BY S. H. DAVIS, ESQ.
The town of
This town had no charter as a town, having been formed
out of the contiguous parts of other towns, viz:
I know but little of the geology of the town. Igneous and
stratified rocks are apparent in various parts; principally, I understand,
they are of the primary formation. They have an easterly dip of from 36°, increasing
in some places until they become vertical.
Bowlders are found here from the lower members of the red
sand-rock, and are instantly recognized as resembling those along the lake
shore by any one acquainted with the formation. Some of them found in this and
adjoining towns will weigh several tons, and are found resting on the talcose
slate formation.
As to minerals, in the south-east part of Richmond on
flats formed by beaver dams, on which David Robbins, a Revolutionary soldier,
settled, bog-iron ore has been found, which has been dug to some extent and manufactured
into iron of a good quality,
Near the ore bed one Sears erected a forge on
I am informed that the state geologists have never
examined the deposits of bog and mountain ore in this vicinity, although
specimens have been left with the town clerk, agreeably to their advertisement.
A few years ago Col. Rolla Gleason, while digging muck in
a swamp near the top of Bryant hill, struck on some hard, bony substance, and
on getting it out of the mud and examining the same, it proved to be the fossil
remains of an elephant's tusk.
It was presented by Col. Gleason to the
As to the soil, the intervals along the Winooski river in
844
Richmond is quite hilly, excepting in the valley of the
Winooski, in which its two villages stand on either side of the river, and even
there the clustering hills wall in the river till you can hardly tell
"whence it cometh and whither it goeth." It sits on more than seven
hills which encircle its valley and villages round like a vast natural
amphitheatre, where men are the actors in the arena, as everywhere in the broad
earth acting the grand drama of life.
Jonesville, named after Ransom Jones, is a very pleasant
little village in
The lower village in
There is much business by the way of trade that once went
to
The lower village has very fine surrounding scenery
though not as wild as the upper, and, like the other village, it has been a
place of considerable summer resort. And a hotel company has been incorporated,
which contemplate building a more commodious hotel at the lower village, for
the accommodation of those who, in the heat of summer, fly from the city to the
romantic country.
Richmond I think is not surpassed by any town in the state
for its variety of scenery, and its many pleasant and romantic drives: now
along the smoothly flowing river and grassy meadow; now up through a ravine
lined on either side by natural forest trees as God planted them; now by the
overhanging precipitous rock; now along in the shadow of the towering hill;
now by the farm-house, meadow, and pasture; now through an avenue formed by the
beech, birch, hemlock, pine, spruce, the tall maple and stately elm, along by
the murmuring brook, the clear cold springs here and there gushing ont from the
hill-side, then back to the river again. This description is not merely
applicable to one drive in town, but to a half dozen—and does none of them
justice.
The first settlements made within the limits of the town
were begun by Amos Brownson and John Chamberlain, with their families, in 1775,
on what is called Richmond Flats, on the south side of the Winooski river, in
what then was the town of
The first settlements begun in the south part of the town,
then included in the charter limits of
The first settlements along the south side of the Winooski
river, between the mouth of
The first made in the west part of the town were made by
Asa Brownson, Nathan and Henry Fay.
On the north side of the river, one of the first
beginnings was made by Joseph Hall.
The town was organized in March, 1795, and Joseph
Chamberlain was the first town clerk. Amos Brownson, Esq., was the first
representative, chosen the same year. Joel Brownson and James Farnsworth were
the first justices of the peace.
The town his since been represented by Dr. Matthew Cole,
Joshua Chamberlain, Joel Brownson, Jacob Spafford, Nathan Fay, Abel Cooper,
James Butler, William Rhodes John Fay, Edward Jones, Amos B. Cooper, Eli
Brownson, Sylvanus Douglas, Nathan
Fay, Jr., Ransom Jones, James Humphrey, Rufus Stephens,
Iddo Green, 2d, Thomas Browning, Artemas Flagg, Edwin D. Mason, Truman Fay,
Rolla Gleason and Ezra B. Green, Robert Towers, U. S. Whitcomb and Safford
Brownson.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
The clerical profession has been represented in
Jedediah Bushnell, Guy C. Sampson, Zenas Bliss, T. J.
Holmes, E. H. Alden, Eben Halley and others have presided over the
Congregational church.
Jonathan Wallace, Thomas Browning, and others have
presided over the Universalist society.
Rev. T. Williams presides over the Methodist society.
There are three churches in-town: the old round
church—with 16 sides and steeple rising from the center, built and owned by several
societies; but now principally occupied by the Methodists, and occasionally by
the Universalists,—the Congregational church and the Catholic.
PHYSICIANS,
The medical profession has been represented in Richmond
by Dr. Matthew Cole—the first physician, who died in 1809—and his successors
Drs. Seth Cole, Sylvanus Church, Reuben Nims, William Foss, Carlos Allen, James
M. Knox and G. P. Conn; at present by George Benedict, Loren Chamberlain and
William Root.
LAWYERS.
The legal profession has been represented in this town by
Harry Brownson, Wm. P. Briggs, Wm. S. Hawkins, Edward A. Stansbury, Aaron B.
Maynard, B. E. B. Kennedy, F. A,
BUSINESS
MEN.
Those who have figured as business men in Richmond—as
merchants, manufacturers and mechanics have been Nathan Fay, who carried on the
business of carding wool and cloth dressing, at Fay's Corners (so called), said
to have been the first works of the kind in the county of Chittenden; Silas
Rockwell carried on tanning and currying and shoe-making at the same locality,
and afterwards bought and carried on by Asahel Murray, later by Murray &
Talcott, and at present by R. A. Jones.
Wm. Rhodes carried on blacksmithing and manufactured
ploughs at his place upwards of 50 years ago.
Isaac Gleason opened a store and traded for many years
near the old round church. On the north side of the river, near the locality
of the railway depot, where Hodges' store now stands, Winslow & Gay carried
on the mercantile business, and D. F. Lapham & Co. were their successors.
The mercantile business is now carried on by H. A. Hodges, Solomon Green, J. P.
Barnum, Firman & Gorton, E. B. Green, and Sayles and Eddy, at Jonesville;
and to these may be added Joshua Jewell's furniture store, and Dr. Wm. Root's
drug store.
The present manufacturing concerns are the steam saw-mill
and furniture manufactory of Joshua Jewell, the wagon shops of T. J. Bryant
and Lewis Gosling, the harness shop of A. K. Jacobs, and tin shop of J. P.
Barnum. There are also many other mechanics in town who work at various trades.
In this town one
A grist-Mill was built by John Preston, on
A carding machine and clothier's works were built at the
same locality by James H. Judson in 1815, which was destroyed by fire in
1819,—afterwards rebuilt by Daniel Fisk.
A saw-mill was built lower down the river, about the
beginning of the present century, half a mile above the mouth, by Joseph
Whipple.
Afterwards another clothing works was built here by Marcus
Robbins & Co., but has not been in operation for some years.
There have been a number of fatal accidents, and two or
three suicides in town.
In May, 1812, Mrs. Jewell, an aged lady, was drowned in
the Winooski river, in attempting to cross it, riding behind her husband on
horseback.
846
In 1817 Adam Bennet received a wound while engaged with
others waking up officers on training-day morning, by the careless discharge
of a heavily-loaded gun in the hands of another young person, the wadding of
the gun entering and lodging in his back, near his shoulder blade, of which he
died in a few days.
Some years ago (in 1831) the bridge over the Winooski
having been carried away by high water, Heman Russel, Evander Lapham and Thomas
Bonnet and three others, being desirous to cross, attempted it in a boat. By an
accident the boat was capsized, and Heman Russel and Evander Lapham were
drowned. Thomas Bennet was so badly chilled that he died soon after he was got
out of the river. Church, the mail-carrier, whom they were trying to ferry
over, swam to the shore; Blossom and Case to an island, and thus three escaped
with their lives. The accident was on the 31st day of March, 1831. Russel was
found next morning; but Lapham not till June following.
About 20 years ago one of Thomas Cutler's children and
one of Thomas Green's, were drowned in the Winooski, by breaking through the
ice on the river, on which they had incautiously ventured to have a slide,
Some years later a child of Joshua Jewell was killed by
the fall of a wagon body, on which it had climbed when at play.
Several years ago Capt. David Blossom was badly hurt by
being overturned from his wagon, of which injury he died in two or three weeks.
In 1848 Thomas Barber, while riding on his wagon reach,
lost his balance and fell under the wheels and was crushed to death.
In 1849 Daniel Robbins was thrown out of his wagon on to
the frozen ground in the road, near the old meeting-house; he was taken up
insensible, and died soon after without recovering his senses.
In 1853 John Kenedy, while in a boat on the Winooski
river, near Shepard's Cove, trying to shoot pickerel, was mortally wounded by
the accidental discharge of his gun, of which wound he died in a short time.
In July, the same year, Andrew Jackson Mason was killed
while in the steam sawmill by falling upon a log that was being sawed and
against the circular saw then in motion, which nearly severed his head from his
body.
There has also been several very sudden deaths in
In 1836 Abraham Alger, another aged man, dropped down dead
while in the field at work,
In 1837 Stephen Manwell, on returning into his house from
work out of doors, dropped down suddenly dead.
A few years ago Oliver Cutler, a man of four score years,
died suddenly.
In November, 1853, Harvey Talcott came into his house from
out of doors, seated himself in a chair, and was about lighting his pipe, when
death overtook him unawares.
In 1860 Mr. Elijah Hinkson, of
The following suicides were committed in Richmond, viz:
Chester Merrifield, who hung himself in March, 1822; Anson Jones, one of a pair
of twin brothers, who put an end to his life in the same way, Jan. 30, 1852;
some three years since a Mrs. Gibb committed suicide by cutting her throat; in
1814 Benjamin Whipple, a resident of the town, while confined in Burlington
jail, in the same manner, and Denslow Barber, Jr., a returned soldier, hung
himself in the summer of 1866.
Some of the earlier settlers attained a very advanced age.
Bigford Spooner, whose sudden death we noticed above, was 104 at the time of
his death. Mrs. Bethiah Squires, relict of Stephen Squires, was 100 years old
in March preceding her death. Mrs. Ruth Robbins, widow of Daniel Robbins, was
98, when she died. Abel Cooper was upwards of 90; James Stephens, 88.
Nearly all of the following persons attained the age of 80
years and upwards: Amos and Asa Brownson, Nathan Fay, John Devereaux, Wm.
Rhodes, Jesse Green, Abel Hildreth, Abraham Alger.
Mrs. Jones (mother of Edward Jones), Solomon Bates and his
wife Jemima Bates, Mrs. Tomlinson (widow of Eliphalet Tomlinson), Mrs. Barber
(mother of Martin, Elisha, and Shubel Barber), Ebenezer Cook, Isaac B. Andrews
and Mrs. Sally Rhodes saw four score years.
Hon. Wm. P. Briggs and J. W. Allen, Esq., died in 1861.
Judge Briggs, who practiced
RICHMOND. 847
law for several years in Richmond, had no ordinary
reputation as an advocate.
As a ruler of the twelve, in his palmiest days, when his
tones were clear and silvery, he had few equals, if any, at the Chittenden
county bar. I have been told by one of the older members of the bar that the
most powerful and eloquent jury argument that ever was made in Chittenden
county courthouse was made by Wm. P. Briggs. It had, he said, all the charm
and mesmeric influence of Clay. The spectators, judge and jury, were lost in
the creations of the master-spirit and held as by a spell by the irresistible
power of his eloquence. He said an enemy of Briggs, who was present, touched
him on the shoulder and said: "That is eloquence! Henry Clay eloquence!
!"
He was very social, and I have heard poor men say that
whatever he might have been to the rich, he was ever a true friend to the poor.
[ We omit here a few paragraphs, as the same, in
substance, we have embodied in a more extensive notice of Judge Briggs, that
may be found at the close of this chapter.—Ed.]
About the beginning of the Revolution, soon after the
burning of Royalton, a party of loyal citizens, 24 in number, among whom was
John Barnet, started from Piedmont, on the Connecticut river, to explore the
wilderness down the Winooski river as far as the shore of Lake Champlain. They
were sent out as a scouting party to see if any Indians and tories were lurking
about, as there had been suspicions that their destruction was in
contemplation.
After traveling down the Winooski river as far as the west
line of the town of Richmond, formerly in the limits of Jericho, on the
interval of what is called the Spafford farm, they discovered the trail of a
considerable body of Indians. Thereupon they formed in a line to receive any
attack the foe might make. They then advanced down to a point of rocks in the
bend of the river, just a few rods above where the old turnpike bridge now
stands.
Behind a point of rocks that project down near the river
lay about 30 tories and Indians, concealed in ambush, who fired a volley into
the advancing loyal party and mortally wounded their leader, John Barnet, and
slightly wounding many others. The loyal party then retreated, leaving their
dying leader, John Barnet, mortally wounded in the hands of the enemy.
The leader of the tories and Indians was from Piedmont,
from the neighborhood from which Barnet and his followers came. He was at once
a tory and a traitor, and had given notice to the Indians of the advance of
Barnet and his party, perhaps not conjecturing their true object.
After the retreat of Barnet's followers, the tory leader,
blackened and disguised as an Indian, hastened to the dying Barnet, took him up
in his arms, and as he recognized the dying man, exclaimed: "John, if I
had known it was you, I would not have fired !"
Barnet soon after died, and was carried by the tory leader
and his followers down the river to the Penniman place and buried beneath an
old tree-root, near where the "Lime-kiln" now stands.
The next spring the brothers of John Barnet learned where
he was buried, went after him, dug him up and carried him on poles through the
wilderness to Piedmont, and buried him with his kindred. They swore eternal
vengeance on his murderer, if they should ever meet him, and the tory leader
was obliged to find a home in Canada, where he lived and died many years after
Great Britain had acknowledged our independence.
INDIAN
WIGWAM.
Here in Richmond, near Jonesville, about half a mile from
the confluence of the Huntington and Winooski rivers, after crossing the
interval, and going up the Huntington river, on the first point of land
projecting towards the river, stands—a few rods from the river's bank—the
mounds and embankments of an ancient Indian wigwam.
It was first discovered in 1809, and when discovered a
large birch tree stood on the bank or mound of the wigwam over three feet
through, indicating its considerable antiquity. Its mounds are still visible,
and many ancient Indian relics have been found here.
Here the red man sped his canoe from the broader Winooski
up the smaller river to his hidden home in the unbroken wilderness. Here he
returned from his hunting and fishing excursions. Here he made his necessary
arrow heads and utensils of stone. Many of the former and some of the latter
have been found on the site of this wigwam by the
848 VERMONT
HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
"children of an older growth," who excavated
these mounds for Indian relics in their boyhood days. Here he wooed his dusky
mate; hunted the wild game; danced the wild dance; sang the wild song;
proclaimed his passions and sentiments in wild oratory; lived, loved and died
in the wild wilderness a hundred years ago.
A
HUNTER'S STORY.
In the early day one Isaiah Preston and one Stinson, two
of the early settlers of this vicinity, went out on a moose hunt. They were not
fortunate until they got several miles from home. It was in the winter time,
and they, on account of the depth of snow, were obliged to travel on
snow-shoes.
Just at night they found and shot a large moose in a
hollow near the south-west end of Mansfield mountain. The shades of night were
coming on, they built a fire, dressed their moose, cooked their supper of moose
meat, made a bed of evergreen boughs and laid down to pleasant dreams.
After they had made preparation for a night's lodging in
the woods, it being very cold, Preston said to Stinson that he would take the
moose hide and wrap himself up in that, which he did, giving Stinson both of
the blankets. They slept soundly and well, and were unmolested and undisturbed,
excepting by the distant howl of the wolves.
Morning dawned, and Preston thought he would unrobe
himself and help Stinson build the fire and cook their breakfast; but he found
his hands and legs tied so tightly by the frozen hide that he must inevitably
have perished had it not been for the assistance of his companion. After being
restored to liberty, they hung upon a tree the portion of the moose they could
not carry, and backed the rest 8 or 10 miles on their backs to their hungry
families. In this way the early settlers supplied themselves with game, it
being their only meat. Many are their stories of hardships and hair-breadth
escapes of these iron-sinewed pioneers.
MEETING
OF GEN. SCOTT WITH HIS ORDERLY SERGEANT.
The year the Maine boundary question was at its height,
Gen. Scott, on his way to join his troops on the Maine border and passing
through the town of Richmond, stopped at the stage hotel, now the farm-house of
Joseph Whipple.
It was general muster-day, and all of the militia in the
western part of the state had met, pursuant to orders, in Richmond, and were
drilling on the flat meadow in front of the hotel, under General Coleman. After
Gen. Scott was introduced to Gen. Coleman and his officers, he inquired if
there were any soldiers there who belonged to the 11th regiment of infantry,
who fought under him at Lundy's Lane or Bridgewater. He was informed there was
one soldier of his old regiment there, Orderly Sergeant William Humphrey, who
resided in Richmond. Humphrey was soon found, brought forward and introduced to
Gen. Scott. They instantly recognized each other. A large crowd gathered
around to hear what they had to say. They grasped each others hands with all
the warmth of affection of two brothers long separated. Still grasping each
others hands, the joy of each with the memories of the past were so great, the
tears welled up to each of their eyes and flowed down the bronzed cheeks of the
General and his Orderly. Scott inquired for all of his old companions in arms,
and recounted the deeds of valor of each of the brave men who fought so bravely
against old and tried soldiers, the heroes of Waterloo.
After he had finished his many praises of his brave men,
not forgetting to speak in the highest terms of his Orderly Sergeant, calling
him by his given name William, Humphrey says to him, "There is one more
whose name you have forgotten to mention." Scott said, "Whom have I neglected
or forgotten?" Humphrey's reply was, "The bravest of them all—one
Winfield Scott."
The General in becoming a General did not lose the man. He
did not forget his soldiers—they never forgot him. He loved them as
children—they reverenced and loved him as a father.
Humphrey used to declare that Scott was superior to any
other general in the world; that he was unconquerable, more than a man, and
almost a god.
Such was the inspiration Scott threw over his men in the
hour of battle and the hour of peace, that the spell was not dissolved till his
soldiers slept their last sleep.
THE
CATHOLICS OF RICHMOND.
BY REV. J. W. CLOAREC.
The few Catholics who lived in Richmond aged to be visited
occasionally on week days by Rev. Jeremiah O. Callaghan as far bank
RICHMOND. 849
as the year 1840. In the year 1854 to 1857 Father Maloney
had charge of the Catholics of that place. In the spring of 1857, Rt. Rev. L.
de Goesbriand bought a lot in Richmond, on which he began immediately to erect
a church, The church was finished in the summer of 1858, and was dedicated on
the first Sunday of October, 1858. Whilst the church was building, and until
December, 1859, the Rt. Rev. Bishop had charge of the congregation. When the
church was completed, Rev. Father Lynch took charge .of the congregation and
celebrated mass there every other Sunday. In the fall of 1860 a house was built
for the priest, and Father James Quinn was appointed resident pastor of the
place. He remained in Richmond until September, 1861, when Father (oane took
charge of tho congregation. From September, 1861, to May, 1865, Father. Cloarec
celebrated Mats in Richmond once a month. In May, 1865, all the debts on the
church and house of the priest being paid, Father O'Carrol, the present pastor
was appointed.
There are about 120 families in the congregation of
Richmond, 50 Irish families and 70 French Canadians. This spring (1866) the
church has been enlarged, and it is now a very neat and commodious building.
HON.
WILLIAM PENN BRIGGS.
BY ALBERT CLARK, ESQ.
The late Hon. Wm. P. Briggs was born at Adams, Mass.,
March 14, 1796. His father, Benjamin Briggs, a farmer, of the old Rhode Island
stock of Friends, married Naomi Wells, of the same faith, at Windsor, Mass.,
Dec. 10, 1776.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest of 11
children, and his parents gave him a name most dear to their hearts.—William
Penn.
Although in comfortable circumstances, they did not feel
able to give him a collegiate education, but furnished him the best academic
instruction within their reach. This education was widely improved upon by him
in after years, and in those branches of learning which he most loved there
were few better scholars.
He was a cousin of the late lamented George N. Briggs,
ex-governor of Massachusetts, in company with whom he studied law in the
office of Mr. Robertson, of Adams. They maintained through life the most tender
affection for each other, and died but a week apart.
In 1819, at the age of 26, he married at New Lebanon, New
York, Melinda Brown, formerly of old Windsor, Conn., latterly of Cheshire,
Mass., a woman remarkable for graces of person and character. She was an
invalid for 30 years before her death, which took place on the 15th of March,
1849,
To them were born three children: Josephine Melinda, at
Adams, Mass., in 1822; John William, at Hancock, Mass., April 2, 1826; and
Catharine Naomi, at Richmond, Vt., Nov, 1831. The eldest daughter—a most
estimable lady—married, in 1840, Edward Augustus Stansbury, of New York, at the
time a law student of her father's, and they now reside with their
children—Cordelia, Agnes, and Caroline Kirkland Stansbury—in Holedon, New
Jersey. Their only son, Hamilton, died in Burlington, Vt., Jan. 20, 1849.
John William Briggs was remarkable, the last days of his
life, for his beautiful Christian spirit, which led him, at the age of 26, to
relinquish home and the society of his friends to labor as a missionary in
Jamaica. He arrived at Kingston, on the 10th of February, 1853, and died of
fever on the 17th of the same month. His remains now rest at that place.
Catherine Naomi married, at Johnson, Vt., Nov. 6, 1854
Charles Crawford Carter, of Marion, Iowa, formerly of Montpelier. Unto them was
born, in 1855, a daughter, Cora Blanche. On the 25th of the following December,
Mr. Carter died, and in 1857 his widow married Edward LeRoy Samson, of Marion,
by whom she has a son Charles Edward.
While quite a young man, Mr. Briggs was elected to the
legislature of the commonwealth, from Adams, Mass., and he served with much
ability in that capacity, manifesting talent, political foresight and wisdom
that seldom characterizes so young a man.
He lived at Hancock, Mass., in the practice of law several
years, acting in the minor offices of postmaster, justice of the peace, &c.
and removed to Richmond, Vt., in 1825 where he resided until the autumn of
1841. During this time he acted as merchant and farmer, in addition to a very
extensive law practice, and in 1829, 1832, and 1834, was
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HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
chosen Judge of Probate for the District of Chittenden. In
1841 he received from President Harrison the appointment of Collector of
Customs for the District of Vermont, and Burlington being the principal port,
he removed his family to that place in October, 1841, and continued to reside
there until May, 1845, when he returned to his farm in Richmond. On the death
of his wife he remained unmarried until autumn, 1849, when he married a Mrs.
Amy Richmond, a widow, of Adams, Mass., whom he had known from his boyhood. By
her he had no children, and she survives him. The late Andrew A. Richmond, well
known in Massachusetts, was her youngest son.
Judge Briggs was remarkable, and noted for his strong
sense, his extensive acquaintance with English literature, and extraordinary
powers of persuasion as a jury advocate. To his last days this great gift
survived with scarcely diminished force, and gave him the well-deserved
reputation of being one of the ablest jury lawyers of Vermont. His energy was
exhaustless, and his tenacity of purpose such that obstacles seemed rather to
stimulate than to discourage him. His familiarity with the Scriptures and the
poets—especially Shakspeare—supplied him with apt quotations, which he used
freely and with great effect. His sense of honor and of the ludicrous was
remarkable, and his merciless ridicule of his opponents often carried court,
bar and jury with him in spite of themselves.
He possessed, to an uncommon degree, the faculty to which
so much of the success of President Lincoln as a lawyer is attributed—the
faculty of condensing an argument in a pithy story, which made the point too
plain to be missed by the dullest hearer. And in this he did not fall into that
great error of coarseness and vulgarity, as many poor lawyers do, but borrowed
his illustrations from refined sources; and whenever a rough subject must be
considered, he gave it such a polish that the most delicate ear would delight
to hear him.
Although industrious, temperate and able, his want of
system in the conduct of his affairs, and his deprecated accommodation in
signing with other men, deprived him of the rewards he had so richly earned,
and gave rise to controversies which embittered his declining years. But in
spite of the industrious efforts of enemies, his genial spirit and earnest
friendliness of nature always won for him, wherever he lived, the good will and
respect of the best people around him.
In person he was tall and commanding, of noble aspect, and
conciliatory manners, and in fluency of utterance had few equals.
He was several times prominently before the public for
high political positions; but party exigencies seeming to require the postponement
of his claims, he never received the political advancement to which his friends
deemed him justly entitled.
He never allied himself to any church organization, hut
his respect for religion and all sacred things was profound and sincere, and he
always attended on its ministrations when he was able. He was never a profane
man, but was always pure in morals, and was possessed of a fine poetic
temperament that always thrilled with the beautiful, the eloquent, and the
sublime. His last days were marked by the meek serenity of a spirit at peace
with God and man, and he passed on in the undoubting faith of a happy hereafter.
He died at Montpelier, on the 20th of September, 1861, in the 69th year of his
age, and is buried beside his first wife at Richmond. Thus lived and died one
of the most talented men of Vermont. And I cannot better close than by saying
of him, in the language of his beloved Shakspeare:
"His life was gentle, and the demerits
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a man!' "
MONTPELIER, May 30, 1862.
——————————
POETIC EXTRACTS,
FROM CONTRIBUTIONS BY S. H. DAVIS; ESQ.
NO
DISCORD.
No discord has the sighing reed,
None has the running rills,
None is there in the wild bird's song,
That echoes from the hills.
Feel nature's soft harmonic charms,
And let them bind thy will,
And soothe the passions of thy heart,
To peace, and make them still.
——————
JUNE.
June, pure, loveliest June,
And brooks that are dancing the merriest tune
That the warblers e'er sung
Through bright elfin groves in the earliest spring,
You are passing away;
Though you bear on your brow a chaplet of flowers,
That the May Queen, your sister, bountifully showers.
ST.
GEORGE. 851
On you, sweet, sunny June, to brighten your hours,
You are passing away.
Like bright smiles you did bring,
Like birds that have warbled through all the glad spring,
Like life's journey half took,
Like the murmuring music of the babbling brook,
You are passing away;
Like the flowers, with heaven-fraught incense, our bowers
Have blessed to make glad and brighten our hours;
Like the clouds that e'er bless the earth with their
showers,
You are passing away.
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ST. GEORGE.
BY HENRY LAWRENCE.
St. George is a small township lying 8 miles S. E. from
Burlington, and 28 nearly W. of Montpelier. It was not organized until 1813,
and this fact, together with the rather limited size of the town, has led to
the very general impression that it was formerly a gore, and not a chartered
township; this, however, was not the case. It was chartered August 18, 1763, by
Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire, to Jesse Hallock and 63 others,* and by
the terms of the charter was a full-sized township, or 6 miles square; but upon
surveying the towns in that part of the-country, it was found— owing, perhaps,
to a misapprehension at that time of the course of the Winooski river—that the
area was not sufficiently large to give to each town the number of acres named
in their charters; and, as it turned out, it was the misfortune of the
proprietors of St. George to suffer the greater part of the deficiency. The
circumstances were as
follows:
The towns of Charlotte and Hinesburgh were granted in
1762, and their boundaries marked. The year following the towns of Burlington,
Williston, St. George and Shelburne, were granted, and as the Winooski river,
by the terms of their charters, was to form the north lines of Burlington and
Williston, their boundaries were readily established, beyond dispute. But upon
surveying those towns, such was the course of the river, it was found that the
S. E. corner of Williston reached quite to the north line of Hinesburgh, thus
leaving a triangular piece some 6 or 7 miles broad on the lake, and narrowing to
a point at about 10 miles back from the lake, and containing some 1600 acres,
which only remained to form the towns of Shelburne and St George. And as
Burlington and Williston had a few days priority in the date of their charters
over those of Shelburne and St. George, there was no alternative left to the
two latter but to take what remained. St. George, unfortunately having the
small end of the wedge, came near being crowded out entirely. As it is,
however, it has an area of 2200 acres.
The name of the town is said to have been given in honor
of the then reigning king of England. The pious prefix of the name would seem
to indicate a high degree of reverence on the part of the proprietors who
proposed the name for that august monarch; but had it been a few years later,
when the burden of the stamp act and other kindred acts began to weigh heavily
upon the colonies, they would, no doubt, have left off the Saint, and perhaps
have substituted some other quite as significant title.
When it was finally ascertained to what an extent the town
was reduced, by an actual survey, the proprietors—none of whom resided on
their grant—determined to make the best of their misfortune; accordingly, they
had the town laid out into 30-acre lots, each proprietor having one lot, or 30
acres, instead of 360, as they would have had if it had proved a 6 mile
township; but as their charter was for a full-sized town, and the number of
grantees 64, it was very easy for any one unacquainted with the facts to compute
the number of acres in a "right" to be 360; therefore, their
"rights" sold in the market for the same price as those of other
towns.
A single instance, as related to me by an intelligent old
gentleman, who was himself a witness of the circumstance, will suffice to
illustrate the matter. A gentleman
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* ST. GEORGE GRANTEES.—Jesse Hallock, Samuel Farmer,
Christian Farmer, John Farmer, Christian Farmer, Robert Farmer, Peter Farmer,
Jeremiah Leming, Thos. Ellison, William Ellison, Simon Ransom, Shem Ransom,
Isaac Sears, Jasper Drake, Joseph Sacket, Joseph Sacket Doctor, Francis Sacket,
William Butler, John Mann, Thomas Mann, William Mann, Ermes Graham, John
Jeffrys, Isaac Underhill, Benj. Underhill, Henry Frankling, Jona. Courtland,
Uriah Wolman, Amos Underhill, Richard Willik, Sam'l Willik, Jacob Watson, Benj.
Ferris, Daniel Prindle, Joshua Watson, Benj. Leaman, Edmund Leaman, Richard
Leaman, Richard Titus, Isaac Mann, Isaac Mann, Jr., Peter Vanderwort, Wm.
Hayris, Magnes Gurrat, Robert Ling, John Dervicos Murphy, Edward Ferrol Murphy,
Jno. Deveeanose Murphy, Jr., Thomas Wright, Caleb Wright, John Wright, Tim.
Whitmore, Benj. Clap, Benj. Clap, Jr., Henry Clap, Daniel Quimby, Jona. Wake,
Jona. Quimby, The Hon. John Temple, Esq., Theo. Atkinson, Esq., Wm. Hunk, I.
Wentworth, Esq., John Fisher, Esq. [From the papers of Mr. Henry Stevens.—Ed]