COUNTY
ITEMS. 937
B. Chapin, Sanford Marshall, 1st Lieutenant, Hiram H.
Hall.
Sharpshooters.
Charles Deoviel.
Vt. Battery.
Henry C. Downer, Thomas Shein.
Second Regiment.
Co. G.—Leroy B.
Nichols.
Third Regiment.
Musician, Adams' Band.—Dor
A. Rouleau.
Co. K.—Charles Gill,
Hiram Shambeau, Adam Smith.
Fifth Regiment.
Co. H.—Philip Ward,
Frank Ward.
Co. I.—George Loggins,
William Austin, Hiram J. Isham.
Sixth Qegiment.
Co. G.—William R.
Chapman.
Co. I.—John Boyle,
George J. Bliss, Eli Osborn, Edward A. Holton (Orderly Sergeant) David M.
Holton, David Smith McHerd, Jackson Isham, John Rowland, Wm. Beach, Waller
Osborn, Richard Irish, Samuel C. Alexander, William Shepard, George A. Allen.
Co. K.—Eber Fizander.
Seventh Regiment.
Co. A—Peter D. Lander,
Lewis Lander, Orville E. Allen, William Green, Frederick Doyne, Homer Prior.
Eighth Regiment.
Co. I.—Martin M.
Brownell, Horace W. Brownell.
Tenth Regiment.
Co. D.—Haschal M.
Phelps.
VOLUNTEERS FOR NINE MONTHS.
Thirteenth Regiment.
Co. F.—Captain John L.
Yale, George L. Baldwin, Milton E. Isham, Charles A. Harper, Alonzo N. Lee,
George A. Pine, Alfred W. Isham, Thomas J. Lee, John F. Harper, Burtram F.
Brown, James Patten, Geordon Reynolds, Nathan Johnson, Albert Walston, Peter
Derby, Nelson Harper, Lawrence Kelly, Frank J. C. Tyler, Wm. F. Whitney, Joseph
Sargent, Thomas Kelley, Melancthon S. Lee, Oscar F. Phelps, Harmon E. Lee,
Thomas Culligan, Thomas Johnson.
——————————
BOLTON.
On the 5th of May, 1864, died at the residence of his
son, J. R. Jewell, in Petaluma, California, Jesse Jewell, aged 84 years and 4
months. Mr. Jewell was from Bolton, Chittenden Co. Vermont, where he lived
with his wife for 60 years. He was one of the soldiers of 1812, being an
officer in the Vermont Volunteers, and participated in the battle of
Plattsburgh, N. Y. In 1859 he emigrated to California with his wife, to visit
and live with his children, of whom he had in Sonoma Co., three sons and two
daughters.
Also at his residence in Petaluma, California, Geo. C.
Jewell, aged 40 years. Mr. Jewell was from Bolton, Chittenden Co., Vermont, and
youngest son of Jesse Jewell. He emigrated to California in 1852, was one of
the first settlers of Petaluma, and has left a large circle of friends to mourn
his loss.
BURLINGTON.
Burlington, when we commenced this volume, was town and
village,—now it is town and city. Burlington City was chartered by act of the
Legislature, Nov. 22, 1864, subject to the adoption of the freemen of the city,
and was accepted Jan. 18, 1865. Mayor, Albert L. Catlin; Recorder, E. R. Hurd;
Aldermen, Lawrence Barnes, Levi Underwood, Calvin Blodgett, Omri A. Dodge,
Giles S. Appleton and Russell S. Taft.
[But we propose to save for an Appendix, or Supplementary
Number, further account of the queen-town of Vermont, as also of the county in
general, save the few following items of obituary and tributary notices:]
REV.
MOSES ROBINSON.
BY REV. P. H. WHITE, OF COVENTRY.
Rev Moses Robinson died at Steamboat Rock, Iowa, September
2d, 1865; aged 50 years, 4 months and 6 days.
He was a son of Cephas and Matilda Robinson, and was born
in Burlington, Vt., 26th April, 1815. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1839,
and at Union Theological Seminary in 1842, and received license from the
Presbytery of New York in the spring of 1842. Returning to Vermont, he married,
July 20,1842, Elizabeth M. Smith of Monkton, and immediately went West to
engage in the home missionary work. He preached in Livonia, Ia., 1843-44, and
was there ordained as an evangelist in the spring of 1843; in Brownston, La.,
1844-45; in Wadsworth, Ohio, 1845-46. Finding that his health required a
change of climate, he returned to Vermont in 1846, and was acting pastor at
Danville four months, and at Enosburgh three months. At Enosburgh he received a
call to the pastorate, which he declined, but by mutual agreement he was
constituted pastor by vote of the church, with the privilege on either side of
dissolving the relation upon three months' notice.
He preached at Enosburgh, from March 1st, 1847 to June 1,
1851, and then became acting pastor at Newport, where he remained four years,
during the last three of which he preached on alternate Sabbaths in Newport
938 VERMONT
HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
and Brighton. In the summer of 1855 he removed to Iowa. He
preached in Iowa City five months, in Waterloo seven months, and about 1st
June, 1856, became acting pastor at Steamboat Rock, where he remained till his
death.
Died in Burlington, May 23, 1866, Mrs. Caroline E. T.
Clarke, wife of Gen. D. W. C. Clarke. Mrs. Clarke was highly and variedly
accomplished, a fine singer, very, we have been told; quite an amateur painter;
the principal and back-ground altar-picture in St. Mary' Church, this city, of
the crucifixion, was executed by her; and she was an occasional poetic
contributor of the New York Tribune, and other journals of the day.
"Lizzie Maitland," a Catholic tale, by Mrs. Clarke, and for which Mr.
O. A. Brownson, who appears to have had a vivid appreciation of her literary
talent, wrote the preface, was published by James B. Kirker and Co., New York,
some years since—ten, fifteen or more. Mrs. Clarke had about this time made a
profession of the Catholic faith, and was buried from St. Mary's Church with
the last solemn rites of her church.
Aug. 12, 1866, Charles Miller, proprietor of the American
Hotel in Burlington, aged 37. His death was regretted in the community, as he
was one of the most popular and enterprising young men of BurrIngton. To Mr.
Miller we are indebted for the new photographic view of Burlington College,
from which the plate was engraved for this volume.
Dec. 4, 1886, Charles Allen, formerly of Burlington, in
his 52d year, another one of the benefactors of this work; a paper from whom
appears among the biographies of Burlington. We record with sincere sorrow all
such deaths, and as our last tribute of respect write them upon the historic
page of our State.
Also in 1866, Mrs. Lucia Hemenway, wife of Rev. Asa
Hemenway, formerly of the American Board of Foreign Missions, aged 54. We first
knew Mrs. Hemenway in the autumn of 1859, in her very rural home in the little
mountain town of Ripton, Addison County, where her husband was engaged in the
labors of the Home Mission—his health having failed in Siam. For our name and
for our cause, we were made cordially welcome; and it was a pleasant Indian
summer day we passed in this precious household and the little village of then
seven tenements among the mountains, one of the pictures of Vermont and our
labors that amid constantly changing scenes does not fade away. Mrs. Hemenway
became the lady assistant also to gather subscriptions, and from this sparsely
populated town not long after sent to us 20 names, with advance payment.
Mrs. Mary A. Pitkin, also late of Burlington, widow of
Dr. Pitkin, we would not close this volume without at least the acknowledgment
that to her we are indebted for our first thirty to forty subscribers in
Burlington. Later she removed to Morrisville in Morristown, Lamoille County,
to reside with her then late widowed sister, Mrs. Robinson, at whose home she
died about two years since, aged about 51, we think. She was an intelligent and
amiable Christian lady, and left one son who is a physician, and was a surgeon
in the late war.
Died Jan. 6, 1864, Mrs. Clarissa Lyman, aged 83 years.
December 10, 1864, Andrew Burritt, aged 55, an upright and
intelligent citizen.
In Winooski (Burlington) Mrs. Hannah Washburn, aged 81,
Aug. 18, 1864.
Dec. 7. 1866, Mrs. Hannah Fiske, wife of the late Benjamin
Fiske, aged 64.
Biographies are promised to this work for the scientific
and pre-eminently scholarly James A. Read, son of the Hon. Daniel Read, who has
contributed so many valuable pages to this work—and of Col. Bowdish and others
who fell a sacrifice to freedom in the war of the late rebellion, and which may
appear in the continued military chapters, in the second or third volume of
this work.
Epitaph in Green Mountain Cemetery, on the tombstone of
the first settler in the town of Burlington.
"STEPHEN LAWRENCE, Esq.,
died April 2, 1789,
Æ 47 years.
He was the first man who with his family
settled in Burlington,
1783.
This stone is erected to his memory
Oct. 1811.
Reader, mark the mighty change produced
in 28 years."
ANOTHER
PAPER PUBLISHED IN BURLINGTON.
From a letter from Rev. D. T. Taylor, of Rouse's Point:
"I wish to say that the list of papers or periodicals
printed in Burlington, which appears in No. VI. of your valuable Magazine, is
not a full one, as I am able to add the following, viz: The Scribbler, 8 vo. of
pp. 16, published weekly or semi-monthly by samuel Hull Wilcocke. It was
printed in Burlington during the years 1821-22, and removed from there Dec. 1,
1823. It was a satirical slang sheet, and the editor bore the assumed name of
Lewis Luke Marcellus, Esq. Col. R. G. Stone, of Plattsburgh, of the Republican
at Plattsburgh, N. Y., has several volumes and can give you the date of its
establishment at Burlington. I present a full history of the green fellow in
my History of Champlain. He published the first newspaper ever printed in my
native town at Rouse's Point, N. Y."
COUNTY
ITEMS. 939
WINOOSKI—BURLINGTON.
Killed at the battle Gettysburgh, July 3d, Serg't G. H.
Duncan—oldest son of G. M. and A. M. Duncan, of Winooski, Vt., aged 32 years.
Funeral at his father's residence, July 26th after, at 2
o'clock P. M.
The subject of the above notice, late in the afternoon of
the third inst., fell, from a wound received in the head while gallantly
charging the enemy's line. He was riding by his Captain's side at the time, who
justly says, in a letter of condolence to his parents: "I had scarcely an
officer so admired by the men, so freely trusted by superiors, and so
loved by all with whom he came in contact, as he." A just tribute to a
faithful officer— a trusty friend and a true man. But he has fallen in the
morning of life and sealed with his life's blood that cause which called him
from a fond loving home, to strike for God and Liberty. I knew this young man
long and well—knew him when a mere youth— knew him in the intimate capacity of
a pupil, and having known him thus it is but a pleasure to testify to his
great worth of head and heart."
With no stain upon his moral character—with a well
cultivated intellect—with a heart ever alive to every tender sympathy—with a
nature stamped with the broad seal of God's nobility, he is called from earth
to heaven.
"Green be the grace that grows over his grave, and soft
the breezes that fan his last resting place," but greener be the memories
and softer the whispering reminiscences that cluster around our departed son,
brother and friend.
CHARLOTTE.
Since the record of Charlotte history, written out by the
Rev. B. D. Ames. the town has witnessed the shocking murder of Mr. Drum, a
returned soldier, shot by Mr. Burns with whom he had had a recent quarrel, as
he was passing his house in the evening. Mr. Drum is reported to have been a
peaceable man and to have fought well in the battle of Gettysburgh. He left a
wife and quite a family of small children.
COLCHESTER.
COL. JACOB ROLFE.
From the proceedings of the Grand Commandery of the State
of Vermont.
Col. Jacob Rolfe was born in Canterbury, N. H., March
12th, 1790. He settled in Colchester at the age of 18, in which place he
resided most of the time until his death. He filled all the various town
offices of that town by turn; was a member of the Legislature in 1844, 1845,
and 1846, and was twice chosen delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He
also filled various offices in the militia of the State, and was chosen
Colonel, Jan, 14th, 1832. He was Generalissimo of Burlington Commandery from
1854 to the date of his death. In politics. he was a Democrat, and was always
highly respected by the Democracy of his country. He died in Colchester, Jan.
3d, 1864, in the 74th year of his age, sincerely lamented by the Masonic
Fraternity and by all his acquaintances and townsmen. His remains were interred
with Masonic honors.
DR. JOHN S. WEBSTER.
Dr. John S. Webster, Past Grand Commander of the Grand
Commandery of Vermont, was born in Allentown, N. H., January 2d, 1796. He
studied medicine with Doctors Ainsworth and Cobb, of Milton, Vt., and Dr.
Nathan R. Smith, of Burlington, Vt., and was admitted to practice in 1823, and
received the degree of M. D. in 1824. After a brief residence at Milton and
Highgate, Vt., he located for the practice of his profession at Berkshire,
Vt., in 1824, where he continued to reside until 1838, filling in the mean time
for several years, the office of Deputy Collector of Vermont from the year
1825, and serving as Town Representative of Berkshire in the years 1836 and
1837. He removed to Colchester in March, 1838, and represented that town in the
State Legislature in the years 1841 and 1842. He was elected Commander of
Burlington Commandery No. 2, at its organization in 1851, which position he
filled till the year 1861 when he declined a re-election. He was also Deputy
Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Vermont from 1853 to 1861. He was a
faithful and zealous Sir Knight, and did much to promote the cause of
Knighthood in our State. His death occurred in Colchester Dec. 30, 1863. His
remains were interred with Masonic honors, and were followed to the grave by a
large concourse of citizens and the Masonic Fraternity.
HINESBURGH.
Hinesburgh appears from the agricultural papers of the
state to have a successful cheese-factory establishment, where a large amount
of the article has been turned out for the past two years, 1865 and 1866, or
more.
HUNTINGTON,
The following tribute to the memory of the late Lieut.
Blodgett, U. S. A., a native Huntington, is from the pen of James O. Grady,
Esq., from Burlington, of the Commissary Department at Washington, at the
time. Lieut. Blodgett, as his father and family, was also, and had been at the
time
940 VERMONT
HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
of his death, for some years a resident of Burlington. A
biography promised by G. B. Sawyer, Esq., for the Gazetteer, is now under
preparation, and may appear in our military department hereafter.
TO THE MEMORY
OF COL. BLODGETT.
Is he gone from among us? the bravest and purest,
The one who upheld our bright banner the surest—
Is he gone from
our circle away?
Oh God! with such instincts of liberty rife,
The foremost in danger, the first in the strife,
Mute, cold in
his coffin to day.
Wo! Wo!
Mourn, that
true valor received such a blow,
The loved one is fallen, the lofty lies low.
The gallant, good heart that was fitted to clamber
To loftiest heights, now lies cold in the chamber
Of death, as
the basest can be,
Heroically battling in liberty's cause,
For country, for union, for justice, for laws—
He gave, that
the bound might be free.
Grief! Grief!!
The noble young
hero! the patriot chief
To praise him
is some, oh! how little relief!
The sun first illumines the top of the mountain,
And pure is the stream from the high rocky fountain;
So high and so
pure was his aim.
His course it was finished
With faith undiminished,
Ere yet it was
noon of his fame.
Clay ! Clay ! !
As well might
you steal the broad sun from the day,
As the humorous
spirit of Blodgett away.
JERICHO.
GEORGE LEE LYMAN, M. D.*
BY REV. C. C. PARKER, OF WATERBURY.
Dr. George Lee Lyman was the oldest son of Mr. Daniel
Lyman, and was born in Jericho, Feb. 23, 1818. His mother, whose maiden name
was Lee, died in his infancy. When he was but a lad, Jericho academy was
established at the Center, some two miles and a half from his father's
residence, in which he early became a student. Under the careful and judicious
training of the principal, Mr. Simeon Bicknell, there were soon developed in
him scholarly traits of a high order. He entered the University of Vermont in
1837, and was graduated in 1841. As a classical scholar, from the first, he
stood at the head of his class—having a remarkable aptitude for the acquisition
of language. He also took a high standing in the departments of metaphysics
and morals, having been an ardent admirer of Dr. James Marsh and his system of
philosophy. The class to which Mr. Lyman belonged was the last class to which
Dr. Marsh gave his full course of instruction.
After his graduation Mr. Lyman taught in Jericho,
Burlington, Clarenceville, C. E, Hinesburgh and Underhill. He studied medicine
in the medical college at Pittsfield, Mass., and practiced mainly in his native
town, Jericho, and vicinity.
Dr. Lyman carried his scholarly habits and tastes with him
through life He was a diligent student of Plato and Aristotle, of Homer,
Hesiod, and nearly all clasical authors, also of Philo and the Church fathers.
During his last year, his leisure was employed in acquiring the German
language.
As a physician he was skillful and faithful, frank and
honest; doubtless too frank and honest for the largest practice. If there was
nothing the matter, he frankly, perhaps bluntly said so. If there was no help,
he was equally candid. He wasted no time or medicine where no good was to be
done. Had he given himself wholly to his profession, as in his last year he
was beginning to do, he doubtless would have won, by his sterling sense and
honesty, as wide a practice as he could have desired.
He was constitutionally indisposed to floating with the
current. It was much more consonant to him to row against wind and tide. Hence
he was rarely in political or religious sympathy with the community where he
lived. Had he lived in the South, there is little doubt he would have been the
stoutest and boldest of Unionists. Living at the North, where the current was
all for the Union, he was bold and outspoken in his sympathy with the South.
Notwithstanding this characteristic, he was the truest and most constant of
friends, with a heart singularly tender and kind in all the relations in life.
He hated all shams and tricks with a perfect hatred.
He married, August 15, 1844, Mabel Almina, daughter of
Lyman Field, who died Oct. 3, 1845, leaving an infant daughter that survived
her a few months. Aug. 27, 1846, he married Mary Clarinda, daughter of Jedediah
Boynton, Esq., of Hinesburgh, who died Sept. 7, 1858. Dr. Lyman died at Jericho
Corners, June 4, 1863. He had buried one daughter, by his second wife. One
survives him.
—————
* The historian of Jericho in this volume.—Ed.
COUNTY
ITEMS. 941
MILTON
REV. ALBERT SMITH, D. D.
BY REV. P. H. WHITE, OF COVENTRY.
Rev. Albert Smith, D. D., died in Monticello, Ill., April
24, 1863, aged 59 years, 2 months and 9 days.
He was a son of Harry and Phebe (Henderson) Smith, and
was born at Milton, Vt., February 15, 1804. He was clerk in a store at
Vergennes, Vt., till he arrived at the age of majority, and it was his
intention to make the mercantile business his pursuit for life; but finding no
satisfactory opening, he commenced the study of law at Hartford, Ct. When
about twenty-three years old, he experienced a change of heart, and turned his
attention to the ministry. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1831, taught a
year in Hartford, Ct., and Medford, Mass.; and commenced the study of theology
at New Haven, but removed to Andover, where he was graduated in 1835.
He was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in
Williamstown, Mass., February 10, 1836, and was dismissed May 6, 1838, to
become Professor of Languages and Belles Letters in Marshall College, at Mercersburgh,
Pa. In 1840 he was called to the Professorship of Rhetoric and English Literature
in Middlebury College, where he remained about four years. He was installed
pastor of the Congregational church in Vernon, Ct., in May, 1845, and
dismissed in October, 1854, on account of declining health. The winter of
1854-55, he spent in Peru, Ill., preaching as he was able. A part of the
following year he spent in Duquoisne, in the service of the Home Missionary
Society. In the fall of 1855 he was settled at Monticello, and there remained
till his death, for several years prior to which he was in feeble health.
"He was a man of uncommon intellectual power, a
superior scholar, and in all respects an admirable man. With a mind highly
disciplined, and accustomed to close logical reasoning, and stored with varied
and extensive knowledge, his sermons, while eminently evangelical, were rich
in matter and conclusive in argument. By some they were sometimes regarded as
too profound, if not incomprehensible. But to the cultivated mind they were
rich and instructive. He was a man of system and method. Everything had its
time and place, and was sure to be attended to. As a man and friend he was
genial and sincere, in prosperity a monitor, and in adversity a tender
sympathizer and wise counsellor."
He received the degree of D. D., from Shurtliff College,
in 1860.
SHELBURNE.
The following names of the original proprietors of
Shelburne were not received in time to include with the very valuable record by
Mr. Thayer, in this volume.
"Jesse Hallock, Steward Southgate, John Southgate,
Richard Gleason, Richard Gleason, jr., Nathaniel Potter, John Bond, jr., John
Potter, Antipas Earl, Samuel Seabury, Thomas Darling, Samuel Hight, Gilbert Tolton,
Simon Dakin, Joshua Dakin, Patridge Thatcher, James Bradshaw, Ebenezer Sealy,
Samuel Waters, David Ferris, Joshua Franklin, Thomas Franklin, jr., Silas
Mead, Nathaniel Potter, jr., Robert Southgate, William Cornal, John Thomas,
jr. John Huching, Stephen Field, Nathaniel Howland, Haddock Bowne, Peter
Tatten, Benjamin Clapp, Tideman Hull, Jos. Hull, Lewis Cammell, Sidmon Hull,
jr., Thomas Hull, John Carnal, Edward Burling, John Cromwell, Thos. Chield,
John Burling, Ebenezer Preston, Uria Field, Isaac Underhill, Joseph Parsall,
John Akin, John Cannon, Jacob Underhill, Zebulon Ferris, Daniel Merit, Jonathan
Akin, Jeremiah Griffin, Read Ferris, Elijah Soty, John Hallock, Benjamin
Ferris, Benjamin Ferris, jr., Samuel Hills, David Akin, Hon. Holcom Temple,
Theodore Atchison, Mark H. J. Wentworth, John Fisher, Esq."
We have also lately received the following communication
from Mr. Thayer in relation to the murder of Mr. Safford, of Shelburne, and
confession of the murder:
"In the spring of 1827, the body of an unknown man
was found in a piece of hemlock woods, directly east from where Hiram Blin now
resides, by Mr. Jonathan Lyon. The unknown had evidently been murdered sometime
before and lain there during the past winter. The discovery soon went out, and
the citizens generally gathered to investigate and make what discoveries they
could in the matter, and a paper was found a few rods from the body that had
evidently been taken from a watch and that came from a goldsmith in Vergennes.
This paper was taken to Vergennes, and it was ascertained that it had been put
into a watch they had repaired, about the 1st of December before, for a person
that had been laboring the season previous for a farmer, in Addison, by the
name of Safford; and, on further inquiry, it was ascertained that he started
about the first of December, on foot, for Sutton, C. E., where he formerly
belonged and where his connections resided; and it was also ascertained that
two men, one bearing the description of the murdered man, and the other a
rather tall, poorly-clad, hard-looking fellow, in company, passed through
Charlotte and Shelburne, going north, on Thanksgiving day, it being the first
Thursday in December. They called at the public house in the forenoon, and at
the hotel in Shelburne, where
942 VERMONT
HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
they took dinner, and the one supposed to have been the
murdered man offered some plated spoons for sale at the hotel, but they were
not purchased. They went north towards Burlington, and no more was thought or
heard of them until this body was found the next April.
A short distance north of Shelburne village the road from
Williston intersects with the main road leading to Burlington, where the road
leading to Burlington takes a turn, and strangers often take the wrong one, and
it was evident these men took the Williston road and traveled about half a mile
on that, as a woman residing on that road recollected of having seen two men,
bearing the description of these two strangers, on the afternoon of the
preceding Thanksgiving clay, standing in the road near her dwelling a short
time, apparently in consultation, and then leaving the road and crossing the
fields in the direction of the piece of woods where the body was found—and
this would be a much shorter route, on their way to Burlington, than to go back
to the main road. Safford being of rather a weak mind (as it was ascertained)
was probably purposely led away by his companion on this wrong road, and then
into this pine woods and there murdered by him,
Safford's friends in Canada supposing him to be in Addison,
and those in Addison supposing he had gone to Canada, no inquiry had been made
for him from any direction, and it was not known, until his body was found,
that any thing had befallen him.
An inquest was holden on the body, but no knowledge could
be had as to who the murderer was. A surgical examination showed that there had
been several severe blows, apparently with a heavy stick, upon the head of the
murdered man. Much inquiry and investigation was made in regard to the matter
to no purpose, and it was generally supposed that there was no way to bring out
this hidden scene of blood until the light of the judgment day should make all
things known; but the Lord has means by which the sins of men will be found
out.
The fact of this murder was disclosed by the murderer
himself, on his death bed, some 28 years after its committal. A man—a miseral
specimen of humanity—in Sutton, C. E., by the name of Coats Barnes, acknowledged
himself the miserable culprit, in the autumn of 1865, after having lain three
days in a dying state; still living, contrary to the expectation of all, he
informed those present that he could not die until he had made a disclosure of
his having murdered Mr. Safford at Shelburne, supposing at the time that he had
quite a sum of money with him, but found a note for $100 and one quarter of a
dollar in his pockets, and a few other articles of but little value, after
which confession he immediately died."
CURIOUS
LAND-SLIDE,
We learn that a somewhat remarkable land-slide took place
on the farm of Mr. Newell in Shelburne on Saturday last.* As described to us,
some five acres of land suddenly sank away, as if let drop by the running out
or change of place of a supporting quicksand. A small wooded hill was cut in
halves by the operation, one-half remaining at its old level, the other
dropping a number of feet and leaving a perpendicular face of earth, reaching
above the tops of the trees which crowned the now sunken half of the hill top.
Some of these trees were split lengthwise by the operation, one-half remaining
up and the other going down, with their respective sections, much as some
families here have been divided by the war. The bed of the La Plot river was
also raised twelve or fifteen feet in spots, not by the earth sliding in but by
an apparent crowding up of the bed of the stream. On the whole it was
apparently a singular affair. No one saw it take place, but the hour at which
it occurred is fixed by some workmen who having left with a load of hay
returned to find their field of labor some ways below where they left it.—Free
Press.
UNDERHILL.
COL. UDNEY HAY,
Commissary of Vermont, lived and died after the
revolutionary war, at Underhill. Before he came to this state he lived at
Albany, and consequently sympathized with the York party in regard to their
assumed jurisdiction over Vermont. From our venerable friend Henry Stevens,
antiquarian, and also from G. B. Sawyer, Esq., of Burlington, we have the
following description and incident: He was a gentleman, an inposing man, rather
of the Matthew Lyon cast. During the war he made purchases for the army in the
South. He was opposed to the Constitution, and to the administration of
Washington and Adams, and continued to the end a politician. His rank was
Quartermaster Gen‑
—————
* We have not the date, but it occurred sometime during
the late war, or between 1861 or '62 and 1864.
ESSEX
COUNTY CHAPTER. 943
oral during the war, which gave him the rank of Colonel.
He was descended from the distinguished family of Hay in Scotland, and was
highly educated and distinguished for his own talent. While Commissary for the
army and resident in New York he presented a petition, the object of which was
to procure the sanction of purchases for the army in this state "to the
pretended Legislature of Vermont." The stern old fathers of Vermont felt
the insult and were in a dilemma how to rebuke the same and yet secure the
trade, till Matthew Lyon suggested that they accept his petition with the
recommend that he should address his next petition to the great grand assembly
of Vermont.
From the Vermont Record.
Robert Hanniford, of Underhill, now (January, 1867) at the
ripe age of 99, hale and hearty, in the full possession of his intellect, east
his vote for Washington, and for every occupant of the presidential chair
except Pierce and Buchanan.
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ESSEX COUNTY CHAPTER.
BY H. A. CUTTING.
The lands now in the area of Essex county were, previous
to 1764, supposed to be in the New Hampshire grants, and some of the land was
granted by the Governor of New Hampshire to different parties. It was,
however. included in New York in the year above named, and March 7th, 1770, the
government of that state erected the county of Gloucester, which included the
land in the N. E. part of the state, Essex within its limits. In 1777, the
General Convention of Vermont declared themselves independent, and in 1779
divided the state into two counties, and each county into two shires. Essex was
then within the limits of Cumberland county, in the shire of Newbury. In 1781
this county was divided into Windham, Windsor and Orange, Essex being within
the limits of Orange, with Newbury still for its shire. The county of Caledonia
was incorporated Nov. 8th, 1796, and included all the N. E. part of the state
within its limits. Essex county was, however, soon incorporated, and the county
officers were appointed in the October session of the legislature in 1800.
Essex county is about 45 miles from N. to S. and 23 from E. to W. It lies
between Lat. 44° 20' and 45°, and Lon. 4° 51' and 5° 28' E. from Washington. It
is bounded N. by Canada East and S. by the Connecticut river, bordering its
bank for more than 65 miles, S. W. by Caledonia county, and W. by Orleans
county. The land is generally fertile, though in many parts stony. Along the
valley of the Connecticut it is beautifully picturesque, and no more romantic
scenery can be found. Guildhall was chosen as its shire, and has thus far been
unchanged, but there is a strong wish among many at present to change it to
Island Pond. This county was never much settled by Indians, but was used as a
hunting ground, and through it was the main road for the St. Francis tribe of
Canada and those living in the valley of the Connecticut. It was a while
disputed territory between them, and we have every reason to suppose that there
were many ambuscades and trials of skill between the Indians of Coos and St.
Francis, within its borders. There have been a few stone tomahawks and arrow
points found within the limits of the county, but Indian relics are rare. There
are several anecdotes concerning the aborigines, but they appear in the town
histories. As a considerable portion of the county is still a wilderness, we
have four unorganized towns—Averill, Ferdinand, Lewis and Norton, and three
gores, viz. Avery's, Warner's and Warren's. Averill was chartered June 23,
1762, is 6 miles square, and bounded N. E. by Canaan, S. E. by Lemington, S.
W. by Lewis, and N. W. by Avery's gore and Norton. It is well watered and well
timbered, but broken and uneven in surface and contains but few inhabitants.
Ferdinand was chartered Oct. 13th, 1761, to contain 23
square miles, but as a portion of Wenlock has been added it now contains much
more than that. It is bounded N. by Lewis, E. by Brunswick and Maidstone, S. by
Granby and E. Haven, and W. by Newark and Brighton. It contains several ponds
and streams, which are well stocked with splendid trout, making this town the
best fishing ground in the section.
Lewis was chartered June 29th, 1762, is a mountainous
township 6 miles square, bounded N. E. by Averill, S. E. by Bloomfield, S. W.
by Ferdinand and Brighton, and N. W. by Avery's gore. This township is well
timbered with pine, but the land is not considered to be of the best quality.
Norton is