USA > Vermont > Washington County > Plainfield > The history of the towns of Plainfield, Roxbury and Fayston, Vermont : with Marshfield or Middlesex papers in fifty copies > Part 9
USA > Vermont > Washington County > Roxbury > The history of the towns of Plainfield, Roxbury and Fayston, Vermont : with Marshfield or Middlesex papers in fifty copies > Part 9
USA > Vermont > Washington County > Fayston > The history of the towns of Plainfield, Roxbury and Fayston, Vermont : with Marshfield or Middlesex papers in fifty copies > Part 9
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My fellow townsmen. in conclusion, let me say that I would that this task of chronicling a history of our town might have been performed by abler hands than mine. With the short time alloted me I could, of course, give nothing but a rough sketch of those incidents brought most vividly to my notice. I trust they are in the main correct. My thanks are due those who have so kindly furnished me with material, and I hope the day is not far distant when a fuller and more com- plete history may be written If you de- rive half the pleasure in listening to this that I have in learning of those pioneers in our town, I shall be saintied. I think we are too apt in this fas: age not to look back to the lives and deeds of those who have gone before Said Edmund Burke. " A people who do not look back to their ancestors will not look forward to their posterity." and still there are many to day if called upon to give the malden name of their grandmother would be una- ble to do so. To know more of those whose places we now fill. to learn of their virtues, to know wherein they erred. Is our right and duty. In our little mountain town, away up among the Grech Moun- tains, we have no great history to write of. no mighty deeds of vallant men to chroni cle. no biography of sonle brilliant person who has gone from here and startied the world with lus genius, for no native of Roxbury has been. to my knowledge. a member of Congress or et the Suite I rison cithier, but simply a story of March men and brave women seeking anl making their homes among these hills There are times when. perhaps, we miss wish for a mare genial clime and a more fertile soil. but Pone ef us atter living here a series of years will fail to love their his for it is our home When we madeit e changes that Have been wro ! in our State and nation during the past crm irs, we know that our little turn has bey: pace with the rest Ilon differnot the serer ol terday and the be Samwl Ritardion gazed on when
first he came here. Atour feet still murmurs that little mountain stream that sparkled in the autumn sunlight of $6 years ago, but how changed is the rest. Then it was an unbroken forest, with naught but wild beasts for inmates ; now it is teeming with the marks of improvement. Theiron horse is going at lightning speed through onr valley ; step to yonder telegraph office and in a moment's time a thought of yours may be flashed to the Golden Gates of the Pacific, or, seut beneath the ocean's bed. may be heard on another continent ; on our hillsides are evidences of great improve- ments, machinery supplants labor, and the products of other climes may be ours at prices almost nominal. Forth from these hillsides come a thousand sparkling streams with water pure and clear as our lives should be ; across these hills the strong. invigorating air is ever waving, giving health and happiness, and here in our peaceful homes ought to be found hearts grateful to the Giver of all these blessings. But the tottering forms of these aged ones who have assembled here to-day, tell us plainly that it is but a brief happiness we have to enjoy here, and that with each re- turn of this golden harvest time, new mounds will have been made in our valleys and on our hillsides, marking the spot where some one is resting from his labors, and may God grant that when the last summons shall come, and the places we now occupy shall know us no more, that our lives shall have been such as to bear well the scrutiny of the Great Hereafter.
A CENTURY OLD STORY.
RT MRS. SARAH WHICHLAN MANSFIELD. ( Read sl Ile Restury Consegnal.)
Ah! what more Inspiring theme For poet's pon or poci's dreams Than to go back an hundred years-
To dream of all the hopes and fears. The heart throbs and the pain
Of those who lived, and loved, and died-
Who felle the foreals, dass and wide Who, with unswert ng. constani toll. Cleared these broad seres, tilled the soll. Themselves a home to gain.
A hundred years, or less. ago Deep waters bad llwir ebb and Aow :
The wlilow bowed Ils graceful lesd
Above the walor-11''s bord. Where stands 1 is village now
The best and soll rossed without fear.
With now en-l theu a moose or deer. A .I the primeral forests rang With a richs of pa ther the blets sa0; Their Sontirat. once: it attains. I trow.
The re-[ man of 11 ca wa lered through These Jim old - vale, a brave and true Were they wlan mill li green htos of Vermont gl land /ou Ies, my -or upon t. A nobler, truet pare
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ROXBURY.
Than those old yeomen ne'er were seen; Though brown of check, nor graceful mien Had they, their record shows A list of deeds that brighter glows As years come on apacc.
In a sweet glade, beside a wood, A century gone, a cabin stood ; A purling brook trilled joyously along,
And bird-notes echoed back the song. While little children fair
.Joined In the chorus at their play: What wonder that their hearts were gay --- From the dreal war papa had come, To spend his days in peace at home ; How light secined every care!
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'Twas springtime; adder-tongucs were op; 'Neath the dry leaves the arbutus' cup; Rude troughs still caught the flowing sweet From the rock mapie; tiny feet Made fairy footprints all around. One little lad, with crisp brown curls, And full white brow, falr as a girl's, Wich dusk-bright eyes, brim full of glee, Pet of that humble home was hie- Humble, yet with love crowued.
"O, let me mulud the fire," he cried, " to-day, And watch the sap, to see It boil away; You go to dinner, one and all-
Please let me stay ; I'm not so very small, I'll have you all to know;
I'm a big boy, 'most eight years old, And not a bit afraid; now do not scold, For won't I make the kettle sing !- And dou't forget my lunch to bring- I'm starved almost !- now go."
And so they left him, bright-cyed Ncd; " He'll keep all right, we know," they said,
" And feel as proud as any king-
The little, poupons, slily thing, To think such work Is play." And while they dlned, the mother brought A daluty lunch of trout they'd caught, And good sweet bread, both brown and white: ". Now haste thee, husband, from my sight, Nor linger by the way ;
"My heart Is sad-off! strangely sad- For fear of harm to the dear lad; I know he's brave-as brave as good --- But wild beasts furk in the deep wood- Of haste thee to our child." "Fie! file! upon thy woman's fears;
\ The boy is safe-dry up thy tears; And when he comes with me to-night, Thou'lt smile upon this foolish fright- Ile loves the deep woods wild."
Yet, as hls hurried steps drew near, Why blanched his cheek with sudden fear ? Ahl what was there hls keen eye scanned ? Prints of moccasIned feet on every hand, With the bare ones of little Ned; An arrow and a wooden spoon- But where the boy they left at noon? The frantic father called in vain ; Sad echo answered back the strain --- Forever lost! it said.
On through the forest, dark and wild, The frenzied father sought his child ;
Through mountain gorge, o'er hill and dale, Till steps grew slow, chceks wan and pale, He sought, but never found.
.
Spring, summer, waned, and antumn caine, Rich with ripe fruits and golden graln ; But from that pleasant cabin home
The light and Joy for aye had flown- No little narrow mound,
Rose-strewn, where they could go and weep, And know their darling was asleep Beneath the flowers; no such rellet
Had those poor hearts; in silent grler They passed each weary day. White grew the mother's raven hair, Deep care lines on the brow ouce fair, Watching and waiting all in vain; The dear one came not back again- He was lost to them for aye.
-The stolen child was a grand-uncle of the writer.
OUR ROXBURY VISIT.
When in print so far as with Middlesex, we had no certain historian for Roxbury engaged, but learning by chance corres- pondence that Mrs. Sarah Brigham Mans- field was residing at Roxbury, made her a visit with much confidence, we had found the best person in the town to write out the historic record of Roxbury. While visiting Mrs. Mansfield, we also made a little trip into the Mad River Valley, that we had never dreamed of as so pretty ; heard Rev. P. B. Fisk in his address at the Fair at Waitsfield, and visited the birth- town of the Brigham family and Mrs. Laura Brigham Boyce. Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield pointed out many an old site named in our Fayston history, fresh from the press ; now Mr. M., the old home site of his father, which- strangely the writer had somehow overlooked.
RILEY MANSFIELD, born in Winchen- don, Mass., came from there when. 19 years old, with an ox-team, by marked trees, through the heart of the Vermont wilderness, and located in the valley of Fayston, clearing himself a farm and rolling up the logs for his first log-house. He lived in this town till his death, and raised a large family, and was one of the principal landholders of his day, as the Fayston records attest. His farms and mortgages on farms covered much of the territory of the town ; but he was no op- pressor. A neighbor under embarrass- ment came to him one day, and said, "I want you to buy that 50-acre lot of mine. If I can turn it into money, I can save my farm and myself from ruin." "I will take
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VERMONT HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
it," said Mr. M., and paid him his price for in its carly settlement, or before it had be- the land. The man afterwards said to him. " You saved me and my family from utter failure." A little later. hard times again came, and the neighbor was again in deep gloom. How he could meet his taxes he did not know. He had some fine sheep, but sheep were down in the market ; no one wanted to buy for half their worth. The melancholy man came down one afternoon to see if Mr. M. would not buy his sheep. Mr. M. was absent. He told his story to Mrs. M., and said he knew of no one else who would give him the worth of his sheep. but he thought that Mr. M. might, and let him have the money. Mrs. M., sorry for the man, and knowing the neighborly spirit of her hus- band, told him that she thought Mr. M. might buy the sheep, and she would tell him when he came home, and she though: he would be up there that night. The man left a little encouraged. Mr. M. did not return till late. Mis. M. told him, but After his death it was found he had written in his diary the Sabbath evening before. the following : it was to o'clock before he had his chores done, and he put off going up till the next morning. He went up then, but the man "JAN. 9. SABBATH EVENING. had hung himself in the night. His wife said to Mr M .. " Had you come up last night, it would have saved his life." Mr. M., although no ways obligated, always regretted that he had not gone up that night, late as it was
He brought apple-seeds from New Hamp- shire, and planted orchards around his old homestead 63 years ago ; trees yet remain there that sprang from the seed he planted then. Mr. M removed from where he Erst settled to a farm on Mill brook, where he made his home the last 25 years of his life His first home was adjoining the old Hagham farm on Faysion hill His hause was within 20 rods of where George Hosce now lives He sold to Mr. Brig. lam and Mr Griggs a part of their farmis (Je Stepien & forlags was the one who con nuitteli su cide)
Fin Wisey"Kiles Mansfeld. of Fayson, dieif Jan 14 .- . aged nearly 77 scar , another of our oliles and most respected cipios Is gone, alsoas the last (the primeer tien who came tii cur thmn
come largely settled or improved. He . can:c 56 years ago, and helped by his life- long industry to make the wilderness to blossom as a garden. At 23. he was con- verted at a camp-meeting, and united with the Methodist church, of which he was a member at time of his death. In 1822 he married Betsey Chase, who died Mar. 11. '73. Of a large family, but one son, Martin Mansfield, is now living. He was respect- ed for his sterling worth ; there lives no man who will say. " Uncle Riley,' as he was called by all his neighbors, ever know- ingly cheated him one cent. Of his sudden death he seemed to have a premonition. He began to feel unwell Wednesday after- noon, and died on Friday near midnight. About an hour before he died, he dressed himself and laid down again on his bed, apparently comfortable, and died as an in- fant hushed to sleep in its mother's arms."
Now we know not what is before us ; we frequently hear of people being found dead. and as you all, my dear children, are away from me. the thought came to ine that I might never see any of you again. Oh. what a feeling came over me! I felt that I could not go to bed without writing a few words of entreaty that you would not let the busy scenes and cares of this life hinder you from preparing for the life to come. Oli. do think of the life that never. never ends' Think what folly it is to make overmuch provision for the flesh only to be enjoyed a few days! It is the height of folly for people to live as most do, and for professors of religion to live as all the world do, laying up treasures on earth What I wrote on the other page (of this chary), was after I was ready to go to bed. but after these thoughts came to me. } made another hre and sat down and wrote this, hoping you might find it, and hoping it might have some influence on your lives It may be your loving father's last request."
It was his last request to his children. for he never beheld their faces again, his death on the next Friday night being so unexpected, they were not sent for until all was over
767-OK
ROXBURY.
BETSEY CHASE,
* who lived on Waitsfield Mountain, mother of Mrs. Riley Mansfield, of Fayston (see previous, page -), used to tell many tales of almost incredible hardships and priva- tions. Her husband. Thomas Chase, served in the Revolutionary War, and she cared for her little family as best she could, as they were very poor, in the springtime subsisting upon milk and leeks (wild onions), and such small game as she could get, being an adept in the use of a rifle or shot-gun. At one time, when the army was in desperate need of recruits, and they were pressed into the service with but very little ceremony. When it was known offi- cers were in town for that purpose, many poor fellows, who much preferred to re- main by their own firesides to enduring the perils of war, would hide until the en- listing officers had left town. They, learn- ing this, devised a plan to catch them by letting loose their cattle in the night, and concealing themselves to watch for the men to come out and care for them. Sev- eral times one night Mrs. Chase heard the tinkling of her old cow-bell in her corn- field, and each time marched resolutely out and drove old "Crumpie" into the yard, making all fast, and returned to the house, to have the same repeated, until the re- cruiting officer and men with him wearied out (at last,) made themselves and their errand known, and when told her husband was already in the service, were somewhat chop-fallen, but declared she was a brave woman, fit to be a soldier's wife. She was a strong, robust woman, and never seemed to know the meaning of the word fear. She often said she would as soon meet the devil in the dark as a man. Whether this was a bit of sarcasm on the " sterner sex" she never explained. Some of her superstitious neighbors called her a " witch," for her prophecies often came true, and they feared nothing so much as her displeasure, "lest some evil should come upon them." This rather pleased her than otherwise, as in this way she kept some disorderly neighbors very submissive. She died in Waitsfield, April, 1852, aged over 90 years.
The account of Riley Mansfield and Thomas and Betsey Chase belong to the towns of Fayston and Waitsfield, but hav- ing been overlooked at home, we include them with this near neighboring town, and the more easily, as Mrs. Mansfield has most cordially and permanently connected herself here as the historian of the town, though the family have now all removed from Roxbury and reside at Fairhaven.
MR. BURNHAM'S REMINISCENCES.
. Deer .- Mr. E. P. Burnham, merchant at the village, told us he can remember some 50 years ago, when the deer used to herd together in spruce thickets on these mountains in the winter, and when the snow melted in the March days, and froze at night, making a crust, the hunters would be out the next morning for the deer. He says he has been on these mountains many times when the deer were so thick you could not count their tracks- the tracks were like a thousand sheep in the snow. The hunters frequently shot and brought in several deer at a time. He distinctly remembers when they brought in five at one time.
He was graphic in his remembrances of Crandall, of whom Mrs. Mansfield has. some anecdotes on the foregoing pages.
" Some 50 years ago," says Mr. B., " there lived in this town a man by the name of John- B. Crandall, but who was named and called by all his townsmen Judge Crandall, a drinking, miserable being, but a man with natural talent. He would get into debt and get sued, and defend himself in the courts. He managed his own case and plead his own cause before the jury, and usually with success.' Judge Weston brought a suit for debt against him one time, however, in Randolph, when Cran- dall thought he would have some help, and engaged one of Judge Weston's stu- dents to help defend him. When the cause came on, the student arose to argue Crandall's case, but, awed by the presence of his master, began to hesitate. Crandall stood it for a moment. He had an invet- erate habit of spitting when excited. For a moment he sat spitting, when, arising,
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FAYSTON.
CK- 177
dwellings, stores and shops (log-houses excepted) should be assessed at two per cent. of their value, if in the judgment of the listers their value did not exceed $1000. And if valued at more than $1000, at three per cent. The law also specified how per- sonal property should be set in the list, as above. Wooden clocks were not taxed. Attorneys, physicians, merchants, mechan- ics, etc., were assessed in proportion to their gains.
IS20 : 86 polls at $20, $1720 ; 1990 acres of improved land at .oS of appraised value, $1366.42 ; 103 houses and lots at .04 ap- praised value, $247.06; 9 mills, stores, etc., at .06 appraised value, $48.60; 140 oxen at $10, $1400; 429 cows and three- year olds at $6, $2574; 169 cattle, two- year olds at $5, $845 ; 132 horses, three years old and upwards, at $14, $1848; 26 two-years old at $7, $182 ; 22 one-year old at $4, $88; I stallion at $50, $50 ; 5 brass clocks at $10, $50; I gold watch at $10, $10 ; 20 common do. at $5, $100; $1100 money at .06, $66; total, $11295.08; 34 militia polls and 9 cavalry horses were ex- empt from State taxes.
1830 : 252 polls at $10, $2520; 3690 acres of land at .06, $1558.60 ; 541 houses and lots at .04, $1401.40 ; 14 mills, stores, etc., at .06, $62.40 ; 281 oxen at $2, $562 ; 712 cows and other cattle of three years old, at $1.25, $890; 254 cattle of two years old at .75 each, $190.50; * 25 horses and mules, three years old, appraised at less than $25, at $1, $25; 180 over $25 and less than $75, at $3, $540 ; 6 at $75, at .06, $36; 43 two years, at $2, $86 ; 33 one year, at $1.25, $41.25 ; 2797 sheep at . 10 each, $279.70; 7 carriages at .06 of ap- praised value, $6.30 ; 8 brass clocks at $3, $24 ; 20 watches at $1, $20; $3350 money on hand, etc., at .06, $201 ; $90 bank stock at .03, $2.70 ; 2 practitioners of medicine assessed, $35 ; I merchant and trader, do., $30; total, $8511.85 ; 148 militia polls and 6 cavalry horses, exempt.
In 1840, the list amounted to $10373-54. Later lists were assessed nearly as at pres- ent, and are as follows :
Polls.
Real.
Personal.
Gd. List. $3,675
1850
5231.774
$32,023
312
304,473
46,547
1870
310
374,573
71,930
~ 1578
326
296,652
67,807
.
23
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FAYSTON.
BY MRS. LAURA BRIGHAM BOYCE.
This township is in the S. W. corner of the County, 20 miles from Montpelier ; b. N. by Duxbury, E. by Waitsfield, S. by Warren and Lincoln, W. by Huntington and Buell's Gore ; 6 miles square ; land el- evated, lying in large swells, except along Mill brook and Shephard's brook, where there is some intervale. Shephard's brook runs through the North part of the town, and empties into Mad river in Waitsfield. It affords ample water power, and several flourishing mills are in operation on its banks.
There was an extensive beaver meadow on this stream, and many of the trees on its banks were partly cut down by these animals. The brook received its name from one Shephard, who used to hunt beavers here.
Mill brook runs through the South part of the town, in an Easterly direction, and empties into Mad river in Waitsfield ; this stream has good water-power, and several mills and one tannery are located on it. There is considerable good lumber in town, especially in the more mountainous parts, the most valuable of which is spruce. As many as 7,000 or 8,000 clapboard logs are annually cut in Fayston, besides the com- mon lumber, ash, basswood, etc. There is also a good deal of hemlock, the bark of which is used extensively in tanneries. The spruce and hemlock lumber is a source of profit to the inhabitants. The maple is abundant, and there are many valuable sugar orchards; some have a thousand handsome second growth trees in one body. This adds an item to the income of the farmer, at the prices that have prevailed for maple sugar and syrup of late years.
The soil is strong and fertile, though not as easily tilled as a more sandy loam. These fertile upland farms are well adapted to dairying, as the sweetest grass is found here, and water as pure and soft as ever drank, two indispensable requisites for the dairy. Dairying is the chief source of in- 4,134 4,SIS come of a greater part of the inhabitants, 4,269 | though wheat and oats are raised here in
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VERMONT HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
abundance, but potatoes more especially. Corn is often a remunerative crop ; but not so sure as on the intervales.
Fayston was granted Feb. 25, and char- tered Feb. 27. 1782. to Ebenezer Wal- bridge and his associates. It was first set- tled by Lynde Wait in 1798. In ISoo. there were IS persons in town.
Lucia Wait, daughter of Lynde Wait, better known as Squire Wait, was born in ISor, the first child born in town ; subse- quently. Wait Farr, a son of William Farr, was born, and received a lot of land from Griswold Wait, as being the first male child born in town. From which we see in those primitive days the weaker were oppressed by the stronger, as they are still. There was no orthodox reason why Lucia Wait should not have had that lot of land as her birthright-except that she wasn't a boy.
The town was organized Aug. 6. 1So5. James Wait was the first town clerk ; Thomas Green the first constable ; and Lynde Wait, Rufus Barrett and William Williams the first selectmen. Aug. 27. 1805, there was a town meeting called to petition the General Assembly to be set off with other towns from Chittenden County. which was not granted until some time in 1310 or 1511, when Faiston became a part of Jefferson County .
The first highways were surveyed in ISo7. by Edmund Rice, surveyor The first school district was organized in 18og, and consisted of the whole town, but subsc- quently. in ISto, we believe, it was di- vided into two districts. The first tax levied on the grand list was in 1907, which was 5 cents on a dollar, to be worked out on the highway. The first tax levied on the grand list to be paid in money was in ISto It was i cen: on a dollar, and we have no doulit was as hard for these people 29 were the excessive laves during the war for their descendants The taxes levied on the grand list in Fayston during the war in one year were $18 79 on a dollar of the grand list, making a poll tax of $:1 55, and school and highway saves besides, which must have niade another dollar This was in IM There were several other bounty
taxes raised during the war, but this was the heaviest. Fayston paid her war debt as she went along, and can show a clean record. In IS12, the town voted to raise I cent on a dollar for the support of schools, which was to be paid to the town treasurer in grain. At this time there were 25 children in district No. I. between the ages of 4 and IS.
In March, ISog, William Newcomb. William Rogers and Marjena Garderer were elected " hog howards," an office now obsolete, and exactly what its duties were. even then, we are unable to learn. But it was an old-time custom to elect newly- married men to tha: notable office, which might have been no sinecure after all, as the swine in those days all ran where they listed, and unless they were much less vicious than their modern descendants, it must have needed three " hog constables " to a town to have kept them in order.
In April, ISOS, William and Paul Boyce. two Quakers, emigrated from Richmond. N. H., and settled near beaver meadow, on Shephard's brook. This was the first open- ing in what is now called North Fayston. There is a little romance connected with this same William Boyce. It seems thai William's susceptible heart had been touch. ed by one Irene Ballou, a Quaker maiden of his native place, and when he had nude a beginning on his new home in the woods he began to be lonely, and feel the need of a helpmate to wash his wooden plates and pewter porringer, and also to assist him in picking up brush, planting potatoes, and several other things wherein the good wives made themselves useful in " the olden time," being then truly helpmates for nien, instead of helpspends. as many of the more modern wives are. So William jour- neyed to Richmond to claim his bride. He tarmed long, and when he returned it was not the gentle Irene who accompanied him. Whether he met with a fairer Quaker- cas than she, and lost his heart with her against his will, or whether Irene was avene to going into the new country. among the bears and wolves, tradition with not, but that it was not the latter reason we may infor from her farewell to
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