USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > St Johnsbury > The town of St. Johnsbury, Vt. ; a review of one hundred twenty-five years to the anniversary pageant 1912 > Part 14
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MAJOR ABEL BUTLER bought the Edson place including four hundred acres of meadow and hill land in 1810 ; here lived his son Abel Jr., and his grandson Beauman. Madame Butler his wife
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was a woman of remarkable vigor of mind and body. She received her friends in this old house on her centennial birthday, 1863, with a dignity and grace that impressed all her guests. At that time she was the mother of nine children, forty-one grandchildren, sixty great grandchildren, most of whom were then living.
THE JUNE TRAINING
"ATTENTION ! By order of Capt. L. M. Wright, the members of THE INVINCIBLES and THE ST. JOHNSBURY LIGHT INFANTRY are hereby notified and warned to appear at Capt. Samuel French's Hotel at the Center Village, Tuesday, June 5, armed and equip- ped as the law directs, for military duty."
Under such a call as this the militia were for more than fifty years in the habit of rallying to the June Training held on the first Tuesday of that month each year. This was for inspection of equipment and for drill. Each man "equipped as the law di- rects," was to have a flint-lock musket with ram rod and bayonet, one extra flint, a small brush to clean the pan, priming wire to keep the vent hole clear, cartridge box, bullets, knapsack and powder horn. After duly inspecting each man, the Captain was expected to treat ; a jug of rum was handed to the man at the head of the line and passed from man to man till each one had gotten his refreshment. This usage was done away with after the temperance reform. Training Day was a great occasion, as some still living will remember, for popular attractions were less in number and variety than now.
"We boys awaited the day with eager anticipation ; for weeks our minds were full of the magnificent scenes coming-soldiers with muskets and bayo- nets ; officers with terrible voices, their plumes waving aloft in the air ; naked glittering swords, prancing horses, and the sound of drums and fifes. The officers wore red sashes, huge epaulets and stove-pipe hats, from the top of which their plumes went aloft as much as eight feet from the ground. They seemed very terrible, shouting orders with loud voice and flourishing their swords in the air; but if you saw them next day they would be in the burnt piece, sleeves up to their shoulders, rolling logs, or sitting on the barn floor with an old sheep in their laps, struggling against the sheep shears."
The training ground would be at the Center Village, or on the Butler Green, the old Edson Tavern stand, or at the head of
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the Plain, or on one of the broad fields now traversed by Summer and Winter streets. The farmers flocked in with their families ; stands were set up for the requisite refreshments; sometimes there would be the accompaniment of ball games and always the wrestling match to determine who was to stand as the champion wrestler for the year. Now and then an unexpected diversion would be executed, as when one time on a bet, a dashing young cavalry officer spurred his horse thro Major Abel Butler's front door and up to the top of the hall stairway, to the astonishment of the family! He found it was easier to prance his horse up a flight of stairs than to get him safely down again. It was on the Butler Green that a keg of cherry rum emptied of its fluid con- tents was left after training ; the cherries were thrown out on the grass ; boys and turkeys helped themselves to the cherries in such quantities that both alike lost their equilibrium.
Stephen Hawkins of this town was Major General of the State Militia and a famous drill master. His soldierly bearing, his pre- emptory orders given with a mighty voice, his punctilious de- mand for military precision and decorum gave him high command, and under him the June Training was no play performance. At one time when Gen. Hawkins was in Portland, he bought red and white silk for a flag. His daughters made it up in their home, stitching the thirteen stars on the blue field in five-point form ; it was then presented to the troops on Training Day. This was the first flag of which there is record in the town, its predecessors, if any, left no account of themselves.
A PIECE OF VILLAGE ARTILLERY
"Bill Arnold, son of Jonathan, was great on Fourths of July. He was depended on and never failed to furnish the Liberty Pole and see that it was duly raised, which in those good times could not have been well and patriotically done without the aid and inspiration of a flask of new rum.
"Bill had charge too, of that famous piece of village artillery known as THE 56, a square block of iron with a two inch hole drilled into it three or four inches deep. Its name, I presume, marked its weight ; what, I wonder, has become of it ?
"Bill's brawny arms wielded the sledge hammer whose ponderous blows drove home the loaded fuse of cedar wood, and the terrific explosions that followed the touching off announced by their number the year of our inde-
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pendence. I well remember the fifty-one sonorous clangs that told the story and kindled anew the pride and patriotism of us all in 1827. A few of the old revolutionary veterans were present : Major Abel Butler and perhaps Capt. Barker ; others too who had smelt English powder and heard the whistle of British lead in the more recent war of 1812. These men gave great dignity to the occasion." S. G.
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Up to the time of the Civil War the anniversary of Indepen- dence was a much more important day than in these recent years which are more liberally sprinkled with holidays. In the earlier time too it was made a more serious occasion. There were noisy demonstrations to be sure; "a cannon suitable for celebrating the Fourth" and an elegant national flag were for sale by Huxham Paddock as late as June, 1838; ten years earlier Bill Arnold's famous "56" shook the Plain with its mighty detonations. But in addition to horns and gunpowder there were frequent observ- ances of high dignity and character. These would include reading of the proclamation of Independence, an eloquent oration, a ban- quet with many addresses, and in some positions of honor the presence of veteran soldiers of the revolutionary army. The Cen- ter Village maintained a Liberty Pole eighty feet high, surmounted by a carved eagle whose wings spread seven feet; this bird of freedom was the work of Freeman Loring, a skilled mechanic.
The Patriotic Rally at the outbreak of the War of 1812 and the juvenile Cold Water Rally of 1843 have been described on other pages herein. In 1839 the Plain village was treated to a Picnic Party on Capt. Martin's grounds provided by the ladies, with music and various entertainments in the Hall of St. Johns- bury Female Academy.
The next year, 1840, St. Johnsbury with her cornet band and speakers repaired to Lyndon where special honors were tendered to the revolutionary heroes. Each old soldier was introduced by name with an account of his personal adventures and thrilling in- cidents of the war. The octogenarian, Mr. Herrick, was present- 4 ed as a man who after five years' service in the ranks was
captured by the British and suffered everything but death on the
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Jersey Prison ship where 11,000 victims perished from cold and starvation.
1845. A Fourth of July was gotten up by the mechanics of Fairbanks Village, thro a Committee of fifteen, among whom were Noah Eastman, O. W. Baker, J. M. Warner and others. The people were first assembled in the maple grove west of Sleeper's River, where addresses were made ; then the Band led the way to the grounds of Erastus Fairbanks where 400 plates were provided. During the dinner there were discharges of artil- lery, and afterward toasts and speeches. Among the toasts were the following :
"Our Mechanics : may they ever imitate the example of Franklin and like him be foremost in sustaining the liberties of our country. Our Three Villages : neighbors in location, may neighborly feelings ever prevail, and unity of interests secure unity of sentiment and action. St. Johnsbury Academy : now in her third year ; while assisting our youth to ascend the hill of science may she lead them to the Fountain of all knowledge and virtue. Vermont : may Liberty here find an asylum more secure than where she crouches on the mountains of Switzerland, or where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland. The Fair: they nourish our youth and comfort our age; they honor us abroad and delight us at home. The great disturber of the peace, Alcohol, did not appear this day. A more quiet and joyous season has rarely occurred in the annals of the Fourth in our town."
1847. The Green Mountain Rangers of Danville came over and acted as escort at a Union Temperance celebration at Geo. W. Ely's Hotel. There were the usual toasts and addresses and a dinner on the field now traversed by Summer street, where 600 people regaled themselves. A special feature of the close of the day was the music under direction of John H. Paddock. "All who appreciate music as a medium of thought and feeling, were grateful for the rich strains that floated out on the evening air, and as the stillness of night drew on, the softer deeper tones of the flutes in most delicate and touching compositions continued far into the night. So peacefully ended the day."
1848. An out-of-the-village celebration was held at the Four Corners. Gen. Stephen Hawkins presided. Wm. C. Arnold was marshal and Aaron Farnham toastmaster. The address was by Rev. Mr. Healy ; the Declaration was read by James R. Stevens.
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1851. The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Declaration was greeted with special observances this year, the national salutes and music of the band were notable; the display of flags was su- perior to any ever seen before; one, raised in Fairbanks Village was made by the young ladies of that community. A tent was erected on the Green at the head of Main Street, capable of receiv- ing several thousand people, but the violent rains made it useless, and the oration by Prof. Sanborn of Dartmouth College, was given in the meeting house. The banquet, planned for the tent, was served at crowded tables by Landlord Jennings at the St. Johnsbury House. The usual series of toasts followed, to which was annexed a final one not on the program. One paragraph from the reply is of interest to us of later years as illustrating indus- trial conditions in the town at that time, The toast was as follows :-
"Erastus Fairbanks, President of the Day and his two Brothers-men who have carefully weighed the perils of enterprise, have balanced the prob- abilities of success, have held the scales of justice even to their neighbors ; and have furnished by their long continued prosperity a new confirmation of the Scripture which affirms that a just weight and balance are the Lord's."
In his reply the president said that their success in manu- facturing good scales was very largely due to the fidelity of the workmen. The firm had endeavored to draw around themselves men with whom they could associate ; not simply competent me- chanics, but men of moral worth who respected themselves and who won respect. Such men could be relied upon. In the manu- facture of scales they had a character to sustain, the interest and the reputation of the manufacturers were their own. There was mutual confidence, mutual esteem, an honest desire and effort be- tween the employers and their workmen to consult each other's welfare and to promote the best interests of the community in which they shared a common part.
Notwithstanding postponement because of the weather, the fireworks due on that memorable Fourth blazed out on the even- ing of the 7th in the presence of 6000 people. There were 20. pieces in this display, making altogether the "largest and grand- est exhibition of fire works ever gotten up in the State of Ver-
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mont." Among the designs were the Maid of the Mist, Pride of Aurora, Saxon Triplet, Diamond Cross Fires, Scroll and Lyre, Chinese Pyramid, Star of America.
1859 A Town School Parade was made special feature of the Fourth, this year. Schools from the north part of the town were brought down on the morning train, and escorted up Eastern Avenue by Active Fire Co. No 4, with the Cornet Band. At Col. Merrill's grounds, the Octagon, all were treated to lemonade. Thence to the Town Hall, where under Chief Marshal A. G . Chadwick, all schools of the town formed with their teachers, and with banners and mottoes paraded the streets, 600 strong. At Arnold Park lemonade was served by Judge C. S. Dana. Return- ing to the Court House grounds where tables were spread, a col- lation was attended to followed by short addresses and strains from the Band. In the evening the grounds were illuminated with fire works, some 3000 spectators present.
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"Let me live in a house by the side of the road."
"It is both good form and worth while to watch the road ; what happens along the road is our intimate concern ; it always has the social touch."
HORSE BACK MAILS-POST ROUTES-NEWSPAPERS-FAMOUS POST RIDER-THE OLD STAGE COACH-STAGE DRIVERS-SWAPPING HORSES-A NOTED HORSE-FREIGHT TEAMS-FLOATING TEA CHESTS-A POST TOWNSHIP.
MAILS AND POST RIDERS
"Well do we remember, Betsy, when the Postman carried mails Ridin' horseback thro the forest, 'long the lonely Injun trails."
Prior to 1810 all St. Johnsbury mail matter was carried to and from Danville in the saddle bags of post-riders, or by accomo- dating travelers who might be going up and down the valley. The nearest Post Office was at Newbury which handled all regular mails of towns farther north. A single post-rider brought on horse back once a week whatever mail was addressed to settle- ments north of Haverhill and west of the White Mountains. On July 3, 1803, the year of the opening of a Post Office in this town, the records show that only three southbound letters were received
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at Newbury from the County of Caledonia, which then included Orleans and Essex. This diminutive budget however was not all due to sparseness of population. It was costly business. Letter postage to distant points was 25 or 50 cents; to Boston it was a shilling, marked, as on a pile of old letters now before me, 1734 cents, and several days were required to get it there. It took eight or ten days when our first Post Office was established on the Plain to get a letter to New York, and the postage was 25 cents.
A newspaper was something of a luxury when the postage on it was liable to exceed the yearly subscription price. Capt. David Smith of St. Johnsbury in 1800 had to pay 63 cents postage for four months' delivery of the Portsmouth Weekly Chronicle. To avoid expense a considerable proportion of the letters and news- papers of the day were carried by individuals as a matter of accommodation. Any one going from this town "down below" would take along a package of letters to be distributed on the way. Boston merchants consigning goods to Fred Phelps or Amaziah D. Barber, St. Johnsbury Plain, would enclose in their boxes a lot of letters to be delivered over the store counters here. Mr. F. P. Wells, who gives much information on this and kindred topics, states that frequently the people in these northern settle- ments would hire a man to go down to Newbury with their weekly mail and bring back whatever mail was addressed to their town; this would cost less than the postage.
"Stiles came out as agent for getting mail thro from Boston to Quebec. Beattie ran from Concord to Haverhill, Sinclair from Haverhill to Barnet, Stevens from Barnet to Barton. St. Johns- bury folks raised $68 by subscription and gave Stevens a horse in consideration for services. One winter he brought to St. Johns- bury 150 Boston newspapers and 5 junk bottles of rum. Coming up Lord's Hill he sounded a blast on his horn, and blew it tremen- dously all the length of the Plain. People gathered like to a town meeting and the papers were distributed. On the return trip he distributed Quebec papers, half English half French, contrary to U. S. law."
On Sept. 1, 1799 a mail route was opened from Newbury to Danville. Samuel Fuller was carrier ; he was to wait ten min-
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utes for the sorting of the mail, after which a man would mount his horse and gallop down here with the St. Johnsbury mail in his bags, which would be left at some store or at the tavern where people would call for it. A few weeks later the capabilities of the government mail service were impressively demonstrated. President Washington died at Mount Vernon on the 14th day of December. The extra fast-going mail delivered tidings of the event at Boston on the tenth day thereafter, December 24, 1799.
Among post-riders the best known was Bill Trescott, the same who did business with the bear in 1790, as narrated on a pre- ceding page. When he cantered across the Plain waking the quiet community with the shrill blast of his long horn everybody knew that the weekly mail had arrived. In his whimsical way Trescott exercised gifts other than those of brawn and daring. He con- structed clocks and Farmers Almanacks and quite dintinguished himself in versification. His muse was particularly responsive to the touch of pecuniary necessity ; the following effusion is from the North Star of Jan. 23, 1813.
THE POST RIDER AND THE FARMER
"How little do the Farmers know What we poor Posts do undergo ; We're forced to stem the wind and tide And go a-foot-when we can't ride. We force our way thro' drifts of snow To let the Farmer weekly know What's going on in foreign clime, That he his business safe may time.
When storms come on we can't forbear The whip or spur to good old mare ; Whip feet and hands and rub each ear To keep from freezing half the year.
Meanwhile the Farmer by his fireside sits, Drinks his good cider and eats his cakes. And when he pleases takes his tea and toast And reads the news brought by his Post.
But he that would his conscience free Will give his Post a dish of tea ;
And now and then a glass of sling
To make his horn more clearly ring ;
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And pay him up well once a year, That he the sheriff may not fear When'er he meets him at his door- Here's a gentle hint once more!"
On another occasion the case was more serious as appears in the following lines :-
THE OLD POST RIDER WILLIAM TRESCOTT
"Who for five years, with zeal most fervent, Has been the Public's Humble Servant,
would with frankness and candor inform his friends and patrons that an Execution is issued against him of considerable amount, which accrued in consequence of his being bondsman, and that unless said Execution is cancelled during the life of it, nothing but the confines of a prison await him. Therefore, all those in- debted to him for Newspapers will please" etc. etc. * * "for punctuality is not only the life of business, but adds much to the harmony of Society. Those who wish to pay in produce may lodge it at the widow Sophia Stevens' in Barnet, at Clark's store or Jewett's in St. Johnsbury, at John Fry's in Concord, and Blake's in Waterford."
WILLIAM TRESCOTT, Post Rider, Dec. 24, 1812.
Trescott's route that year extended as far as Littleton and Lancaster. The history of that town records that he was then "a man of over sixty years, who rode a little short black horse, also quite old. He was a sieve maker, and used to carry on his trips over the mail route a lot of the rims for his sieves, strung on the neck of his horse. He was a quaint figure in a broad rimmed hat and brown coat, mounted upon a pair of saddle bags full of mail, his overcoat rolled up and strapped on behind his saddle."
THE OLD YELLOW STAGE COACH
Aside from the menagerie wagons no more picturesque ob- ject has ever enlivened our highways than the old yellow stage. coach and four in the era of its proud supremacy. Stage Coach
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Days have been invested by Mrs. Alice Morse Earle with romance and historic glow, chiefly of colonial times preceding the birth of our town. Just when the first stage arrived in St. Johnsbury or what was the style of it, cannot be determined. Its advent, some while after 1810, may have aroused a popular interest comparable to that of the first train of cars in 1851, which finally displaced it altogether.
Beginning January 1811, the Quebec and Boston stage left each city on Monday and met at Stanstead Plain. St. Johnsbury was at that date an unimportant town and may never have seen this long distance coach. All stages from whatever quarter cen- tered at Haverhill Corner, the most important distributing point in Northern New England. A paragraph quoted by Mr. F. P. Wells wakes the boyhood memories of Stage Coach Days in this town as late as 1849 :-
"The driver witched the world by means of an immensely long tin horn which announced the coming of the stage as it were a band of music. I shall not forget the gamut of that amazing instrument, the tramp of the four steaming horses, the rattle and creak of the coach and the jingle of the chains and gear, as the man drove by us boys that had gone out on a sum- mer evening to meet it ; the cool and tranquil evening disposing us often to that pastime."
St. Johnsbury boys of the forties who may chance to read this reminiscence of Arthur Livermore, will recall the scene most vividly as we had it here, and how the loud crack of the driver's long whip on reaching the Plain-level at the South end might be heard from the steps of the hotel. The coach at that time was of the standard style, painted yellow, carrying six or eight inside and an indeterminable number of privileged ones high up on the deck with the driver, the valises and mail bags. Dan Field, JohnHawes, Seth Ford, C. H. Smith, William Fuller were among the men who magnified their profession in presiding over a stage coach. Mr. Harvlin Paddock told this anecdote of one of them who
PLAYED THE BUGLE
"Dan Field was a driver of note. He also played the bugle. It was his custom while driving across the Plain to let his horses walk while he rattled
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off a tune on his bugle. On one occasion he had what was then a new tune, "The Wrecker's Daughter," very popular. Passing the Huxham Paddock house, now Alex. Dunnett's, he thought to surprise a certain young man who had the reputation of being a fine player, by playing this piece. After distinguishing himself in this manner he drove on to Lyndon where the stage stopped over night. After nightfall, the young man quietly harnessed his horse, and taking his bugle, with a companion drove up to Lyndon. Steal- ing under the window of the room where he knew Field would be, he played "The Wrecker's Daughter" in a style that would admit of no criticism. The window flew open and Field called out : "John, I give up."
That David Harum was conducting horse deals about this time appears from the following story told by Seth Ford. He was then owner and driver of a stage line to and from the White Mountains. At the same time John Hawes was driving up and down Passumpsic valley. They met one day near St. Johnsbury. Hawes said, "do you care to swap horses?" "I don't care to par- ticularly," said Ford; "would perhaps for $25." Hawes con- sidered that too much, and started on. Presently he called back and said, "Seth ! it's a trade." So the horses were unharnessed and exchanged. Some weeks after, when they met, Hawes re- marked "Seth, you didn't tell me that that horse would balk going up hill." "No," said Seth, "you didn't ask me !" It was Seth himself who related this incident when ninety years old, to the son-in-law of the man who got the balky horse.
In 1825 a stage route owned and driven by Mr. Houghton of Lyndon ran from Haverhill thro this town to Stanstead. A route from Craftsbury thro Danville and St. Johnsbury to Littleton was driven by Mr. May of Hardwick. Cross country stages from Montpelier to Lancaster stopped over night at St. Johnsbury ; among the drivers were Stearns, Farnesworth, Greenleaf and Hidden.
A STYLISH HORSE
Col. Joseph Battell of Middlebury, author of the "Morgan Horse and Register," and of the "American Stallion Register," visited St. Johnsbury to verify the pedigree of the Morgan formerly owned by Gen. Stephen Hawkins. To his satisfaction he found here a "missing link which showed that such distinguished racers
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as Old Pilot, J. I. C. and Maud S. were descendants of the Haw- kins Morgan." The rank and quality of this horse appear on the pages of the books above named, from which the following ex- cerpts are taken, contributed by different writers.
This horse was foaled in 1806, the property of Moses Melvin of St. Johnsbury, Vt., got by the original Justin Morgan. When three years old he was bought by Oney Hawkins of Goss Hollow who was Captain of a troop and who used him as a parade horse. Five years later he sold the horse to his cousin Stephen, who be- came Major General of the militia. Sometime after 1820 the horse was taken to Stanstead and there sold to Canadian parties.
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