JAY. 265
Over her stole the death warmth
And her soul left our valleys,
As the sunset lifted
From winding forest-alleys,
With her snow-shroud angel-woven,
With sunshine lying round her,
With the pine tree for her headstone
On the morrow there they found her.
Tenderly they brushed the snow-wreaths
From her wrinkled face away,
Carefully raised her, knowing not
She was fair Marion Gray.
Only saying, "It is Mad Math
Who has wandered up and down,
Long time waiting, long time searching
For a treasure never found.
They lifted lip her staff and basket,
Showing relics strange and old,
Faded flowers, withered spring-leaves
And a shell-frame edged with gold.
In the frame were two fair pictures
Which might have been two lovers,
One might have been Marion's face
Or might have been another's.
Reverently they folded them
In her hands grown dark and thin,
Knowing nothing: asking, wondering
Only what they might have been.
Gently in her grave they laid her;
Then the "gude men" went their way,
Carving "MAD MATH" on the pine tree,
But it should be "MARION GREY."
Now they tell us of the pine tree
How the tassels bow and whisper,
When the sun is low in heaven
And winds are on the heather.
How adown the firey sunset
Come evening echoes calling,
And the waving pine tree-tassles
Answer back "I am coming."
So they tell us but we know not,
And we heed not what they tell,
Only know that—at last, at last
Weary Math is resting well.
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JAY.
BY THE REV. PLINY H. WHITE.
The territory constituting the town of Jay was originally granted, as a township, by the name of Carthage, March 13, 1780. No settlements were made under that grant, nor was the township surveyed till 1789, when it was surveyed by James Whitelaw. The conditions of the grant not being complied with, the land reverted to the State; and the legislature, by a resolution, adopted Nov. 7, 1792, which recited,
"That the tract called Carthage is found to be an uncommonly good one," and that 7,000 acres of it had been granted to Thomas Chittenden, requested the Governor to issue a charter to John Jay for fourteen sixteenths of two thirds of it, and to John Cozine for the other two sixteenths, and "that the same should be erected into a townnship by the name of Jay."
That part of the township which was granted to Gov. Chittenden was described as follows: "Beginning at a Stake and Stones being the South-West Corner of Carthage thence South 82 Degrees and 20 Minutes East six Miles in the North Line of Westfield to a Birch Tree Standing in the North East Corner thereof marked Carthage Westfield 1789, thence North Two miles to a Stake 16 Links North West from a Spruce Tree Marked 2 1789 thence North 82 Degrees and 20 Minutes West six Miles to a Fir Tree standing on the West side of a Mountain Marked M 4 1789 thence South to the first bound containing 4600 acres of land."
By a charter issued Nov. 28, 1792, the remainder of the township was described as follows: —
"Beginning at the North East Corner of a Tract heretofore called Carthage being a Stake and Stones standing in the North line of said State 15 links North from a Beech Tree marked Carthage 1789 and running thence North Eighty-Two Degrees and Twenty Minutes West Six Miles in the North line of the State to a Beech Tree Marked Richford Carthage October 17th 1789—thence South four Miles in the East line of Richford to a pine or fir tree on the West ride of a small mountain marked M 4 1789 then South 82 degrees and 20 minutes East to a Stake 16 links North West from a spruce Tree marked M 2 1789 thence North in the East line of the said Tract to the place of beginning containing 15,367 acres statute measure."
Deming, in his Gazetteer, inquires:— "As the east part of the town is good land and the west part all mountain, would a shrewd Yankee be at a loss to guess which way the division line ran?" Our fathers, however, were honest, as well as shrewd; and the division line between the tract granted to Gov. Chittenden and that granted to Messrs. Jay and Cozine, did not run north and south, as Deming suggests, but east and west, giving Gov. Chittenden his full proportion of the mountain, no less than of the low lands.
John Jay, to whom a large part of the town was granted, and in honor of whom it was named, was an eminent lawyer and statesman of New York, and, not long before the grant, had been appointed, by Washington, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During the protracted controversy between New York and Vermont.
266 VERMONT HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
he had exerted his influence in favor of the latter; and, among other things, had signed as many as four petitions to the Legislature of New York, praying for an amicable and equitable adjustment of the difficulties between the two States. A part of the land granted to him descended to his son, and was sold by him about 1840; but much the larger part of it became, early in the present century, the property of the Hon. Azarias Williams, of Concord, by whom it was given to the University of Vermont. It was not till after 1830, that any considerable part of the land went into the possession of actual settlers.
Notwithstanding the opinion of the legislature of 1792, that the tract called Carthage was "an uncommonly good one," its superior excellence was speculative, rather than real. The "small mountain," mentioned in the charter, is that part of the Green Mountain range which culminates in one of its highest summits—Jay Peak. The whole western part of the town is on the mountain, and nearly all the west line is on the western slope. The eastern part is comparatively level, and is of good quality for cultivation. It is watered by numerous rivulets, the most of which are collected into Jay branch, which is one of the tributaries of the Missisquoi. These streams afford several good mill-privileges.
The rock of that part of the Green Mountains which lies in Jay, is nearly all talcose slate. Intercalated with these, there are beds of steatite (or soapstone), and veins of serpentine. The serpentine contains large quantities of chromic iron, of excellent quality, which is found in veins, somewhat irregular, of which the largest is from one to two feet wide. An early use of this ore was made by Prof. A. C. Twining, of Middlebury College; who obtained 180 grains of chrome yellow from 100 grains of the ore, without exhausting the chromic oxide of the latter. Small specimens of gold have been found in Jay; but not of much value.
The first settler of Jay was a Mr. Barter, who began the settlement in 1809. A few families followed him within two or three years, but the war of 1812 filled them with such fears of danger from Canada, that they abandoned the settlement. Barter, however, remained, populated the town with his own sons and daughters to the number of 20, and died at the advanced age of 90. The early settlers experienced all the hardships incident to frontier life, and suffered the usual disadvantages of poor roads, or none at all, distance from mill and market, and the entire lack of social, educational and religious privileges. The population increased very slowly. In 1810, the number of inhabitants was 28; in 1820, it was 52; in 1830, 196; in 1840, 308; in 1850, 371; 1860, 474; 1870, 553.
The town was organized, Mar. 29, 1828, at the house of Jehu Young. Asa Wilson was chosen moderator; Abner Whicher, clerk; Nathan Hunt, first constable; Elisha Upton and Joseph Hadlock, overseers of the poor; Abel Alton, Joseph Hadlock and Madison Keith, selectmen; Joseph Hadlock, Madison Keith and Abner Whicher, listers. Madison Keith was the first representative, and the first justice of the peace.
The first-born child was Jay English. The first marriage, of which there is any record, was that of William Williams and Martha Sanborn, March 22, 1832.
During the war of 1861—'65, Jay furnished, for the Army of the Union, 39 volunteers on its own quota, and many others to apply on the quotas of other towns, in which money was more abundant than patriotism. The following list of those who were furnished on the town quota, is nearly complete:—
Elisha Belden, 17th Reg't, Co. A ; Elisha Belden, jr., 5th Reg't, Co. A; Martin Brockway, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Byron D. Brown, 9th Reg't, Co. E; George W. Burt, 3d Reg't, Co. B, deserted March 5, 1863; Ezra C. Butler, 5th Reg't, Co. A, deserted Oct. 30, 1862; Sidney D. Butler, 5th Reg't, Co. A; Ozro B. Chamberlin, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Henry D. Chamberlain, 3d Reg't, Co. B.; Arthur H. Chase, 11th Reg't, Co. D; Gardner W. Chase, 11th Reg't, Co. D, died in service, Jan. 21, 1864; T. Abell Chase, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Jonathan E. Chase, 2d Reg't, Co. H; Morrill Currier, 5th Reg't, Co. A, deserted Sept. 21, 1863; William Dennison, 10th Reg't, Co. —; Amos C. Ellsworth, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Everett Hadlock, 5th Reg't, Co. A; George W. Hadlock, 8th Reg't, Co. C; Royal W. Hadlock, 5th Reg't, Co. A, deserted July 4, 1862; Solon W. Hadlock, 5th Reg't, Co. A, died in service, Dec. 31, 1861; Glen C. Hovey, 11th Reg't, Co. M, died in service, July 2, 1864; Benjamin Griggs, 17th Reg't, Co. C, deserted April 20, 1864; Henry Lewis, 5th Reg't, Co. A; Marshall B. Niles, 3d Reg't; Jacob L. Pettee,
JAY. 267
8th Reg't, Co. C, died in service, July 6, 1863; William T. Pettee, 8th Reg't, Co. C, killed at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863; Benjamin Place, 6th Reg't, Co. D, deserted Apr. 6, 1862; Benjamin F. Place, 11th Reg't, Co. D; James A. Place, 6th Reg't, Co. D; Gilbert Lucier, 11th Reg't, Co. F; Lawrence Paquette, 11th Reg't, Co. F, died in service, Dec. 19, 1864; James Randall, 11th Reg't, Co. D; Henry St. John, 11th Reg't, Co. G; Henry J. Titus, 10th Reg't, Co. K; Lewis R. Titus, 3d Reg't, Co. B; Lyman S. West, 5th Reg't, Co. C, deserted Sept. 13, 1863; Alexander Young, 7th Reg't, Co. F.
REPRESENTATIVES.
Madison Keith. 1828—'30; George Flint, 1831—'33, '36; Walter Charlton, 1839—'42; Bradley Sanborn, 1844; Orin Emerson, 1848; Willard Walker, 1850; David McDaniel, 1852; John Young, 1853, '54; Ithamar Hadlock, 1855, '56; Willard Walker, 1857; Lanson Sanborn, 1858; Newton Chase, 1859; Alfred Hunt, 1860; David Johnsen, 1861; Joseph Hadlock, 1862, '63; David Johnson, 1864; Martin S. Chamberlin, 1865, '66; Charles R. Bartlett, 1867, '68.
DELEGATES TO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
Madison Keith, 1828; Walter Charlton, 1836; Willard Walker, 1850.
JAY PEAK.
BY ELISHA HARRINGTON.
Mountains are both schools and cathedrals.—Ruskin.
A section of the monntainnus belt that circumscribes the earth, adorns the eastern part of North America from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and is named Alleghany Mountains. It consists of several ridges, and the altitude of the highest pinnacles is about 6,000 feet. The northern part of the range is wide, comprising New England and a part of the State of New York, and is divided longitudinally into three principal ridges, the White Mountains eastward, the Adirondack Mountains westward, and the Green Mountains between them, which, with the name of Notre Dame Mountains extend into Canada. Appurtenent to these ridges are insulated mountains, as Katahdin in Maine, Yamaska in Canada and many others. The rivers emanating from these picturesque elevations and coursing through their deep valleys run to the Atlantic ocean in various directions; the Hudson and Connecticut southward; the Richelieu, out of Lake Champlain, and the Saint Francis, out of Lake Memphremagog and other sources, northward, and the streams of New Hampshire and Maine, southward and eastward.
The Green Mountain range extends north and south centrally through the State of Vermont, and northward of the middle of the State, it is divided into two ridges with the beautiful valley of Lake Memphremagog between them. Jay Peak is the most conspicuous feature of the western ridge, and, from whatever standpoint it is viewed, whether near or distant, it is the most beautiful feature of the region. It is the sharpest and bleakest of the high tops of the Green Mountain range, and only three of them are higher. It is not her from midway between the Connecticut river and Lake Champlain; is 6 miles south from the boundary line of Canada; its altitude from the ocean is 4,018 feet; and it has ever been one of the chief guides of the Indian in his journeyings through the sublime forest.
The first explorers of Vermont, and contiguous parts of Canada, found all the mountains covered to the top with trees and shrubs, and were awed with their beauteous grandeur. But devastation of the forest has occurred upon many of them, denuding their rocky crowns, damaging the climate and marring the loveliness of the landscape. It is not known when and how Jay Peak was first deprived of its vegetation. At the beginning of the present century only a few insulated settlements had been made in the upper valley of the Missisquoi river and on the shore of Lake Memphremagog; and as the openings that the settlers made in the forest for tillage and roads expanded so that they sometimes had glimpses of Jay Peak, it was observed that a small spot on the pinnacle was bare rock. The slopes of the mountain are heavily timbered, but it is not probable that it ever had much vegetation at the top except moss and bushes; and it may have been burnt by lightning, or by forest rangers for a clear lookout, or by a hunter's campfire. In the dry summers of latter years fire has several times been either purposely or unavoidably communicated to the upper part of the mountain and several acres of it are divested of soil, and no vegetation remains except in the crevices of the rock. Its majestic crown, generally but not invariably, wears a glittering wreath of hoar-frost or snow, from shout the 20th of September to about the middle of
268 VERMONT HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
May or first of June. But the tillers of the land at its base plant their corn—nearly if not quite as early as it is planted in the valleys of the same region, and the product is about equal in quality and quantity and as early ripe. Several mountains in Canada westward of Lake Memphremagog, were uncapped by fire from 1819 to 1826; and several in Vermont southward of Jay Peak in 1841. For some of this wasteful and damaging havoc, the people are not blamable; but in some instances it has been done heedlessly or sportively by pestiferous idlers regardless of the rights of property or the good of the country. Governments should protect the forest from needless destruction.
The chief constituent of Jay Mountain is talcose slate rock, and the soil covering it is strong and fertile, as is shown in the herbage, shrubs and trees. The corner of the township of Jay, Richford, Westfield and Montgomery is near the pinnacle. They are 6 miles square, and about half of Jay and large portions of the others are now covered with the primitive forest. In 1860, the number of inhabitants in Jay was 474, Westfield 618, Montgomery 1262, Richford 1338. The town of Jay and the mountain peak, were named with the grateful intention of perpetuating the memory of John Jay an American statesman.
In pursuance of the Ashburton-Webster treaty of 1842, when the commissioners were establishing the boundary line between the United States of America and British America, in 1845, some of the engineers were, for several days, encamped near the top of Jay Mountain, and, in furtherance of their surveying operations, sent up signal rockets from the peak in the night, in exchange with others of the corps stationed on Barnston Mountain about 30 miles eastward, and others on an eminence west of Lake Champlain.
July 8, 1862, two men led a horse up the Westfield side of the mountain to the top of it.
In the history of the people around the base of the mountain, there is one extraordinary, mysterious and sorrowful event, suitable to be noted in this orographic sketch. The mountains being too steep for roads over them, the road from Jay to Richford curves with the Missisquoi river round through a gap in the mountain in Canada, elongating the distance to 20 miles. In the Summer of 1863 an old man, living in Jay, undertook to return from Richford through the forest over the mountain. He passed the night at the last house up the mountain slope from East Richford, and the children guided him into the unfrequented forest path, by which the distance to the nearest clearings in Jay is about 3 miles. In some directions it is a day's journey to any clearings. It is supposed he deviated from the path, became bewildered, could find no way out, and died.
Far up the eastern slope of the mountain the little rills gather into a brook that is two or three yards wide a mile and a half below the peak, and further down presents sites for saw-mills; and for this reason, in connection with agricultural purposes, a few families have extended settlements from the older part of the town a mile or two up the stream into the forest, with a road for their accommodation. In 1867, a joint-stock company completed an extension of this road, as far toward the top of the mountain as it is practicable to make a road on that side of it. The company also built a log-house on the road a mile and a half below the top of the mountain, for the convenience of visitors, and it was opened as a hotel June 25, 1867. It is easily accessible to tourists, and the road is good and safe to a point half a mile above the house.
Jay Peak is a very good stand point for far distant views, and near views too, and the public will be glad that, by facilities for ascending it, it is brought within the line of the line of the tourists' routes. There is nothing, but the distant mountains, to intercept the view in any direction. The base is surrounded with a broad tract of forest, covering valleys, glens and mountains. A little beyond the forest are rivers, ponds, groves, farms, roads and villages. Further off, looking in all directions near and remote, the observer may see Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump, and other dignitaries of the Green Mountain range; the White Mountains; Mount Hor, Mount Pisgah, Westmore Mountain, Mount John; the mountains about the head waters of the Connecticut, the Chaudiere and the Androscoggin, Barnston Mountain, Owl's Head, Sutton Mountain, Victoria Mountain and many others with them; the great plateau of the Saint Lawrence, Richelieu and Yamaska rivers, adorned with the insulated mountains, Shefford, Gale, Brome, Yamaska., Rougemont, Belœil, Johnson, Boucherville,
LOWELL. 269
Pinnacle, Covey Hill and Mount Royal; the Laurentides range beyond the Saint Lawrence , and Lake Champlain, where the view beyond is bounded by the bold outline of the Adirondacks.
This field of observation is broad enough for frequent study, not only by travelers from foreign lands, but by the inhabitants of the country; and the young men and women of Vermont should not consider their education complete till they have stood upon some of the lofty eminences of the Green Mountains and beheld and studied their scenic beauty and sublimity.
Coventry, January 1, 1869.
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LOWELL.
BY D. EUGENE CURTIS.
Lowell is situated in the western part of Orleans County—16 miles from Canada, in lat. 44° 47', and long. 4° 27´, cast of Washington. Its form is irregular, it being in shape almost like a triangle. The surface, like that of all other mountainous regions, is broken and diversified, being mostly hilly except that portion lying on the river. The town is rich in the beauty of its natural scenery, being surpassed by few towns in the State. On either side of it extend the Green Mountains, presenting an interesting view of the wild and picturesque. To the west may be seen Hazen's Notch, through which Col. Hazen attempted to open a road during the Revolution. He encamped for several days with a part of his regiment on the flat where W. H. Blasdell's store now stands. To the north-west, Jay Peak rises in view, pointing its lofty head toward heaven, as if reminding man of his origin and proper destiny.
The town is watered by the Missisco and its tributaries. This river is the outlet of a pond situated in the south-western part of the town. A tributary rising in the southeastern part of the town, uniting with this, below the village, affords valuable mill-sites, which have been mostly improved. The forest-trees are mostly spruce, hemlock and maple, although beech, birch, &c., are quite abundant. The soil, generally, is productive, yielding a good harvest to the husbandman.
The town is one of interest to the mineralogist. It possesses a great variety of minerals. Asbestos, serpentine, in most beautiful specimens, abound in considerable quantities.
ORGANIZATION, &C.
The town originally belonged to Chittenden County. It was granted March 5, 1787, and chartered by Gov. Thos. Chittenden, to John Kelley, Esq., of New York, from whom it received its original name—Kelleyvale. Nov. 1, 1831, the name was altered to Lowell. There were two charters; the first of 6,000 acres, June 6, 1791, and the other, June 7, 1791, of 31,000 acres. It immediately passed into the hands of Mr. Kelley's creditors, who sold to one Wm. Duer for $4,680. A considerable portion of the town still remains in the hands of non-residents. The first settler was Major Wm. Caldwell, from Barre, Mass, who began to make improvements on his land in the year 1803, but did not move his family into town until April, 1806.* In the Spring of 1807, came John Harding, assisted by four others, drawing his family and goods into town on hand-sleds; others soon followed. March 12, a petition signed by nine of the inhabitants, was made, to one Medad Hitchcock, one of the justices of the County, requesting him to warn a meeting of the inhabitants for the purpose of organizing the town. The meeting was held at the house of Capt. Asahel Curtis. The following officers were chosen, viz. Wm. Caldwell, moderator; Abel Curtis, town clerk; Asahel Curtis, Wm. Caldwell, John Harding, selectmen; Ebenezer Woods, treasurer; Elijah Buxton, Horatio Walker, Daniel Sanborn, listers; John Harding, constable; Jos. Butterfield, grand juror; John Harding and Wm. Caldwell, surveyors; David Stewart, Ebenezer Woods, fence-viewers; Asahel Curtis, pound-keeper; Samuel Stewart, sealer of leather; Benjamin, Woods, sealer of weights and measures; Jonathan Powers, tithing-man; Samuel Stewart, jr., Jas. Butterfield, haywards.
REPRESENTATIVES.
The town representatives from organization to the present time are successively as follows: Asahel Curtis, 1812, '14, '18; John Harding, 1815, '16, '17, '21, '22, '24, '28, and '32; Thos Proctor, 1829; Henry Smith, 1830; Silas Lamb, 1833; M. F. Dodge, 1836; Herod Farman, 1837, '57, '58; Sabin Scott, 1838,'39; . B. F. Pickett, 1840, '41; Wm. Flint, 1842, '43; Amasa Paine, 1845, '46, '53; J. D. Harding, 1847, '48; John Stephenson, 1849; C. Leland,
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* See paper by Mr. Seeley, which follows on this and other points.—Ed.