USA > Vermont > Windham County > Marlboro > The history of the town of Marlborough, Windham County, Vermont > Part 3
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Province of N : Hampr
GEORGE the SECOND by the Grace of God of Great Brittain France & Ireland King Defender of the faith &ca-
To ALL Persons to whom these Presents Shall come Greeting-
SEAL KNOW YE that Wee of our Especial Grace Certain Knowledge & mere motion for the Due Encouragement of Settling A New Plantation within our Said Province By & with the Advice of our Trusty & Wellbeloved Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour & Com'ander in Chieff of our Said Province of New Hampshire in America & of our
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Council of the Said Province Have upon the Conditions & reservations herein after made given and Granted and by these Presents for us our heirs & Successors Do give & Grant in Equal Shares unto our Loveing Subjects Inhabitants of Our Said Province of New Hampshire & His Majesties Other Govern- ments & to their heirs and Assignes forever whose names Are Entred on this Grant to be Divided to & Amoungst them into Sixty four Equal Shares All that Tract or Parcel of Land Scituate Lying & being within our Said Province of New Hampshire Containing by Admeasurement Twenty three thousend & forty Acres which Tract is to Contain Six miles Square & no more out of which an Allowence is to be made for high ways & unimprove- able Lands by rocks mountains Ponds & rivers One thousend & forty Acres free According to a Plan thereof made & Presented by our Said Governours orders & hereunto Annexed Butted & bounded as follows (Viz) Begining at the North West Corner of a Township Called Halifax Lately Granted to Oliver Part- tidge Esq & his Associates Lying West of Connecticut River thence runing by the Needle North Ten degrees East Six miles from thence East Ten Degrees South Six miles from thence South Ten Degrees West Six miles & from thence West Ten degrees North by Halifax aforesaid Six Miles to the Corner first mentioned-& that the Same be & hereby is Incorporated into a Township by the Name of Marlebrough and that the In- habitants that do or Shall hereafter Inhabit the Said Township Are hereby Declared to be Enfranchized with & Intituled to all & Every the Previledges & Imunities that other Towns within our Said Province by Law Exercise & Enjoy, and further that the said Town as Soon as there Shall be fifty families resident & Settled thereon Shall have the Liberty of Holding two fairs one of which Shall be held on the Last monday-in the month of May-and the Other in Last Monday-of the Month of Octor which fairs Are not to Continue & be held Longer than the respective Saturdays following the Said respective days And as soon as the Said Town Shall Consist of fifty Families A Market Shall be Opned & Kept one or more Days in Each Week as may be thot most Advantagious to the Inhabitants also that the first Meeting for the Choice of Town officers Agreeable to the Laws of our Said Province Shall be held on the first monday In March next which meeting Shall be notifyed by Timothy Dwight Esq who is hereby also Appointed the Moderator of the Said first Meeting which he is to Notify & Govern Agreeable to the Law & Custom of our Said Province and that the Annual Meeting forever hereafter for the Choice of Such Officers for the Said Town Shall be on the first Monday of March Annually
To HAVE & TO HOLD the Said Tract of Land as above Ex- pressed together with all Previledges & Appurtenances to them & their respective Heirs & Assignes for ever upon the
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following Conditions (Viz) that every Grantee his Heirs or Assignes Shall Plant or Cultivate five Acres of Land within the Term of five Years for every fifty Acres Containd in his or their Share or Proportion of Land in the Said Township And Continue to Improve & Settle the Same by Aditional Cultivations on Penalty of the forfeiture of His Grant or Share in the Said Town- ship and its reverting to his Majesty his heir & Successors to be by him or them regranted to Such of his Subjects as Shall Effectually Settle & Cultivate the Same That all white & other Pine Trees within the Said Township fit for Masting our Royal Navy be Carefully Preserved for that Use & none to be Cut or felled without his Majesties Especial Lycence for So doing first had & obtained upon the Penalty of the forfieture of the right of Such Grantee his heirs or Assigns to us our heirs & Successors as well as being Subject to the Penalty of Any Act or Acts of Parliament that now Are or hereafter Shall be Enacted That befor Any Division of the Said Land be made to & Among the Grantees A Tract of Land as near the Center of Said Township as the Land will Admit of Shall be reserved & marked out for Town Lotts one of which Shall be Allotted to Each Grantee of the Contents of One Acre Yeilding & Paying therefor to us our heirs & Suc- cessors for the Space of Ten years to be Computed from the Date hereof the rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only on the Twenty fifth Day of December Annually if Lawfully Demanded the first Payment to be made on the 25th Day of December next En- sueing the Date hereof, Every Proprietor Settler or Inhabitant Shall Yield & Pay unto us our Heirs & Successors Yearly & Every Year for ever from & after the Expiration of Ten years from the Date hereof Namly on the 25th Day of December which will be in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred & Sixty Two One Shilling Proclamation money for every hundred Acres he So owns Settles or Possesses & So in Proportion for a Greater or Lesser Tract of the Said Land which money Shall be paid by the respective Persons above Sd their Heirs or assigns in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth or to Such Officer or officers as Shall be Appointed to receive the Same and this to be in Lieu of All other Rents & Services Whatsoever
In Wittness whereof we have Caused the Seal of our Said Province to be hereunto Affixed Wittness Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour & Com'ander in Chieff of our Said Province the 29th Day of April in the Year of our Lord Christ one thousend Seven hundred & fifty One & in the Twenty fourth year of Our Reign-
B Wentworth
By his Excelencys Comand with Advice of Council
Theodr Atkinson Sery
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Timothy Dwight Esq Timothy Dwight Junr Samll Mather Samll Mather Jun Noah Parsons Noah Parsons Jun
Jona Kingsley Jun Elihu Parsons Elisha Searl
Elihu Dwight
Noah Clark Jun
Benja Lyman
Titus Wright
John Vanhorn
Edwd Billing
Nath1 Dwight
Jona Graves
Joseph Allen
Caleb Sheldon
Joseph Allen Jun
Noah Edwards
Jonathan Rust
Elisha Pomeroy
Joseph Bridgeman
Samll Phelps Jonathan Phelps
Noah Clark
Daniel Warner
Increase Clark
Ebenezer Edwards
Gideon Clark
Charles Phelps
Benning Wentworth Esq
Benning Wentworth Esq
Ellis Huske
Theodore Atkinson Esq
Saml Kingsley
Jonathan Edwards
Jona Kingsley
John Downing Esq Sampson Sheaf Esq Richd Wibord Esq
one Shear for the First Settled Minister one Shear for the benefit of the School forever, one Shear for to remain as a Glebe for the benefit of the Church of England as by Law Established which is to be under the direction of the Church Wardens of the Queens Chapel in Portsmo and for the Benefit of the Church there till an Episcopal Clergyman is Settled in the town of Marlebrough & then to remain for the Sole Benefit of the Minstry there
Samll Wentworth Esq Robert Trail
John Wentworth Esq Foster Wentworth Major John Wentworth
Timothy Edwards Job Strong Stephen Crowfoot Aaron Lyman
The terms of the charter were not fulfilled according to the conditions thereof, by failure to settle. The reasons assigned were Indian hostilities. Soon after granting the charter the quiet of the colonies was disturbed by French encroachments which terminated in what is called the "Old French War." Both the English and the French employed Indian tribes as they
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Benja Sheldon Benja Sheldon Jun Benja Alvord Supply Kinsley Aaron Kingsley
Israel Rust jun Josiah Clark Nathl Strong Eliphaz Clapp Asa Wright
could. These marauders made it hazardous to leave the older settlements for the new. In this state of affairs no settlement was attempted, and the charter was forfeited; but the proprietors renewed their petition, assigned their reasons for default, and in the first year of the reign of George III the charter was renewed and rendered valid Sept. 21, 1761, as may be seen by the following copy of the original document.
Province of New Hampshire
Seal
George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain France & Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c TO ALL whom these Presents shall come GREETING
WHEREAS our Late Royal Grandfather King George the Second of Glorious Memory did of his Special Grace & mere Motion for the Encouragement of Setling a New Plantation within our said Province of New Hampshire by his Letters Patient or Charter under the Seal of our said Province dated the 29th day of Aprill 1751 & in the Twenty Fourth Year of his Majestys Reign, grant a Tract of Land equal to Six Miles Square Bounded as therein Expressed to a Number of our Loyal subjects whose Names are Entered on the same to Hold to them their Heirs & Assigns on the Conditions therein Declared to be a Town Corporate by the Name of Marlbrough as by Reference to the said Charter may more fully appear-
And whereas the said Grantees have Represented that by the Intervention of an Indian Warr since making the said Grant it has been Impracticable to comply with & fulfill the Conditions & humbly Supplicated us not to take Advantage of the Breach of said Conditions but to Lengthen Out & Grant them some reasonable Time for Performance thereof after the said Im- pediment shall cease-
Now Know Yee that we being Willing to Promote the End Proposed have of our Further grace & Favour suspended our Claim of the Forfeiture which the said Grantees may have Incurred & by these Presents do grant unto the said Grantees their Heirs & Assigns the Term of One Year for Performing & fulfilling the Conditions Matters & things by them to be done which Term is to be Renewed Annually if the same Impediment Remains untill our Plenary Instructions shall be Received
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Relating to the Incident that has Prevented a Compliance with the said Charter According to the Intent & Meaning of the same
In Testimony whereof we have Caused the Seal of our said Province to be hereunto Affixed WITNESS Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour & Comma in Cheif of our Province aforesaid the 21st of September in the Year of our Lord Christ 1761 & in the first Year of our Reign
B Wentworth
By his Excellencys Command with advice of Council
Theodore Atkinson Secry
Province of New Hampshire, September 21, 1761. Record in the Book of Charters, Page 242.
Theodore Atkinson, Sec'y.
This Grant was made to Timothy Dwight, Esq., and his associates of Northampton, Mass., and vicinity, together with the government officials who improved the opportunity of enriching themselves by enrolling their names as joint proprietors.
In May, 1762, the Township was surveyed by Joseph Allen, Surveyor, Eliphaz Clapp, Oliver Brigham, Joel Strong and Timothy Parsons, Chairmen, into sixty-four equal divisions, with the exception of the four lots in the center from which were taken in equal parts sixty-four acres with a hexagonal boundary as may be seen on the original plan, by the said Joseph Allen, Surveyor which is to be found in the Town Clerk's Office. This is supposed to have been a reservation for town lots of one acre each according to the requirements of the charter. The other lots were square, of equal sides and intended to contain 360 acres each. Most of the township lies on elevated ridges upon a range of hills which are prominent between the Connecticut River and the Green Mountains, affording a picturesque view of most enchanting scenery where the eye can stretch far to the East over the great and fertile valley of the Connecticut and rest upon the lofty Monadnoc which towers majestically among the Granite Hills of New Hampshire; on the west is seen the long range of the Green Mountains mantled with perpetual verdure, or the Alpine snow of a northern winter.
The Surveyors in 1762 found the Township in its natural state where the woodman's axe was unknown-a dark and dreary forest heavily timbered with massive trees of hemlock, spruce, fir, beech, maple, birch, ash, elm, red oak, basswood,
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cherry, and some pine fit for masts for the "Royal Navy." There was then a dense unbroken forest from Brattleboro to Bennington without an opening or a civilized inhabitant; but from some specimens picked up of Indian manufacture, evidence is satisfactory of its having been the hunting grounds if not the residence of the aborigines. The woods were stocked with wild game, such as bears, wolves, deer, moose, otter, beaver, and a variety of smaller animals; and the ponds and streams with trout.
To Charles Phelps and his associates was granted a third charter by the Provincial Government of New York the 17th of April, 1764, under the name of New Marlborough. A copy of this charter is not found in the archives of the town, in which we have not discovered that any reference has been made excepting that its records and other papers for a few years were dated "New Marlborough," after which the name was dropped and the former name of Marlborough resumed.
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CHAPTER II First Settlement-Stockwell-Whitmore Phelps-Granger Lot-Courtship-First Marriage
Such was the thick, heavy-timbered forest of the Township as to present to the first settlers no other prospect than that of hard service, self denial, coarse fare, and dreary abodes, in subduing the uncultivated wild to fruitful and productive fields. None but bold, hardy, determined spirits could be expected to encounter so forbidding an enterprise; and such was the character of those noble hearted pioneers who will be honored and revered by their descendants and long remembered as the early settlers in Marlborough. The first settlement was commenced in the spring of 1763, by Abel Stockwell and Francis Whitmore.
Mr. Stockwell was from West Springfield, Mass., came with his family by the way of Brattleboro, and began his settlement on the east border of the town on the farm since owned and for a long course of years occupied by the late Luther Ames, now owned and improved by his descendants. Mr. Stockwell opened the first public house in town-long known by the name of the Stockwell Tavern. He had two sons, Abel and Perez. Perez died in 1777. Abel, his brother, moved to Jericho, N. Y., and there buried his wife. He was considered a pious man, and it was said that he was there chosen deacon of the Congregational Church. From there he removed to Chesterfield, N. H., where he again married after which he became mentally deranged, an hereditary complaint. In a disordered state of mind he went into the fields and cut his throat and was not discovered until after his death. Grass was found stuffed into the wound, which led people to suppose that he came to his senses after the blood started, and made an effort to stop it, which was received as an evidence of his repentance of his sin and especially that of suicide. Aaron Stockwell, son of Deacon Abel Stockwell and of Patience, his wife, born July 9, 1768, was the first child known to have been born in Marlborough. In early manhood he removed with his parents to Jericho, now Bainbridge, New York, where it has been said of him, he became a man of property and a worthy citizen.
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Francis Whitmore, in the spring of 1763, succeeded Mr. Stock- well by a few days. He came with his family from Middletown, Conn., by the way of Colerain, Mass., and Halifax, and settled in the southwesterly part of the town some five or six miles from Mr. Stockwell's, upon the farm since owned and occupied by Levi Barrett, and now occupied by Simeon Adams. These two families spent nearly a year in their settlements, and suffered many hardships before they became acquainted with each other, each supposing it was the first and only family in town, until one day the men, when out hunting, providentially met each other in the woods for the first time. These two families were far distant from any settlement, enduring many privations and suffering much with hunger and cold. Mr. Whitmore brought all the grain or meal used in his family upon his back from Colerain and Greenfield, a distance of twenty or thirty miles through the woods. With much difficulty a cow was kept alive through the winter upon some wild grass gathered in the summer preceding, and browse from the limbs of felled trees. One winter or more Capt. Whitmore kept his oxen upon the hay he had previously gathered from a beaver meadow, (since owned by the late Timothy Mather and flooded as a mill pond and now owned by his son Dwight M. Mather), which is about three- fourths of a mile north of the meeting house on the west side of the Newfane road. In the early part of the winter, before the fall of deep snow, he drove his oxen about five miles to the meadow, where he built him a camp and took care of them until spring. In 1765, Mrs. Whitmore spent a considerable part of the winter alone, her husband being absent in the older settlements, pur- suing his calling as a tinker and earning something for the support of his family. During this long, tedious and dreary winter, she saw no human being but her little daughter, with the exception of some hunters providentially directed to her dwelling. Without a horse or a neighbor to whom she could resort, she spent the winter in the howling wilderness, courage- ously braving every real or imaginary danger, applying her strength with much persevering and laborious industry in cutting down trees for browse on which she kept her little stock from starvation, and also chopping her own firewood to keep her warm. To furnish water for her cattle she melted snow in her brass kettle as it was less work than to clear the path and dig
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out the usual watering place. She encountered hardships seemingly beyond the ability of female endurance. With her iron constitution, undaunted courage, and noble heart "to feel for others' woes" she rendered herself exceedingly useful to settlers both as a nurse and a midwife. As the settlement increased in numbers she frequently travelled on foot, and some- times upon snow shoes through deep woods, from one side of the town to the other, by night and by day, to relieve the distressed. One night in particular, as related by the late Capt. Nathaniel Whitney, she went upon snowshoes through the woods by marked trees from her own house to that of Col. William Williams (then living at the mills now owned by Absalom Snow and formerly known by the name of the Underwood Mills), a distance of not less than six miles. This is only mentioned as an example among many others of a similar kind in this and neighboring towns, illustrating the endurance of her physical strength. She lived to the advanced age of 87 years, and officiated as a midwife at more than two thousand births without losing a patient.
In noticing the trials of Mrs. Whitmore in her pioneer life, an instance was narrated by the late Doctor Lemuel Dickerman of Brattleboro who said that she took her second daughter with her in search of her cow, which roamed in the woods for her living. It was toward evening. She thought she heard the bell in the distance, followed on in the imaginary direction of the sound, without discovering the object of her search, and was led beyond her former limits. As night came on and the sombre shadows began to thicken into darkness, she found herself bewildered and lost in the wilderness. She lay with her child on the ground for the night, and the next day was found by Capt. Whitmore, and with the impression that home was in an opposite direction-a mental delusion not uncommon with the bewildered and lost. Her husband was appointed to the office of the first captain of the first military company ever marshalled in town. He was also chosen the first representative of the town's inhabitants in the first general representative body assembled in Vermont, which consisted of a convention of delegates from the several towns, known by the name of the "New Hampshire Grants," convened at Dorset, July 24, 1776, to consider the propriety and duty of refusing allegiance to the pretended legal jurisdiction of New Hampshire, New York, and Great Britain. "Soon after
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the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia, 1776," says L. Demming, "The GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS concluded they were not under the rule of any earthly nation or government except their own; therefore they called a convention of Delegates from the several towns, which Convention met at Dorset, July 24, 1776, and adjourned to Sept. 25." When the convention reassembled it consisted of fifty-one members from thirty-five towns. It voted, without a dissenting voice, to take suitable measures as soon as may be, to declare the "New Hampshire Grants" a free and separate district, with resolutions pledging aid against the oppressive measures of the Mother Country. With the honored worthies of this convention stands the name of Capt. Francis Whitmore from Marlborough, showing that the inhabitants took action with the first public political organi- zation in the State. And further than this, his name stands as a delegate from Marlborough registered with the names of delegates assembled in convention at Windsor in 1777, which formed the first Constitution of the State of Vermont. Of this act the citizens of the town may pride themselves, sharing the honor, with others, in adding a fresh plume to the liberty cap of Vermont Independence.
The family of the Whitmores consisted of two daughters. The elder, Philena, came with them when they removed into the wilderness. She afterwards married Isaac Barrett and had a son Levi, who for many years lived on the homestead of his parents and grand parents reared his family, sold, and removed to Chester, Warren County, N. Y. Of the descendants of Capt. Whitmore, several remain in town. The second daughter of Capt. Whitmore, Saborah, was the first female, and second child born in town. She was born July 11, 1769, and married Job Adams from whom she was divorced; she then married Joseph Dunklee of Brattleborough, about the year 1798, and there died April 5, 1821.
After all the hardships endured by Capt. Whitmore and his wife as pioneers of the wilderness, a good providence smiled upon their labors; they ever prospered in life; had a competency to sustain them as their years increased and lived esteemed and honored. In 1779, Mrs. Whitmore united with the Congregational Church, then in its infancy, and sustained a reputable standing to her death. Capt. Whitmore died May 31, 1790, aged about
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70 years. His wife survived him, and afterwards married Isaac Pratt, an aged citizen and an early settler from Shrewsbury, Mass. After a lingering sickness borne with much Christian patience, she died, May 24, 1814, aged 87 years.
The third family settled in Marlborough is supposed to have been that of Charles Phelps, Esq., a lawyer by profession. He married Dorothy Root, came with his family from Hadley, Mass., and settled on the well known place called the "Phelps farm," in 1764. His wife died suddenly while on a visit to Greenfield, Mass., 1777. Esq. Phelps was appointed clerk of the proprietors, and distinguished himself in rendering valuable aid in the early settlement of the town. At the expense of the proprietors in 1770-1772, he erected a log building attached to his own house for proprietors' meetings. It was to be used as a meeting house for public worship, but was seldom if ever used for this purpose, excepting by his own family. It proved to be an enterprise of but little estimation by the settlers. As a lawyer he was renowned for the length of arguments; for an illustration it has been said of him that the court allotted him only four hours for his proceedings which only brought him to the threshold of his argument without touching the merits of the cause.
His son Solomon was graduated from Harvard College in 1762. He was educated both for the bar and the pulpit; and preached in town in the summer of 1776. He afterwards became so deranged as to attempt to beat out his brains with an axe, and succeeded so far as to break in his skull. He was rescued, and his life preserved by trepanning. After this he cut his throat with a razor and his lifeless remains were found between a couple of hemlock logs. This was the first and is supposed to be the only suicide committed in town.
Timothy Phelps, the son of Charles Phelps, Esq., settled on the homestead with his father, and survived him for many years; but one day after taking his usual dinner and sitting back from the table, he died instantly in his chair, July 3, 1817, in the 71st year of his age. In the early settlement of the town, he shared with others the laborious task of subduing the heavy forest, in building roads, and in promoting the growth of the place. He sustained offices of trust and in a "legal town meeting" the 19th of June, 1775, by vote of the town he was chosen Lieutenant of the first militia company formed in town. But owing to perplexities
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