USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Baltimore > The history of the town of Baltimore, Vermont > Part 20
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Perhaps they sought to repay Benjamin for his hospitality that day by showering him with town office. (We wonder if Huldah and the youngsters did not listen in, or would Huldah be as immodest as to do that A. M. P.) At any rate they made him treasurer, surveyor of highways and pound-keeper. He was re-elected treasurer four- teen years in succession or until 1817. All of these years but three he also served as selectman. In 1822 he was again elected treasurer which office he held for five years. It was in 1825 that Benjamin began to keep a record of the orders he paid in a book which has been handed down to us. Every order is written in full; bookkeep- ing in those days was a slow laborious process. If there was any virtue or any praise in serving as pound-keeper, Benjamin was en- titled to much of both as he held that office practically all the time he lived in the brick house. His "leanter" was sufficient and con- venient evidently.
But the greatest honor to be experienced by Benj. Page was to be elected the first town representative to the Vermont Legislature in 1824. Though clearly unconstitutional it was arranged by the legislature which set Baltimore off from Cavendish in 1793 that those two towns should unite in electing one representative to the General Assembly. It was not until 1824 or thirty-one years after Baltimore became a separate town that she exerted her prerogative to have a representative of her own, and Benjamin Page was thus honored.
It would appear that all the legal voters in town turned out to elect Benjamin, at least twenty-eight names appeared on the check list.
Benj. Page was present and answered the roll call of the General Assembly Oct. 14, 1824. A perusal of the House Journal for that year shows him to have been present and voting at all times of yea and nay votes. He and Benjamin Litch were elected justices of the peace by the legislature of that year. Much interesting legislation was considered that session. The bill to abolish imprisonment for debt handed down from the previous session was duly considered; then action was postponed on the measure until the following legis- lature. Final enactment of this bill into law did not occur until 1838. Suitable plans were made for the invitation and entertain- ment of Lafayette, "the now venerable apostle of liberty", during his visit to Vermont. Mr. Page obtained leave of absence for the
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rest of the session on Nov. 5. Thus for the first time in history was Baltimore as a separate town represented in the General Assembly.
Some mention should be made of the brick yard as that constitutes the one and only manufacturing enterprise ever established in Baltimore unless we include the cider mill operated by Earle and Jonathan Woodbury. Just how extensive or how long the brick business continued is not known to the writer. Some years ago it was her privilege and pleasure to talk with Charles A. Leland, a native of Baltimore then living in Springfield, Vt. He recalled his school days in the North District schoolhouse and remembered the brick yard distinctly. Two houses in town were built from bricks made there, Benj. Page's which burned in 1901 and Levi Piper's on the Carrigan place burned a few years earlier. Strange that both of them should fall prey to devastating fires, made as they were of durable materials.
From the N. Springfield Baptist Church History we learn that the Axtells, the Stoughtons, the Bigelows, and the Jewett Boynton Jr. family went to Union, Wis. Jewett Boynton Jr. was instantly killed July 28, 1865, by being thrown from his buggy.
Amos Page Family (The Upham Lot)
The cellar hole which marks the location of the homestead of the Amos Page family happens to be on land owned at the present time by the writer herself. A worthy citizen of a nearby community once remarked in her hearing, "You'll find plenty of people willing to trace relationship to Benjamin Page, but his brother Amos wasn't so enterprising."
A study of the records confirms this statement. But one who has observed and tilled the land once owned by Amos has expressed this opinion often-"There's been a lot of work done by somebody in the past on those fields. Stones no bigger than eggs can be seen on the stone heaps, some of the piles being where there is now a sturdy growth of woods."
Those well-laid walls and heaps of stone bear evidence to the in- dustry and perseverance of Amos Page. True, he was not the first to occupy the land as he purchased the same from Joel and Sally Greene in 1805, who in turn had bought the upper tract of 34 acres where the house was located from Matthew Griswold and the lower part of 50 acres from Manasseh Boynton. When Amos bought this land, it was encumbered by a mortgage to William Upham which Amos was "to clear out at his risque and charge."
In 1818 Amos living in Roxbury, Essex Co., Mass., was given a quit-claim deed by Upham which stated that "he and his heirs shall be forever hereafter barred and secluded" from the quit-claimed premises.
We expect Amos was a bachelor all these years. The following data is copied from the Robinson genealogy, these Robinsons being some of the very first settlers in the West District:
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Children of Peter Robinson and Jane Carlton Robinson. No. 1 Nancy Robinson born at Andover, Mass. Sept. 13, 1781. Nancy Robinson (Parker) married to Amos Page about 1813. Amos Page born at Lunenburg, Mass. June 20, 1779. Nancy Robinson (Parker) died at Quincy, Mass. Dec. 11, 1860 age 78 years and 3 months.
Amos was not a young man when he brought Nancy to Baltimore as a bride. That they had quite a large family is shown by the school records. In 1834 Amos had six children between the ages of four and eighteen to go to school. That may have been the peak as in 1835 the number was reduced to five. There is not a way of learning the names of the Amos Page children except as here and there a name appears in the records where the boys took the Freeman's Oath or held an occasional town office. The names of Benjamin Page's boys are known because of their father's will, but an Abel, Raymond, George, William and Dana Page are men- tioned that were probably sons of Amos. Girls' names seldom appeared on the early town records and only a few of the vital statis- tics were kept until 1857. Raymond Page at one time held a deed to Horace Martin's farm and was listed several years for a poll tax.
In perusing those early grand lists hope and admiration run high for Amos. He kept more stock according to his acres than did most of his neighbors. Evidently he liked horses and probably had a brood mare as he generally had one to three colts and often as many as four horses besides always a yoke of oxen. The year 1835 he had 2 oxen, 5 cows, 2 2-yr .- olds, 2 horses, 3 colts and 28 sheep.
No wonder the fields show thorough cultivation at some time. To raise the feed by old-time methods to winter so much stock on a small farm of 84 acres including pasture and woodland was no mean accomplishment. In 1842 he had $183 personal property in excess of debts owing. But alas! Old age for Amos was fraught with poverty and poor health.
In 1843 to settle the expenses of some litigation he mortgaged his farm for $57.71. The next year he placed two more mortgages on it. The mortgage was increased in each of the two succeeding years. About this time the overseer of the poor petitioned the Probate Court to appoint a guardian over Amos.
In 1848 he sold the farm to John White the storekeeper in North Springfield for $1100. This may have been a fair price as the house was never valued over $97.
By 1854 Amos was being helped by the town of Baltimore, and we wonder where he lived as White sold the place inside of a week to Nahum Knight, the late Horace Knight's father. In 1855 Amos must have been ill as his son Raymond was paid for board and an extra sum for nursing. One year the overseer paid a bill of thirty- eight cents for rum and sugar for Amos Page. But that did not effect a cure.
He died March 17, 1860, age 76 yrs. 9 mo. in Baltimore at the home of the Bemises. His wife died in December of that same year
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in Quincy, Mass. Possibly she had not lived in Baltimore for some time as no town aid was shared by her.
It has been told their son George was a cripple from his youth and for a time was in destitute circumstances. When the railroads were built, George took up the idea of peddling popcorn and other light refreshments in the passenger trains. His efforts met with success and George became quite prosperous.
Nahum Knight moved to town with his large family in 1848. In 1857-'58 he was entitled to send six boys to school: Lucius, Marvin G., George F., Pliny E., Harrison J., and Henry. Sad to relate Pliny E. was the only one of these boys to grow up.
Nahum's wife was Sarah Williams and her father Isaac Williams had bought and was then living on the Benjamin Page farm.
Nahum was a carpenter by trade. He built the new house on the Sherwin place and conceived the plan for a new house of his own. He purchased about two acres across the road from the Amos Page house, dug a cellar and started the new building when he was stricken with typhoid fever from which he died Aug. 27, 1858. His son George F. also died Sept. 1, 1858. The widow sold the property back to White, and the new house was sold before it was finished. Horace Knight was born Dec. 24, 1858, after his father had died. The house was taken down and moved to Gould's Mills, thus ending perhaps for all time one of the earliest homesteads in Baltimore.
Waldo Cheney Farm
Noah Piper has been mentioned in a historical sketch as one of the three first settlers in what is now Baltimore, Vt. The Cavendish records show that he was living in that town, later known as Bal- timore, in 1788. Waldo Cheney must have been one of those three as his name appears on the records as early as 1786 in a deed in which he purchased from one Jonathan Blanchard 300 acres on Oliver Willard's right. This Willard was one of the 66 original proprietors of Cavendish, his right being "over Hawks Mt." (or Baltimore). Each proprietor's right consisted of 312 acres; so it is probable that Waldo Cheney owned the entire right. This tract has been known for years as the Graves place. Evidently he de- sired less land instead of more. In 1796 he sold his right and title to 50 acres of land on Oliver Willard's right, now known as the Roy Olney farm, to a Moses Bates for 12 shillings, also in the same year he sold his right to 20 acres to a Moses Hale for $2.00 In 1795 Joseph Morse had paid Waldo Cheney 12 shillings for 80 acres on the Oliver Willard right. This land is now known as the Upham lot. It will be noted that these parcels of land were on the Oliver Willard right which Waldo Cheney had bought in 1786.
He may have sold these parcels of land previous to the beginning of Baltimore records in 1794. If taxes on land became overdue, it was the custom to sell such lands at a vendue to satisfy the amount of the taxes then due upon said lands. This procedure may explain
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the many instances on record where an individual deeded his right to certain parcels of land for a few shillings, usually twelve. Of course this small amount of money did not represent the real value of the lands. They were vendued off probably for taxes, and Mr. Cheney was there to bid them off. He sold the right he gained thereby at a small profit possibly.
In 1801 Waldo Cheney sold Matthew Griswold 10 acres of land for $50 which might have been the upper mowings of the Upham lot beside the road, and Matthew Griswold in turn sold Mr. Cheney 131/2 acres for $150. In 1802 the town of Baltimore purchased 9 square rods of land of Waldo Cheney for $5 for a cemetery. These appear to be all the land transactions of Mr. Cheney until he sold 180 acres to Luther Graves in 1815 and moved away.
It is interesting to know that the Cheney or Graves farm has had three distinct sets of buildings. We do not know that Waldo Cheney built his first habitation, which was located on the same side of the road as the present house but across the hollow in the mowing west from it. The foundations of that first habitation used to be dis- cernible and were located among the clump of apple trees near the pasture wall near the source of the then as now water supply.
They may not have been very substantial buildings because in 1799 we read in the town meeting records that Waldo Cheney was elected pound-keeper and that "Waldo Cheney's old house shall be the pound for the North districe." The same record was made in 1800. It is safe to infer that Mr. Cheney had his new house built previous to March 1799. This was located on the same side and below the barns recently removed by the present owner. A beautiful hedge of thickly growing lilacs now outlines the cellar hole of that new home that was probably the pride and joy of the Cheney family in the early 1800's. In these days of sanitary precautions one might object to having a house on the same slope but lower than the barn, but it was sheltered, pleasant and commodious. This was the house into which Zenas and Emily Graves moved in 1860 and in which Luther, the father, reserved the two southwest rooms for his own occupancy.
Men can buy tracts of land and sell them and do not greatly affect the history of the town; but when a man erects new buildings to take the place of old, he becomes a benefactor of the community. And when, as was the case with Mr. Cheney, he strives earnestly to establish a strong government for a newly born town he deserves the commendation of all who follow in his train.
He was elected as first selectman at the first town meeting held in Baltimore, March 12, 1794, at his house. At various times he held some of all the usual town offices except town clerk. He served as tithing man, hog-reeve, hayward and collector of rates. His was the first name on that first committee to divide the town into two school districts, also on the committee to take security of Mr. Houghton for 2 acres of land for a schoolhouse and to divide the same into three shares for chopping.
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According to the records his activities as a town official grew less with his advancing years, but his oldest son Lothrop assumed some of the town offices.
Just where Mr. and Mrs. Cheney took up their residence after leaving Baltimore is not known, but it was in Weathersfield, Vt., near Springfield, we are told. For several years they were members of the Baptist Church in North Springfield, Priscilla being a member when the church was first organized. Both are buried in that cemetery. The following inscriptions appear upon their tomb- stones, which are embellished with weeping willows carved at the top of each:
Waldo Cheney July 31, 1834 Age 85 yrs.
Priscilla Cheney Sept. 4, 1841 Age 88 yrs.
Cheney Genealogy
Waldo Cheney b. 1749 in Woodstock, Conn. m. Priscilla Bowen b. July 2, 1753 in Woodstock, Conn. They were married in Brook- field, Mass., Sept. 3, 1778.
Mr. Cheney was a corporal in Capt. Manning's 7th. Co., Col. Israel Putnam's regiment. Discharged Dec. 14, 1775.
Priscilla Bowen was 24 yrs. old when her parents moved to Brookfield where she was married. It was probably her brother Daniel, b. 1750, who first owned the Frank Kendall place. Her sister Jerusha married Capt. Isaac Gilbert of Cavendish Feb. 13, 1792.
Children of Waldo and Priscilla Cheney:
Huldah b. 1779 m. Benj. Page, Baltimore, Vt. Her sketch will appear with the Page family.
Lothrop b. 1781 m. Phebe Martin of Baltimore d. 1881 at Stoughton, Wisconsin, in the 100th year of his age. During their early married life they lived in North Springfield in the Willard Leland house now owned by Addie Leland. Phebe Martin was the aunt of Horace Martin. They had two daughters, Nancy and Mary. A son of Lothrop and Phebe Cheney died Mar. 20, 1823, also Amanda died Jan. 12, 1825, aged 2 months.
The school records of North Springfield state that Lothrop Cheney sent his two girls to that school from 1839 to 1843 and was school committeeman in 1840. In 1845 and 1846 only Mary attended school. The writer has been told that Lothrop and his family were taking a carriage trip for pleasure into Massachusetts. Nancy was taken desperately ill of scarlet fever and died before reaching home. She was buried in the Plains Cemetery, 1846, at the age of 20. Mary Cheney taught in N. Springfield in 1846, 12 weeks of summer school for $22 including board. In 1849 Mary Cheney died at the age of 19 and was buried beside her sister.
Horace Martin named his little daughter, b. 1854, Mary Cheney Martin. She is now the widow of Rev. A. J. Hop-
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kins. Lothrop Cheney, now childless, wished to adopt her but in vain.
Mr. Cheney and wife went to Wisconsin where be became very wealthy. He lived to a good old age and was totally blind before his death. He did not wish his property to be evenly divided among his nieces and nephews but believed in making a few of his heirs wealthy. Augusta Boynton James the sister of Francis Wayland Boynton was one of those fortunate beneficiaries.
Other children born to Waldo and Priscilla Cheney were:
Wealthy bears the distinction of being the first girl baby born (Mar. 14, 1789) in the town of Baltimore before its organiza- tion. She died young.
Dorothy (Dolly) m. Jesse Clark.
Daniel Bowen d. in childhood.
Theodosia m. Capt. Foster Henry, Perkinsville, Vt., d. in Perkins- ville and buried in Plains Cemetery. Her son Hyren b. 1809 d. 1881, was a school master, taught Baltimore South District in 1830. Lived in Perkinsville and made freestone stoves. He represented Weathersfield in the state legisla- ture in 1846-'47 and 1864-'65.
Roxey m. Gideon Chapin d. Dec. 11, 1813 age 28 yrs. 5 mo. 7 days. Oliver Lovell b. 1795 d. Mar. 5, 1812 age 17 yrs. Buried in Balti- more cemetery. Clerked in Capt. Henry's store in Perkins- ville.
Hannah b. 1790 d. Nov. 16, 1883 age 93 m. Thomas Prentiss of Weathersfield Jan. 24, 1811, son of the Thomas Prentiss who was a very prominent citizen in the early history of Weathers- field. About 1828 Thomas and Hannah moved to Waits- field, Vt. There he was a member of the United Church Society, then the Baptist Church, then the Wesleyan Methodist Society, each in turn. He served as selectman of Waitsfield several terms and was representative in 1832 and again in 1838. Hannah Prentiss was the ancestor of Abbie Prentiss Watson of Alstead, N. H.
Lucius H. b. Apr. 21, 1800 d. Berlin, Ohio, Sept. 19, 1846 m. Lorenda Griswold, moved to Waitsfield, Vt., before going to Ohio. Lorenda m. 2nd Sylvanus Newhall. Lorenda buried in N. Springfield, Lucius in Ohio. Their child Rindilla M. b. Jan. 24, 1829 m. Geo. Kimball.
The genealogy as compiled by Mrs. Abbie Prentiss Watson states that all of Waldo and Priscilla's children were born in Baltimore. The earliest record thus far discovered states that Waldo Cheney bought his land in Baltimore in 1786. If that is correct, the oldest children possibly were not natives of Baltimore.
Graves Family
Every place in Baltimore that is now occupied for a home had one prominent substantial family living on it for a number of years in the olden days. The Graves farm was fortunate in that it had
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two such families. Waldo Cheney sold it to Luther Graves of Weathersfield in 1815, and it was owned by members of that family 87 years.
Luther Graves b. in Leominster, Mass., married Dorcas Martin b. in Lunenburg, daughter of Ephraim Martin, and to them at least five children were born while living in Weathersfield, Vt. Their names: Arethusa d. Aug. 26, 1840 age 33 years buried in Baltimore; Nelson L. a Presbyterian minister, died in No. Carolina; Luther M. (called Marvin) died in Mass. m. a Robinson; Luke C. died in North Carolina; Zenas H. b. in Weathersfield Mar. 17, 1815 died in Baltimore May 21, 1896, buried in No. Springfield, Vt.
Luther Graves bought the farm Feb. 23, 1815, just before Zenas was born, and he was a small baby when his father and mother moved into the house below the barn.
The writer is always pleased when some fact or incident comes to light that distinguishes one family sketch from another. But it was with something like a shock that the following record was dis- covered:
State of Vermont \ To ether Constable of Baltimore in the Windsor County County of Windsor
Greeting-You are hereby required to sumons Luther Graves and Famerly now residing in Baltimore to depart said Town-hereof fail not but ...... of this precept and your doings herein due return make according to law, given under our hands at Baltimore this first day of February A. D. 1816
Signed by the three selectmen
Baltimore Mar. 2, 1816 then by virtue of the precept I sumoned the above Luther Graves by puting a trew attested coppy of this precept into the hands of his wife, thereon indorsed.
Amasa Gregory-First Constable
That Luther Graves was apt to become a town charge is un- believable as he had bought one of the largest farms in town and no mortgage was given on it, neither at that time nor during the 87 years that the Graves family owned it. The precept was served on Luther March 2, and that very week he was honored by being elected highway surveyor at his first town meeting.
Just what prompted this action on the part of the town 125 years ago will always remain a mystery. But the people of Baltimore today have reason to rejoice and be exceedingly glad that Luther did not depart said town when ordered so to do. And it is amusing to know that Amasa Gregory's daughter later married the boy Zenas into whose mother's hands Amasa put the "trew coppy" ac- cording to the record. These were the grandparents-to-be of Ella E. Graves, who was to become our chief benefactress.
The records show that Luther took an active interest in town affairs. His usual post of honor was on the board of selectmen, but he served as highway surveyor, lister several times, nearly every year being elected to some office. In the school records his name
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often appears as committee man, and he frequently bid off the master's board, one time at 64 cents per week, also bid off the wood at 68 cents per cord. Probably all Luther's and Dorcas' children attended school in the North schoolhouse not so far distant from their home. The oldest son Nelson acquired a college education, a rare accomplishment in those times.
Luther Marvin took the Freeman's Oath in 1832. It is believed the young men in Baltimore always took the oath promptly, and the first office to which they were elected generally was that of hayward. To this office Marvin was elected in 1835 and as auditor in 1836. He and Zenas evidently were nearly the same age.
About this time Marvin married a Robinson girl from Weathers- field and moved in with his father and mother.
In 1836 Zenas took Freeman's Oath and true to form was honored with the office of hayward the next year. By 1841 Zenas was much involved in town business as he was elected highway surveyor, auditor, trustee of U. S. deposit money, sexton, petit juror. In 1844 the board of selectmen was a family affair as Luther and son Zenas were both elected to it. Marvin shone as justice of the peace several years. Some years all three Graves men held offices. Lu- ther M. represented the town in the legislatures of 1850 and 1853 and Zenas in 1858 and 1859.
Luther was not a buyer or seller of land; when finally settled on his large farm he sold a small corner of land to Nahum Knight and sometime after he bought the so-called Jewell lot of 27 acres more or less from Col. Joshua Martin. No record of this deed is found.
Considering his acreage Luther did not keep very many head of cattle. In 1828 he was taxed for a yoke of oxen, 7 cows, 4 head of young cattle, 2 horses and 1 colt.
He seems to have increased his farming operations after Marvin moved in with him. In 1843 he was taxed on 4 horses, 10 head of cattle, 3 swine, 155 sheep valued at 10 cents each. It may be re- called that during the 1840's sheep raising became a leading occupa- tion in Vermont. The side of Hawks Mountain afforded cheap and plentiful pasturage, and the sheep business was carried on at con- siderable profit by the Baltimore farmers.
In 1844 Marvin Graves bought the Eph. Martin farm which had become heavily mortgaged from Horace Martin. It is not known that Marvin and his wife ever lived there, but it is a matter of record that Zenas was living on it when he finally bought it from Marvin in 1860. It was to this farm that Zenas brought his bride Emily Gregory and here their three children were born, viz: (The mother-Emily Gregory b. Feb. 19, 1818 d. Feb. 16, 1901.) Nelson G. b. 1845 d. June 20, 1860 age 14 yrs. 10 mos. buried in N. Spring- field. Ella Elizabeth b. Aug. 23, 1850 d. July 8, 1918. Otis Christopher b. Apr. 21, 1852, d. Nov. 24, 1920.
Zenas was a speculator and luck attended him in one instance. At the death of Joshua Martin 3rd. who lived on the quarry place the home farm was sold first to a Washburn who, in turn, sold off
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