marked trees. They had to travel long distances in order to purchase supplies for their family or to reach a mill for grinding grain, which was carried on horseback probably to Fort No. 4, now Charlestown, N. H. The distance was so great as to require the evening added to the day to enable them to reach the mill and return home.
The following incident and comments are quoted from the manu- script mentioned above.
"On one occasion of that kind, when nearing home, by moonlight, his horse came to a full stop at the appearance of a man standing directly in the path. Not leaving at the first order there was a hasty dismount and a second order with a threat to horsewhip if the path was not cleared at once, when the bear, which it proved to be, kindly came down from the erect position and took itself out of the way. Stout hearts had they who conscious of their ability to con- quer all ordinary difficulties-leaving home and friends-had the courage to undertake, in the depths of an almost impenetrable wilderness, to make such a home as they had the good fortune to look upon and for a time enjoy in later years. To cut down and burn the forests, not merely by the acre but by the hundred acres, rolling the logs together for the reburning, removing the stone and with them building walls for fencing, preparing the ground for growing crops and erecting buildings, all to be accomplished by their own hands, in one lifetime, seems incredible. But such was their undertaking and such was the work they accomplished.
"All of that homestead, except such as nature formed and was found by them in the forest, was by them created and how they ac- complished so much in the time allotted to them is the wonder.
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"A good sized, comfortable story and a half frame house with dairy house and shed attached stood on an eminence westerly and well back from the road. West and southwest of the house was a thrifty orchard of apple and pear trees and among them not far from the house were a cider mill, carpenter and blacksmith shops- separate-and distillery for making cider brandy. Lower down and across the highway were spacious stables and barns with yards for cattle, enclosed by immense walls, as were most of the fields.
"They had two orchards and in one of them was an outdoor cellar, in which it was said could be stored one hundred barrels.
"The substantial walls which enclosed some of the fields may have suggested the idea, which it is said Joseph put into practice of breaking colts by harnessing one to a two-wheeled gig, or chaise without top, and turning it into one of the well-walled fields, there to tame itself by its own exertion. When the horse was accustomed to the situation, he would climb to the driver's place and undertake its guidance by way of the lines. .
"A well of excellent water, drawn up by the usual pole or sweep of that time was near the door of the working and dairy rooms, back of the house. Their house and well-stocked farm would com- pare favorably with those of the average well-to-do farmer of a half century later, except as to such tools and machinery as the later date suggests.
"There were no drones in that household. The care of the dairy, its products and the ordinary household cares were looked upon as chores, to be out of the way in season for the day's labor or to be attended to after that was finished.
"The wool and linen cloth woven by their hands was made from thread of their spinning and though there was work, it could not have been monotonous or considered drudgery; where so much was accomplished there must have been a new and constant changing appearance of improvement in-doors and out, which must have been gratifying and attractive and even offering great temptation to overwork. To help make from the wilderness a comfortable and productive home was part of their everyday life and it would have puzzled themselves to tell which would reach the greater distance, the heavy flat-topped walls of the fields or the handsome fair white linen' cloth woven by the mother and her two daughters.
"The pleasure of their progress was not allowed to remain un- alloyed and the tragedies of life sometimes came to them in a shocking manner as seems to have been characteristic of other branches of the Atherton family.
"Their eldest daughter-their second child-died in 1795 when about four years of age. When their eldest child, Barney, was in his seventeenth year and their third child Hannah was in her thirteenth year, the two were standing side by side in the front door- way of their home in Baltimore as a storm was passing, watching the flashes of the lightning. It struck them, throwing both vio- lently out upon the ground, killing Barney instantly and rendering
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his sister Hannah insensible though she revived after a time and finally recovered. A sad Saturday night, May 4th, 1805. The old long clock was stopped by the lightning at 4:45 P. M. showing when the life had gone out from their first-born-their greatest re- liance on earth-the clock told when but who can tell why?
"Their only remaining son, Joseph, married Olive Ives in 1818. His father had bought the Glynn place the year before, 1817, and in 1822 Joseph Jr. bought it from his father and lived here until 1831 when he sold the farm to Willard Hastings. It was in Baltimore that three of Joseph Jr.'s children were born, the first one their only son Junius O. born in 1819 died when three months old and is buried in Baltimore cemetery. From Baltimore they moved to Greenbush in Weathersfield.
"In 1820 their eldest daughter, Hannah, married and removed to Ludlow, Vt., and four years later in 1824-their youngest daugh- ter, Nancy, married Dr. Charles B. Chandler and settled in Tun- bridge, Vt., leaving the heads of the family once more by them- selves, though in a comfortable and pleasant home instead of the forest in which they commenced their married life.
"Then began a series of calamities which were the beginning of the end of many members of this family. In 1835 Isaac Ives, husband of Hannah, their eldest daughter, in an attack of melan- cholia, ended his life on 42nd birthday, by hanging himself in his barn-though a prosperous merchant and not in any way em- barrassed.
"During the same year, 1835, their grandchild and daughter of Joseph and Olive (Ives) Atherton died by accident from a pin causing injury of the spine; the pin having been placed in the back of her desk by a mischievous boy in school, of course not intending such a result.
"In 1837 their youngest daughter Nancy (Atherton) Chandler, after a long and painful illness, died from encephaloid cancer, leaving two sons. In the spring of 1839 Joseph Atherton the father of the family and founder of the homestead in Baltimore, Vt., was stricken down by lung fever from which he died April 10th, 1839.
"Their son, Joseph Atherton of Greenbush, left his home to assist in the care of the old homestead and while attending to some plowing just below the barn was kicked by a horse from the effect of which he died August 23rd, 1839, his wife and two daughters surviving; after which the Baltimore home was disposed of and the mother with her eldest daughter her only surviving child, Hannah (Atherton) Ives, moved to the village of Chester, Vt., and lived with a cousin Barney A. Cook Esq. until the mother's death Sept. 18, 1875."
Asahel Smith was appointed administrator of the estate of Joseph Atherton Sr. When the property was sold to Fox Sherwin, thereby passing out of the Atherton family probably for all time, it was de- scribed as "the Homestead Farm whereof the said Joseph Atherton Sr. died seized and possessed and which he had owned and occupied for a long time previous to his death." There is a note of pathos
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in these words when we consider the struggle that was made to acquire this homestead farm.
In a letter written in 1914 by the late Durant J. Boynton following a call made upon Hannah Atherton Baldwin in Los Angeles, Cal., he writes this in regard to her grandfather and father, Joseph and Joseph Jr ....... "Both these men were men of decided convictions and there was always something doing in any cause they advocated. This strong individuality has always been a redeeming trait of the Atherton family."
As this effort is primarily a town history, some mention should be made of the Athertons as townsmen. The records of early Balti- more bear much testimony as to the valuable assistance rendered the newborn town by Joseph Atherton.
The first paper to be recorded in Baltimore was the warning for the town meeting held Mar. 12, 1794, and Joseph Atherton's bold plain handwriting served him very well as town clerk. He was elected also selectman and lister. That was a busy year for the selectmen as they "lade out three rodes". Probably Joseph was convinced of the need of something besides bridal paths. The town voted 11 pounds L. M. for the use of the schools, but did not elect a school committee. The next year they elected Joseph Atherton as first of the school committee of three.
In 1796 Joseph was on the committee "to go and find the center of the town and if that will do to Bild a house to Set down a stake and if that wond do to find the next niest spot." We expect they found the center and set down the stake; then Joseph was on the committee to agree with Mr. Houghton for a "peece of land." Next, they agreed to elect a committee to take security of Mr. Houghton and another committee to divide it into three shares for chopping. It took exactly four meetings to accomplish just this, and at a fifth meeting if they did not vote to divide into two school districts north and south! They had to allow Joseph Atherton sixteen shillings for services in finding a center of the town. Served them right. In 1797, however, he was on the committee to divide the town. He probably found it easier to divide the town than to unite it.
In 1797 Joseph was on the committee to annex the northeast corner of Chester to the town of Baltimore; that plan failed. In 1800 the voters met in the new North schoolhouse. That year they elected Jonathan Woodbury town clerk, and after that Joseph Atherton was never again prominent in town affairs. True, he was often highway surveyor and always voted to some minor office but often was not sworn in.
In 1828 he was the member from Baltimore to attend the Con- stitutional Convention of the State of Vermont, the first man to receive that honor in town.
It is evident from the records that when land was sold for taxes at a vendue, Joseph was at the sale and bid it off, then sold the right he gained thereby for a very nominal sum. For instance, Joseph
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sold Jewett Boynton all his right and title to 95 acres of land for $2 (now the Thomas farm) which said Jewett was about to sell to Elijah Hildreth. This practice on Joseph's part might have been advantageous to the town as it kept all rights and titles in possession of a person interested in Baltimore as a town rather than those of a land speculator. However, Joseph was a large landholder other than that acquired by vendue.
In 1793 before the town was set off from Cavendish, Joseph sold Asa and Peter Robinson 100 acres or the northeast end of Levi Webster's right. This was the land south of Arthur Basso's and west of Frank Kendall's.
In 1807 he bought the Glynn place of 55 acres which he sold to Joseph Jr. in 1822. In 1806 he bought the Manasseh Boynton farm now known as the Field pasture, but sold it back to Manassah in 1808. That same year 1808 he bought 22 acres of Samuel Hast- ings in the hollow adjoining his farm, and that addition has re- mained a part of the Atherton farm "unto this day."
Joseph Atherton Jr. began his career as a public official in 1819, the year after he had married, when he was elected hayward. He was regularly elected to some office every year, but by this time there were more men interested and qualified to hold town office. He served as selectman in 1824 and superintendent of schools. In 1826 Joseph Jr. was elected representative to the legislature and must have been one of the youngest members of that assembly. During the years he lived on the Glynn Place, he was district clerk of the South School District. His penmanship was not so dignified and bold as his father's was as first town clerk. Probably the schools were already beginning to slight the second "R".
Baldwin genealogy brought forth the unwelcome revelation that little Hannah Aurelia Atherton first saw the light of day in Weathers- field, Vt., a few months after her parents moved from Baltimore. She was the kind of person any town would be proud to claim as a native. We still expect and do hereby declare that she attended our Baltimore school that fateful spring of 1839. Some interesting material has come to the writer concerning this daughter of the Baltimore Athertons which is herein included.
We are indebted to the late Mrs. Fred G. Field for a glimpse into the intimate life of this woman of strong personality. It appears Mrs. Baldwin on her trips east often visited at Mrs. Field's home. From the snapshot presented the writer of Mrs. Atherton, one might conclude from the strong features and stern expression of face there delineated that Mrs. Baldwin was the stern awe-inspiring type. Mrs. Field, however, declares her to have been one of the most delightful guests she ever entertained in her home.
Mrs. Field recalled that on one of Mrs. Atherton's visits they initiated her into the engrossing pleasures of playing "Anagrams", which was a new and popular game then. Mrs. Baldwin was very much enthused over the game and facetiously would apply herself promptly to washing the dinner dishes that they might the sooner get out the "cyard" table as she called it.
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Mr. Baldwin was as inclined to be serious minded as his wife was given over to levity. Mrs. Field told that on one occasion a group of their friends came to their home purposely to give them a surprise party. Evidently Mr. Baldwin resented the idea of their coming unannounced, and deemed it an intrusion. But wife Hannah com- pletely ignored him and his peeved manner and her vivacity, cordial- ity, ready wit and ability to meet the situation caused Mr. Bald- win's indisposition to be soon unnoticed and in no way a deterrent to the jollity of the evening.
Let us turn our attention now to Hannah Atherton Baldwin whom her pastor was glad to extol in the following letter.
"Los Angeles, California, January 31, 1940. My dear Mrs. Pollard, I am glad to respond to your request for information con- cerning Mrs. Hannah Atherton Baldwin.
"I was Mrs. Baldwin's pastor for a number of years in the Memor- ial Baptist Church in Los Angeles. She was very active in our missionary society and valuable in our church life for she was not afraid to speak out her convictions as to what she felt should be done.
"You know that many who might be leaders are hindered by timidity. When they hear how others talk they hate to oppose. But not she, for she had the courage of her convictions and people soon realized that she would back up in giving whatever she advo- cated. When we broke ground for the new church we gave her the honor of removing the first spadeful of earth. Later when other churches were started in this rapidly growing city, she aided in their building. To one she gave approximately $6000 and though she was not a member of that church they voted to name it the 'Ather- ton Baptist Church,' a name it bears to this day.
"She deeded her beautiful home, worth perhaps $30,000, to the Memorial Baptist Church of which she was a member, to be a parsonage for the church.
"The most notable of her gifts probably was the building of a home for 'Aged and Needy Baptist Ministers and Missionaries'. At this time I was no longer her pastor but had become Pac. Coast Sec'y of the Am. Bapt. Foreign Mission Soc'y, yet she called me to see her, revealing what she had in mind, asked me to make it known at the approaching convention of South California Baptists. This service I was glad to render her. The news was received with joy and I have watched its buildings, opening and service with deep interest.
"Because the families of aged ministers greatly preferred the. individual housing in small bungalows, rather than the large in- stitutional building first erected, the original plot was sold with her approval at a very good figure and the money put into a new loca- tion in Alhambra, a suburb of Los Angeles, and so this large number of very beautiful and conveniently arranged bungalows was erected. Here is gathered a happy group of aged workers who have poured out their lives in service for others and it is a benediction to meet them.
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"We of the West, which is still in the making, echo the call: 'Give us men to watch our mountains, Give us men to watch our plains. Men with empires in their vision and new eras in their brains.'
"But that is not all that is needed. We need a womanhood which can be transplanted to a new environment but whose deep roots still take hold in Christian home and church life. Women whom the possession of wealth does not harden into moral insensibility but who realize that treasure invested in lives and character out- lasts gold hoarded in vaults.
"I hope you are rearing more young people today of the Hannah Atherton Baldwin type and will send them out to bless and inspire as she did.
. Yours, Arthur W. Rider"
Atherton Genealogy
Joseph Atherton (5) Joseph (4) Joseph (3) Joshua (2) James (1)
(b.) Harvard, Mass. (m.) Anna Wheeler
May 12, 1766 Oct. 2, 1788 (b.) Bolton, Mass.
(d.) Baltimore, Vt. (d.) Chester, Vt.
Apr. 10, 1839 Sept. 18, 1845, Age 81 years
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