"Lincoln is considerably uneven.  The western part is watered by New Haven River, which is formed here; and several small branches of Mad River rise in the eastern part. The timber is principally hard wood, with some tracts of spruce . . . The settlement of this township was commenced about the year 1790.  The first settlers were mostly of the denomination of Friends, or Quakers.  There is at present a society of this order, who have a house for public worship." 

Gazetteer of Vermont, Hayward, 1849.

      LINCOLN is situated in the northeasterly part of Addison county, in latitude 44 degrees 7' and longitude 4 degrees 5'; bounded on the north by Starksboro, east by Warren, in Washington county, south by Ripton, and west by Bristol, and is nearly inclosed by mountains and rugged hills. It lies on the west side of the main ridge of the Green Mountain range. On the south and west are detached portions of the same range with less elevation, and on the north are abrupt, isolated hills. Mount Abram, more commonly known as Potatoe Hill, is a lofty and symmetrical peak on the east, just within the present limits of the town. It is 3,976 feet above the mean surface of the ocean, and commands one of the finest views of the surrounding country. From its barren and rocky summit nearly the whole length of Lake Champlain may be seen, the many peaks of the Adirondacks, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and many of the villages of Vermont and New York. On account of its altitude and prominence it has become a popular resort for pleasure-seekers during the summer months, and on several occasions the United States Coast Surveyors have located their signal stations upon its summit. 

      Mount Pleasant, or Corbin Hill, is an isolated peak in the north part of the town, which also commands a fine view of the mountains, Lake Champlain, and the villages beyond. 

      Prospect Rock is a ledgy elevation in the southeast part, and from its top an excellent view may be had of nearly the entire town. 

      Grant Mountain, Cobb Hill, and Flat Top are prominent elevations of the Green Mountain range on the south. A portion of Bristol Mountain lies within the limits of the town in the southwest part. 

      The town is broken and hilly throughout, gradually descending toward the New Haven River, which flows through the town in a northwesterly direction. This stream is replenished by Beaver Brook, having its source in the southwest part of the town, and by Belknap and Cow Brooks from the east. A little below the center it is joined by Downing's Creek, a stream of considerable size, from the northeast, and at West Lincoln by the Isham Brook from the north. These streams and their small and numerous tributaries form the entire drainage. The water in them is clear and cool, their currents rapid, their bottoms stony, and are frequently broken by descending over ledges and precipices, forming many and excellent mill privileges. 

      The soil is generally gravel and loam, and in some places muck is found. Clay exists only in the northwest part of the town, along the banks of the Isham Brook. In some parts the soil is rather sterile, and in others too rugged and rocky for arable purposes. Yet as a whole it is well calculated for farming, and all the crops that are indigenous in the locality are successfully raised, and seldom suffer from droughts. The hillsides, abounding in numerous springs and streams of water, furnish most excellent grazing. The rocks are of the talcose schist and conglomerate, and Green Mountain gneiss, containing some iron ore, manganese, and other minerals, but not in sufficient quantities to warrant working. Slate is found in the northwest part of the town on land now owned by Reuben Cowles. Some good specimens have been taken from there, that indicate that it may be valuable for roofing purposes; but no attempt has ever been made to open a quarry. Bowlders of from several hundred pounds' weight to several tons are quite numerous in some localities. 

      The timber, wherein lies the principal wealth of the town, is on the mountains mostly spruce, while the hard woods predominate in other sections, with now and then considerable tracts of hemlock, especially in the South part of the town. The rock maple is regarded as the most valuable of the hard wood, and numerous fields or groves are preserved for the purpose of manufacturing sugar, of which many tons are annually made. 

      The charter was granted November 9, 1780, by Governor Thomas CHITTENDEN, in equal shares to Benjamin SIMONS, Ithamer HIBBARD, Oliver SCOTT, John MANLEY, John WILLIAMS, Jonathan EASTMAN, Enoch EASTMAN, Calvin EASTMAN, Henry HYDE, Shadrick HATHAWAY, Jesse SPAULDING, Ezra FELLOWS, Josiah TERRILL, Jacob HYDE, David LEE, William BOARDMAN, Noah CHITTENDEN, Darias CHIPMAN, Ebenezer HYDE, Joseph BOWKER, Reubin HARMON, jr., Oliver STRONG, John GRAY, Andrew BARTON, William SLADE, Abiather WALDO, Noah SMITH, Joseph BARBER, Reubin HARMON, Thomas TOLMAN, Elijah FAY, John KNICKERBOCKER, Dr. John JOHNSON, Simeon HATHAWAY, Stephen MIDDLEBROOK, Zebulon PARMALEE, Ezra PAYNE, Benjamin FOWLER, Ephraim INGRAHAM, John STEWART, Samuel BILLINGS, John COCHRAN, James MEAD, John MEAD, John SIBLEY, Abner MEAD, Stephen MEAD, jr., Timothy MILES, Nathan MANLEY, Stephen EASTMAN, Jonathan EASTMAN, jr., William GAGE, Thomas CHITTENDEN, David WELCH, Samuel BENTON, Levi TAYLOR, Solomon LEE, Jonas FAY, Peter PIXLY, Stephen PEARL, William FITCH, Samuel COMSTOCK, Elisha CLARK, Josiah SAFFORD, Joshua EMMONS, and William MARTHER. 

      In addition to the above rights or shares, one share was drawn to the right of a county grammar school in the State, one for the settlement of a minister and ministers, one for the support of schools in said town, and one for the use of a seminary or college. 

      The township was described in the charter as follows, viz.: "Beginning at the southwest corner of Starksboro, in the east line of Pocock, then southerly in the line of Pocock and continuing the same course six miles, then east six miles, or so far that turning northerly making a parallel line with the east line of Pocock six miles, then west to the southeast corner of Starksboro, then in the line of Starksboro to the bounds begun at, containing twenty-three thousand and forty acres." 

      The charter was conditioned that each proprietor, his heirs or assigns, should plant and cultivate five acres of land, and build a house at least eighteen feet square on the floor, or have one family settled on each right within four years next after the circumstances of the present war will admit of a settlement with safety, on penalty of forfeiture of each respective right or share; and if not so improved or settled, the same to revert to the freemen of the State. All pine timber suitable for a navy was reserved for the use of the State. 

      The first meeting of the proprietors, of which there is any record, was called and held in accordance with the following notice: 

      The proprietors met pursuant to the notice, and Colonel Benjamin SIMONS was chosen moderator, and William SLADE, clerk. Noah SMITH, Simeon HATHAWAY, William SLADE, John STEWART and Benjamin SIMONS were chosen a committee and authorized to proceed and run the lines of the town and lay out one hundred and five acres of the best land to each right. The five acres was an allowance for highways. The meeting, after several adjournments from time to time, convened at the dwelling house of Stephen PEARL, in Pawlet, January 13, 1784. A vote was taken at this time to raise a tax on each right of twenty-eight shillings, to be collected by the first day of March next. It was also voted to allow any of the proprietors that were dissatisfied with their rights, to take up a hundred acre lot on any of the undivided and lay it out in such a farm, as to length and breadth, as the other lots were laid, and return a survey bill of the same to the proprietors' clerk within ten days. The meeting adjourned again to June, and then to the third Tuesday of February, 1785. It is uncertain whether the proprietors met in February or not, as no record of any further meetings are to be found for several years. At some time previous to July, 1794, it was discovered that the first division of lots, surveyed by the committee and drawn by the proprietors, was not within the chartered limits of the town, at least only a small portion of it. Another meeting was called and held at the dwelling house of Henry MCLAUGHLIN, in Bristol, on the 22d day of September, 1794, the record of which is as follows, viz.: 
 

"BRISTOL, the 22 September, 1794.        "The proprietors of Lincoln met according to warning and acted as follows, viz:        "1st. Chose John BISHOP moderator to govern meeting.        "2d. Chose Henry MCLAUGHLIN proprietors' clerk.        "3d. After a strict examination, find that the lands hereafter said to be laid out in said town for a first division, was not laid in the town of Lincoln, but a small part of them; therefore voted that there is no legal first division in said town.        "4th. Voted to lay out a first and second division in said town to contain one hundred and five acres to each division. Each lot to be laid in the manner following, viz: The first division to lay on the west side of the town; the length of said first division lots to be one hundred and sixty rods east and west, and one hundred and five rods north and south. The first division to run from north to south in said town; the second division in the same manner and form of the first. The five acres above mentioned in each lot, above one hundred acres, is an allowance for highways.        "5th. Voted that Nathaniel DEAN, John FURGUSON and Henry MCLAUGHLIN be a committee for to superintend said business of lotting out said divisions, and that the lotting of said land be completed by the first day of July next.        "6th. Voted fifteen shillings for to defray the cost of lotting each of said lots throughout both of said divisions, except ten public lots which they are to have laid without any costs, and that Phinneas SHELDON do the work for the said proprietors for said sum of fifteen shillings on each lot, and under the direction of the above named committee.        "7th. Voted to the following persons the lots they are on in lieu of their draught, provided they are in actual settlement from and after the first day of July next, otherways they shall take no part of this our vote. The names of the settlers are as follows: Markus HEDDING, Elijah FERGUSON, Loren ORVIS, Moses SCOTT, Lawrence DELONG and Shuable CLARK, which are the only six in town.        "8th. Voted that the meeting be adjourned until the second Wednesday of December next, at ten o'clock A. M., to the dwelling house of Henry MCLAUGHLIN, in Bristol, aforesaid.        Attest HENRY MCLAUGHLIN,        "Proprietors' Clerk."

      At the adjourned meeting in December the committee chosen to lay out the first and second divisions, having completed the survey, made a report and presented a plan of the lots to the proprietors as laid out by them. Henry MCLAUGHLIN was chosen to collect the tax of fifteen shillings on each lot, as voted at the preceding meeting. It was also voted to lay out the remainder of the undivided lands in the town, and a committee was appointed to superintend the laying out of the third division. The surveying of this division was assigned to Henry MCLAUGHLIN for the sum of eighteen shillings per lot, he being the lowest bidder. This meeting was again adjourned to the second Wednesday in October, 1795. The records are silent in regard to any further meetings or transactions of the proprietors, and do not indicate that any of them ever settled on their respective rights. A few of the rights were transferred to the early settlers; others were forfeited for not complying with the provisions of the charter, in settling and cultivating a certain number of acres in the given time, and for the non-payment of taxes that were assessed on each right to defray the expense of the survey. 

      There were seventy lots in each division. In the first they are numbered from 1 to 70 inclusive, and in the second from 71 to 137 and from 146 to 148 inclusive. The survey and the numbering of the lots was commenced in the northwest corner of the town, and seventeen lots were surveyed and laid out, one hundred and sixty rods long east and west, and one hundred and five rods wide north and south, along the west line of the town, in accordance with the vote taken at the proprietors' meeting at MCLAUGHLIN's, in Bristol, September 22, 1794. Then three lots were surveyed on the south line one hundred and five rods wide east and west and of sufficient length to fill the space lying between the south line of the town and the south line of the seventeen lots north; then running north again another seventeen lots were surveyed to correspond with the first, and so on throughout the entire division, with one exception. In running north surveying the east tier of lots in the second division, it was found that the last three lots would be located on the top of the highest part of the mountain, where the land was considered to be worthless, so they passed on seven hundred and thirty-five rods, or the width of seven lots, and then laid out the three remaining lots. There are twelve lots in the first and second divisions on the south line of the town that were laid out one hundred and five rods wide east and west; all the others are regularly laid out according to the vote of the proprietors. The third division also contained seventy lots, which were mostly on the east side of the mountain, and were laid out one hundred and sixty rods long east and west, by one hundred and twenty rods wide. Lots numbered from one to six in this division were laid out near the top of the mountain, in that part of the town passed by in laying out the second division. The remaining lots of this division cover a tract of land six miles long and six miles wide. 

      The geographical position of the town, as described and bounded by the charter, was such that an entire settlement under one organization would have been almost impracticable. One-third of the town was situated on the east side of the ridge of the Green Mountains, and the remaining two-thirds on the west side. The west line of the town was at that time only about one hundred and sixty rods west of the present site of the town house. The Legislature, in the fall of 1824, annexed the third division, excepting the six lots on the west side of the mountains, to the town of Warren, in Washington county, leaving the present east line of the town very near the top of the mountains. The same year an addition was made on the west side by the annexation of a tract of land one mile in width, containing 4,400 acres, from Bristol. Avery's Gore, a territory of several thousand acres, was annexed in 1848. A portion of Ripton being so situated that the inhabitants in that part could be better accommodated in their business relations by belonging to Lincoln--therefore, in 1869, a strip one and a half miles wide, containing 4,832 acres, was also annexed. 

      An account of the first settlement, for want of material will necessarily be very brief and incomplete. Tradition lends a helping hand, but contributes only a very little. And having consulted many of the older residents, some of whom have memories extending back over the past four score years or more, I am thus only enabled to arrive at a few brief facts relative to the first settlers, their privations and hardships. The first permanent and actual settlement was made in the north part of the town on what is now known as Quaker or Mud street, in March, 1795, by Loren ORVIS, Lawrence DELON, Marcus HEDDING, and their families. The settlement, however, was virtually made during the summer previously the above named persons, and Elijah FERGUSON, Moses SCOTT, and Shuable CLARK, who took up several rights by clearing the land and building log houses; but do not find any account of their families coming until the next spring. The proprietors at their meeting in September, 1794, as previously stated, voted to these six individuals the rights they were on at the time, instead of the rights drawn by them, provided they were in actual settlement on and from July 1, 1795. 

      Loren ORVIS settled on the settled on lot No. 37, the farm now owned by Hiram HAMNER. Marcus HEDDING settled on lot No. 34, his log house standing near where the buildings now stand on the WRIGHT place. Afterwards HEDDING built a house on the opposite side of the highway, on the farm now owned by Reuben COWLES. Lawrence DELONG settled on lot No. 5, which is now owned by William S. MORGAN and Gabriel H. PURINTON. 

      Elijah FERGUSON, Moses SCOTT, and Shuable CLARK did not permanently settle the chartered limits of the town, or at least no evidence can be found that they ever did. 

      ORVIS, HEDDING, and DELONG were the only three families residing here until the spring of 1796, when James VARNEY settled on the farm now owned by Irvin COLBY, and Samuel EASTMAN on the farm owned by Charles C. LEE. Jedediah DURFEY settled on the place where Elihu PURINTON now lives, the same spring or following winter. Samuel BROOKS and Wolcott BURNHAM settled here in 1797, the former on the place, or very near, where the school-house now stands in District No. 1. BURNHAM settled on the COWLES farm near his west barn. Thomas LEE settled on the farm with Samuel EASTMAN in 1799. Their houses stood very near the south side of the old orchard above Charles C. LEE's dwelling house. Thomas GOODRICH first came into town September 10, 1799, it being his nineteenth birthday, and resided some time with Thomas LEE and Samuel EASTMAN, and then built a log house and settled on the farm now owned by James BUTTERFIELD. Jonathan GOVE settled in that part of the town known as Gove Hill, in 1800, at which time there were only ninety-seven persons residing in town. 

      Chase PURINTON and family came from Weare, N. H., in March, 1803, and purchased where Jedediah DURFEY settled, and is the same place where his grandson, Elihu PURINTON, now resides. Asa MEADER, Nathan HOAG, and Ebenezer DURFEY located in the east part of the town; the former in 1804, the latter in 1801. They called their settlement Elder Hill, on account of the abundant quantities of sweet elders which grew there. Nathan HOAG settled on the farm now occupied by Hiram T. ATKINS, Asa MEADER where Nelson CHASE now lives, and Ebenezer DURFEY on the farm on the opposite side of the road. HOAG and MEADER kept bachelors' hall together the first year in a log house on MEADER's place; their wives came the following spring. James DEAN settled on the farm owned by Zeno PAGE, and David HAYES where Nathaniel MORRELL now lives, in 1795. The places were at the time of the settlement and until 1824 a part of Bristol, since then belonging to Lincoln. 

      The privations and hardships that the early settlers endured in settling their farms and making for themselves homes in the mountain wilderness can neither be imagined nor described by those who know little or nothing of want and privation. The beautiful and well-cultivated fields and the green pastures of today were then a dense forest, the unmolested home of the wild beasts, with only now and then a small clearing, in the center of which stood a log house, the home of the settler. Their houses were not the well-built ones, nor were they equal to the log houses of the present for comfort and convenience. These houses had floors, but not of planed boards; logs were hewn on three sides and placed closely together on sleepers or otherwise. The floors were mostly spruce, but the better ones were of hard wood. The roofs were covered with bark and boughs. The stove, for cooking purposes and warming the house, consisted of the most rude fire-place with a pole chimney, which was plastered on the inside with mud or mortar. The only boards that were used in the construction of their houses were made into the front door, and generally the only one in the house. They were neither paneled nor adorned with moulding nor stained glass, but a rough cleet door with wooden latch and hinges, rarely as good as the doors of the modern stables. Boards were too expensive to be used for any other purposes, except for the doors and some of the better home-made furniture, as there were no mills in town at that time, the nearest being located at New Haven Mills, nine miles distant. The roads were mere paths, and the only one from Bristol to Lincoln was over what is known as the Briggs Hill. Samuel EASTMAN brought what boards he used in the construction of his house, on his back from Bristol, up the great hill and over Quaker street to his home on the LEE farm, a distance of some seven miles. Thomas GOODRICH also brought boards on his back from Bristol over the same road, then carrying them some three miles further over what is known as Elder Hill to his place. Samuel EASTMAN purchased a caldron kettle at what is now Starksboro village, and brought it home on his back over the hills. Many more incidents of the same nature might be given, illustrating the excessive burdens and the many inconveniences and deprivations that the settlers endured. It was not all sunshine and fair weather with them during the first fifteen or twenty years of their living in the wilderness and among the mountains. The privations and hardships that they endured would seem, for us, almost insufferable. They were not wealthy people who came here to invest their money in wild, uncultivated lands from choice, but were mostly energetic and courageous men and women, with sound minds, strong hands, and determined wills, who were in the prime of life, and unable for the want of means to purchase improved land, and were compelled from necessity to purchase the unimproved, and by several years of hard labor cleared for themselves farms. The women were by no means slow in their duties, but were ever ready to lift a helping hand, either in their log cabin, attending to the domestic duties, or in the out-door work, assisting their husbands in clearing land, putting in and securing crops. Although deprived of many of the privileges and conveniences that we enjoy, they were by no means discontented or unhappy. Though poor, they were in some respects more independent than many of the present time. The wool from their sheep, and the flax, were carded, woven, and made into garments in their own homes. Nearly every man was a cobbler and made the boots and shoes for the entire family. If an article was wanted that they did not possess, the Yankee ingenuity was brought into play and the thing was made, though sometimes inelegantly constructed. 

      Deprivation and want was their common master for a number of years, and poverty, that at times verged on starvation, constantly stared them in the face; yet they did not falter at its ghastly countenance, nor yield in despair. Notwithstanding all their trials and sufferings they were social, unselfish, genial, kind, and hospitable. Their social visits were more frequent, though living longer distances apart, than at the present, and were made sources of greater joy and pleasure during the long winter evenings. They were not the owners of fine carriages and sleighs. The rude ox-sled, with its long runners hewn from some natural crook and shod with wooden shoes, was a conveyance suitable for all occasions. It was the settler's farm wagon in summer, his carriage and sleigh when the family attended meeting at the log church, or made their neighbors an evening visit. The family was snugly seated on the sled, and closely wrapped in such blankets as the household afforded, except the father or one of the older boys, whose duty it was to drive the oxen. Some of them, however, were not fortunate enough to own an ox-team, and resorted to other methods. A large hand-sled was a necessary appendant to every household, and was a substitute for the ox-sled in nearly every place in drawing the fire wood, and when drawn by the father and older boys, with the mother and smaller chi1dren seated upon it, answered very well for making neighborhood visits of some miles from their homes. 

      A few incidents will not, perhaps, be out of place, if narrated here to portray some of the scenes of many years ago. 

      During the summer of 1813, while Nathan HOAG was from home at work in haying, leaving his wife with the children to superintend the affairs generally, she started out for the cows one afternoon, just before sunset, leaving the three children at the house. She could hear the tinkling of the bells at a distance in the dense woods. With a firm, quick step she hurried forward into the forest, without even a thought but that she would return with the cows in a few minutes. She had not gone far when the cows lay down for the night, and the bells ceased to ring; but still, determined to find them, she pushed on, and ere she was aware of it was overtaken by night. After wandering about some time in hopes that she might find her way, she put up for the night and engaged lodging in the top of a spruce tree, about fifteen feet from the ground. The children became alarmed because their mother did not return, and started for the neighbors, and met their father coming home. He took the dinner horn and an old tin lantern, about the size of a gallon jug, punched full of holes, giving about as much light as a score of caged fire-flies, and started in pursuit of his wife. After traveling a long distance, sounding the horn every few minutes, he heard a faint response coming from nearly a mile distant. As he approached, the response became stronger and stronger, until he came to her lodging-place. They arrived safely at home about one o'clock the following morning. 

      The year 1816 was a gloomy one, and is well remembered by some now living as the cold year. Every month was visited by a hard frost. On the 6th of June the ground was frozen solid and covered with several inches of snow, which remained only a few days. The crops were quite or nearly a failure. Those who depended on what they raised for a living were somewhat anxious in regard to how they should live through the coming winter, which began before the summer was fairly ended. There was a very little rye raised, and a very small crop of potatoes, but not sufficient to carry them through one-half of the winter. Every effort to avoid suffering was made that could be. After their scanty crops were secured in the fall, the men and boys, with their axes, toiled from the early dawn to late at night in chopping down the forest trees and burning them into ashes, which were gathered, leached, and the lye was boiled down to alkaline salts. The salts, or potash, were then barreled, ready for market. 'Squire DURFEY and his boys were coopers and made the barrels. Then a team or two was fitted out by the settlers and loaded with the potash, and some one or more would go with it to Troy, N. Y., or to Boston, Mass., and exchange it for flour, salt, tea, tobacco, sweetsers or [?] for the women, and many other necessaries, which could be attained only by purchasing. Thomas LEE often went to market with venison and partridges and exchanged them for groceries. 

      The women were by no means indolent during this time. The mother did the weaving for the family, and wove for others whenever an opportunity occurred, and taught the daughters the very useful art of carding and spinning wool and flax. Mrs. Esther HOAG, being very anxious to assist her husband in the support of the family through the winter, wove for a man in Ferrisburgh thirty-two yards of cloth in a hand-loom, putting in and beating up the filling, thread by thread, for one bushel of rye. She went on horseback to Ferrisburgh to deliver the cloth and get the rye, carrying with her an infant only six months old (now Hon. Enos P. HOAG, of this town), and came home by a grist-mill in Starksboro to get it ground. The miller, learning how hard she had labored for it, and how very small the pay for the labor, ground it without taking toll. 

      The woods abounded in game, the deer were plenty, rabbits and partridges were quite numerous. In nearly every house might be found the flint-lock musket, a necessary appendage to the furniture. The men and boys were trained to use it in a practical method. Target shooting was too expensive a luxury for those times. A sight at the deer at a reasonable distance was sure death for him. They easily supplied themselves with the necessary amount of venison, and much smaller game was taken, which was made available during the winter. 

      The settlers became sufficiently numerous in 1798 to organize the town. Nearly every male citizen was honored by being elected to some office at the first meeting. On the 26th day of February, 1798, a petition was presented by the settlers to Henry MCLAUGHLIN, of Bristol, a justice of the peace, requesting "His Honor" to warn a town meeting. The following is a literal copy of the petition, warning, and proceedings of the first meeting as they were originally recorded: 
 

"Lincoln Feb the 26 day 1798       We the subscribers Humbly Request your Honour to worn a town meeting for the in Habitance of the town of Lincoln on the Second tuesday of March Next at the Dwelling house of Jedediah DURFEY in Said Lincoln. and we yours are in Duty Ever bound to Henry MCLAUGHLIN justice of Peace in county of Addison. " Loren ORVIS Lawrence DELONG  "Jedediah DURFEY Woolcott BURNHAM  "Samuel EASTMAN Demarcerios HEDDING  "Howland DELONG John HEDDING  "Notifycation.  "these are to worn all the inhabitance of the town of Lincoln, to Meet at the Dwelling house of Jedediah DURFEY in said Lincoln on the 2nd Tuesday of March in the year of our Lord 1798 at ten oclock in the forenoon to act on the following buziness, Viz.  "1st to choose A Moderator to govern said Meeting,  "2nd to choose a Town Clark.  "3d to choose Select Men.  "4th to choose all other officers that the Law of this State Directs.  "5th to transact any other business that Concerns said town agreeable to Law when Meet.  "Bristol 28th February 1798  "Henry MCLAUGHLIN  "Justice Peace"  "Lincoln 13th March 1798  "1st Chose Henry MCLAUGHLIN Esq moderator.  "2nd Chose Howland DELONG town Clark.  "3d Chose Loren ORVIS, James VARNEY, Jedediah DURFEY Celect Men.  "4th Chose Samuel BROOKS town treasury.  "5th Chose Samuel EASTMAN first Constable.  "6th Voted that the rest of the town officers should Be chosen by- Nomination.  "7th Voted Loren ORVIS, Jedediah DURFEY, Woolcot BURNHAM Listers.  "8th Voted Samuel EASTMAN Collector of town rates.  "9th Voted Loren ORVIS Leather Sealer.  "10th Voted Samuel EASTMAN grand jury.  "11th Voted Jedediah DURFEY pound keeper. "12th Voted Loren ORVIS tithing Man. "13th Voted James VARNEY howard. "14th Voted Loren Orvis WOOLCOT Burnham fens viewurs.  "15th Voted Jedediah DURFEY Highway soveir.  "16th Voted Loren ORVIS sealer of weights and measures.  "17th Voted that hogs should run at large With good and sufficient yokes.  "18th these men are under oath to sarve unto the Several offices whare untwo they ware chosen.  "19th this meeting Desolved."

      The principal source of revenue from which the earliest settlers received their income was from the manufacture of potash from the red elm, which was quite numerous in some localities; other wood was used for the same purpose, but of less value. 

      Game was plenty, especially deer, which might be seen almost daily, of which they supplied their own tables with venison and sent large quantities to market during the winter months in exchange for groceries and other necessaries. 

      Timber was nearly worthless, except for fuel and the manufacture of potash, the demand being very small, and that local. The first saw-mill was built near the Corners just below where the covered bridge now stands, by a company of settlers for the purpose of manufacturing lumber necessary for their own use. The next mill of any importance was built by Amos and Joseph JONES where George A. THAYER's clapboard mill now stands. From 1825 to 1830 the old-fashioned "up and down" saw-mills became quite numerous. The first circular saw was brought into town by Ariel HAWKINS in 1837 and used by him in sawing shingles in the mill now owned by Seymour J. DAVIS. 

      Joseph BLANCHARD, Isaac HOUSTON, William and Andrew MITCHELL, came from Acworth, N. H., and located in the west part of the town in 1827, and put up a saw-mill and forge about forty rods above the Dean bridge, and the next year commenced the manufacture of iron. About the same time, or a year earlier, Henry SOPER and Philetus PIER built a forge where Hodijah LINCOLN'S mill now stands, and at the time of the freshet it was owned by Pier and O. W. BURNHAM. These two forges were destroyed by the freshet, but were rebuilt soon after. O. W. BURNHAM built a forge some eighty or a hundred rods below, where BARNUM formerly commenced to build a whetstone factory. This forge was run by BURNHAM some eight or ten years. About 1840 he became sole owner of the other two, and continued the manufacture of iron until about 1860. The ore from which the iron was made was brought from the Adirondacks. The hauling of the ore and iron to and from the forge gave steady employment to a great many owning teams. The coal was furnished mostly by those who owned wood land and were desirous of clearing it. There are many "well-to-do" farmers who settled in the wilderness and cleared this land and at the same time were laying up money in selling the coal. 

      The wealth of the town previous to 1850 was to a great extent due to the iron works, and it was the nucleus of a business, and about the only one, in which large sums of money were annually paid to employees. 

      The forges when run to their full capacity were capable of turning out three hundred tons of iron to each fire annually. 

      The first grist-mill in town, for grinding corn and provender only, was built in 1806 by Chase PURINTON, on the privilege where Abel T. MORGAN's saw-mill now stands. The stones were taken from the farm now owned by Charles HEYWOOD. They are still in use in the mill now known as the "Hanks mill," and after eighty years of almost constant wear are apparently as good as when first used. 

      The first store in town was kept by Joseph BLANCHARD, and was situated in the west part of the town on the present site of Joseph MINER's dwelling house. The first stock of goods was put in in 1828, which consisted of groceries and West India goods. This was the only store in town for a number of years, when A. C. ALLEN opened a store in the building now owned by Ira W. WAKEFIELD, and occupied by him for a shoe-shop and post-office. 

      A small grocery store run by one Ira HUNTLY was located for a short time where Hodijah LINCOLN's dry sheds are now situated. 

      O.W. BURNHAM commenced in the mercantile business about 1840 or '42 on the same site of James L. LINCOLN's store. This was the only store, however, that did any great amount of business in that part of the town, and was the only one in town until the store at the Center was started, on the present site of W. N. GOVE's, and was run as a union store for a time. 

      A bark-mill and tannery was built just below where O. S. H. BUTTERFIELD's grist-mill now stands, and was owned and run by Manly S. WILDS for a time, and afterwards by Porter THOMAS. 

      A foundry for the manufacturing of plows was built in 1832 by Russell TABER, on the farm now owned by William EDDY, and was successfully run by him about twenty years, when he removed the works to "Rocky Dale." 

      The land tax was quite heavy in proportion to the value of the real estate on which it was assessed at that time. An acre of wild and worthless mountain land was taxed the same as though it had been improved and cultivated. The settlers, however, suffered very little inconvenience from the method of taxation, compared with the non-resident land owners. The most of this tax could be paid either in labor in making roads and building bridges, or in money. The settlers, realizing the inconvenience arising from poor roads, and in some places none at all, were not only willing but anxious to have all opportunity to work out their taxes; for every dollar laid out in the improvement in this way increased the value of their homes as much if not more. The non-residents being the owners of most of the mountain lands and the poorer lands below -- for the settlers had selected what they considered the best -- were compelled to pay equally as much per acre, and pay it in money at or before some specified time, or their lands would be advertised and sold at public auction. The auction sales were of some advantage to the settlers who wished to own more land, for it frequently occurred that a fair kind of a lot was sold under the hammer for three or four dollars. The rate of the land tax was fixed by the Legislature, and it specified for what and how it should be appropriated. At its session in October, 1802, at Westminster, a committee was appointed to survey and lay out a post-road from Berkshire to Pittsford, which road was known as and called in this town the "County Road." The committee was allowed fifteen days to complete the survey through the town and six days through Avery's Gore. To defray the expenses of laying and making the road, and building the bridges in its course through this town, the Legislature in 1803 assessed a tax of three cents an acre on all the land in the town, excepting those sequestered for public, pious, and charitable purposes. This tax could be paid in labor on the road under the direction of a committee appointed to superintend it, or in money at a specified time. As it was not so paid about sixteen thousand acres were sold by Jonathan GOVE at public auction. The whole amount received from this sale, including costs of sale, was $538.52. Another tax of four cents per acre was assessed in 1812, one cent of which was to be paid in money to defray the current expenses of the State, and the other three in labor or money for the purpose of making and repairing roads. About one-fourth of the land in town was sold at this time in consequence of the tax not being paid when due. The following notice appeared in Volume I, No. 28, of the Vermont Mirror, a newspaper printed at Middlebury Vt., April 7, 1813: 
 
 

      Several other land taxes were assessed, one in 1826 of four cents per acre to build the road from the Thomas GOODRICH place to Bristol line. 

      Beside the land tax there was a poll and personal property one, raised to defray current expenses of the town. A tax bill raised on the grand list of 1820, by Ebenezer DURFEY, Thomas LEE, and James VARNEY, selectmen, is still in existence, which foots up six dollars fifty-nine cents and eight mills ($6.59.8). Only two cents were raised on the dollar of the grand list. Moses GOVE paid thirty-two cents and five mills' tax, the largest one that year, and Mehitable HEDDING paid only three cents, the smallest one. Several paid only a poll tax of four cents. A number of the taxes appear to be unpaid, which deficit amounts to thirty-seven cents. There were fifty-one names on the bill, all of which have long since paid their last tax. Moses HUNTINGTON, late of Buffalo, N. Y., was the last of the survivors, who died in 1885. 

      I have been unable to obtain any complete or satisfactory account of the first schools in town. The first school-house was built, undoubtedly, near the south line of Elihu PURINTON's farm. It was a low log structure, with only three small windows, of six lights each of seven by nine glass, and a roughly hewed door whose top reached the eaves. The inside construction was equally rude. The writing tables or benches were attached to the outside of the room, with long seats on which the pupils sat facing the wall when writing. The stove at one time consisted of a large caldron kettle inverted on a stone arch. As late as 1818 there was only one other school-house in town, and that was situated on what is known as Gove HILL. The first school in town was taught by Miss Olive DURFEY, in 1797. I do not find any evidence that there was any school-house at that time. 

      Moses HUNTINGTON taught school in the first mentioned house in 1819. The school was a very large one; thirty-three boys and nineteen girls were in attendance--about one-fifth of the entire population of the town, according to the census of 1820. From the best information obtainable there are fourteen now that attended the school, of whom five reside in town. In a letter written by the venerable teacher, a few months previous to his decease (1885), in speaking of the old log school-house he says: "I taught school in this house two terms, in 1818 and 1819, for the usual wages of ten dollars per month, and, according to the custom of the country, boarded around with the scholars. I set the copies for those who wrote, and made all their quill pens. There was a large class in Adam's old Arithemetic, and in the English Reader. They used Webster's Spelling Book and Perry's Dictionary. I do not remember whether I had any geography or grammar class." 

      I have in my possession the original roll containing the names of all of the scholars that attended the school in the winter of 1818 and '19, and will give them here, as it may not be wholly uninteresting to the few that are now living and to their many descendants, and those of the others: 

      Hezekiah HATCH, Abram HATCH, William LEE, Malchi LEE, Peter JOHNSON, John JOHNSON, Moses VARNEY, John PURINTON, Sewell SARGENT, Elijah MEADER, Nathan PURINTON, Nathan C. GOVE, Elijah VARNEY, Josephus HATCH, Thomas LEE, Solomon LEE, Jarius JOHNSON, Benjamin PURINTON, Jacob PURINTON, Moses SARGENT, Jesse MEADER, John HUNTINGTON, jr., Levi GOVE, Lucy LEE, Belinda BUSH, Cynthia JOHNSON, Hannah MEADER, Lydia LEE, Ruth SARGENT, Lovina MEADER, Lydia MEADER, Mary PURINTON, Mary HUNTINGTON, Eunice HEDDING, Achsah MEADER, Sarah HUNTINGTON, Lydia HEDDING. 

      The following are now living, viz. Elijah PURINTON, John C. GOVE, Damon HEDDING, Lewis TABER, Aaron LEE, Charles PURINTON, Daniel GOVE, Russel TABER, Silas TABER, Content JOHNSON, Hannah HUNTINGTON, Mariam GOVE, Lydia HUNTINGTON, Phebe C. GOVE. 

      A school was established in the north part of the town about the year 1824, in a house that was built for a dwelling, and situated very near where the school-house in district No. 1 now stands. The scholars who attended the school in this district in 1824 have left a rhyme from which a few historical facts may be drawn. 

      There are doubtless many living who were acquainted with some of the circumstances narrated in this rude poem, and were more familiarly acquainted with the young rhymsters, whose poetical genius began to develop without any of the rules of prosody, except that the last syllables of two or more lines should have corresponding sounds. At just what time the house was built is uncertain, but it was occupied more or less for a dwelling until 1820 as will be seen from a few extracts from the poem: 

      PARMER sold out to Samuel BROOKS and Brooks sold out to Dr. Benjamin TABER in January, 1817. The Doctor lived in it until 1819. 

      After the house was vacated by the doctor it was changed into a school-house. 

      The lady above referred to was Miss Rachel RHOADES. The following winter Nathan SAWYER, of Weare, N. H., was engaged to teach the school. 

      Other school-houses were built within a few years after, and the town divided into districts, of which there are now twelve, each supporting at least six months' school per annum. It cannot be said that the school-houses are all suitable and convenient now, but were, very likely, when built. A few are very old and will be replaced by new and more commodious ones soon. The thrifty and enterprising people of the district in South Lincoln have recently built a school house with improved and modern furniture, that is not only an honor to that district but to the entire town, and leaves an example worthy to be imitated by other districts. A school-house was built in the Downingsville district in the fall of 1885, and other districts will follow in the wake soon. There are now enrolled in the schools two hundred and eighty-five scholars, between the ages of five and twenty years. The whole amount expended for schools in 1884 was $1,134.16, an average of nearly four dollars per scholar. William W. POPE was the first superintendent of schools and M. J. STEARNS is the present incumbent. 

      The first post-office was established July 23, 1835, by the appointment of Luther M. KENT, M. D., postmaster, and was located near the Corners on the place now owned by Watson MORGAN, and formerly known as the "Doctor KENT farm." Previou's to this all the mail was deposited at, and received from, the post-office at Bristol. The office was moved to the west part of the town, "Acworth," May 4, 1849, and Erastus W. CHAPMAN was appointed postmaster. His successors were Almon C. ALLEN, appointed January 24, 1851; Enos P. HOAG, appointed January 25, 1854; and Franklin J.BURNHAM, appointed January 7,1857 Samuel M. FISH received the appointment April 13, 1861, and moved the office to the Center, where it has since been located. He was succeeded by George F. POPE January 9, 1866; by James H. BATCHELDER July 23, 1867; by Charles D. PEET September 5, 1876, and by Moses B. GOVE December 6, 1877, who is the present incumbent. An office was established at "Acworth" by the name of West Lincoln, May 15, 1878, with Milton J. STEARNS postmaster; he was succeeded by Ira W. WAKEFIELD August 27, 1878, who still continues in the office. 

      During the time that Enos P. HOAG was postmaster there were only thirteen papers taken in town; at the present time there are over three hundred taken at the two offices. The mail was carried to and brought from Bristol only once a week until about 1850, then twice and three times a week until 1867, when a daily mail was received. 

      Since July 1, 1881, the mail leaves sufficiently early in the morning to connect with the Boston and New York mail, and returns at night with the same. 

      The year 1830 is memorable on account of a severe and destructive freshet. An unusual quantity of rain had fallen throughout the season,and especially the week preceding. The ground was soaked full of water and the streams were much swollen. Early in the forenoon of Monday, July 26, dark, massive clouds hovered over the town. The heavy roar of the thunder in the heavens, echoing and re-echoing among the hills and mountains, with the frequent flashes of the forked lightning and the sulphurous odor in the atmosphere, indicated that a terrible storm was at hand, but how terrible and destructive no one then imagined. Later in the day, when the storm commenced, the roar of the thunder was hushed by the descending rain. Those who have vivid recollections of that stormy night say that it was unlike any other storm that they ever witnessed. It seemed to descend in one continuous sheet, like the water falling over a precipice. That night the New Haven River rose to such unparalleled height that crops, trees, bridges, mills, factories, and dwelling houses were swept away in its fury. Although no human lives were lost or seriously injured in town, yet the suffering and misery endured for a time by those momentarily, expecting death cannot be portrayed or imagined. The traces of the freshet will remain visible for years to come. The channel of the river was greatly changed in several places, and it now runs where there were once meadows, gardens, and dwelling houses. The crops along the borders of the stream were wholly destroyed. Lemuel B. ELDRIDGE, in a little volume entitled The Torrent, says "that one hundred acres of land in Lincoln, suitable for cultivation, were either totally, destroyed or rendered useless for years." 

      A bridge crossing the stream near George A. THAYER's present mill site, then known as the Jones bridge, was the first on the stream to be swept away. Above this bridge but comparatively little damage was done, as only the rocks and trees were exposed to its fury. 

      Aaron GOVE lived in a log house near, or just a few rods above, where Jesse COTEY's house now stands. The family, had retired, and before they were aware of it the house was entirely, surrounded by water, and any attempt to escape -- the current being so swift and strong on either side -- would have resulted in certain death. When the water came into the lower part of the house the family, eight in number, went into the chamber as a last resort. A portion of the lower part of the house was washed away; a door-post, however, remained on one side undisturbed, on which the upper portion rested. Had this given way the roof would have fallen, and no doubt the occupants would have either been killed by the falling timbers or drowned. 

      Daniel BUTTERFIELD lived a few rods below, nearly opposite William H. HOAG's present residence. His loss was heavy; a large portion of intervale meadow was carried away. The channel of the river was at that time near the west side of the intervale; since then on the east side, where it now runs. 

      Thomas TABER lived on the farm now owned by George GARLAND. His house stood several rods below where Stephen C. VARNEY's saw-mill now stands, and where the river now runs. His family, consisting of his wife and five small children, remained in the house until the cellar wall fell in on one side, and immediately following they heard the crash of the falling bridge, a few rods above them, and then made a hasty retreat, barely escaping with their lives. When but a short distance away they heard the house fall, and on the following morning saw the main channel of the river where the house stood the night before. One of those children now living says that he carried the old- fashioned tin lantern, with perforated sides, to pilot the family to the nearest neighbor's east. They took with them only such clothing as they had on; all the rest, with their furniture, provisions, and fifty dollars in money which Taber had that day hired for necessary purposes, was destroyed in a moment's time. 

      A saw-mill, owned by John GOVE, situated a few rods below from where O. S. H. BUTTERFIELD's grist-mill now stands, was carried away with all the machinery, and all that remained to mark the spot were some fragments of the dam. 

      About one-half mile below, the crops of Valentine MEADER were destroyed and a bridge carried away. 

      Between this place and "Acworth," now West Lincoln, but very little damage was done. The property destroyed at "Acworth" was of more value than all the other property that suffered the same fate in the town. A thrifty little manufacturing village had suddenly sprung up at this place. A few men with small capital had invested it here in manufactories, and it was fast becoming the business heart of the town. About three years previous to the freshet Joseph BLANCHARD, Isaac HOUSTON, William and Andrew MITCHELL came from Acworth, N. H., and built a saw-mill, and in 1828 built a forge a few feet below. Some seventy-five or eighty rods below this forge another one was built in 1827 by Henry SOPER and Philetus PIER, and at the time of the freshet was owned by Pier and Oliver W. BURNHAM. Midway between these two forges was a bridge, then and since known as the Dean bridge. The river above the saw-mill was narrow, and the banks on either side were very high and abrupt. In this narrow passage the water rose about four feet per hour from dark until near midnight, when the saw-mill, forge, and coal-house, with a stock of coal, ore, and iron, were carried off and every trace of them blotted out in much less time than it takes to narrate it. The saw-mill floated down the furious current bodily and lodged on a small island opposite where Captain J. L. LINCOLN's store now stands, and, with the flood-wood that had previously accumulated there, went over the dam below. The lower forge yielded to the fury of the water nearly two hours later. 

      Below this little village, on the east side of the river, is a tract of land known as the Burnham Flat. At the lower end of this stood a small, unfinished framed house, occupied by Prosper DURFEY and family. The roaring of the water awoke Mrs. DURFEY, who was alone with her children, and on examination found that escape was impossible, as the water had already surrounded the house. The floors had not been nailed down, and the lower one, with the beds occupied by the family, was raised to within about eighteen inches of the upper one. Mrs. DURFEY parted the boards above, and, with her children, went through into the chamber, where they remained until morning, when they were taken ashore on a raft. It may seem almost miraculous that the house stood in such a depth of water; and it would have been destroyed, no doubt, if the lower floor had been nailed down. The main channel of the river was some four or five rods west of the house. A large hemlock log, two and one-half feet in diameter by thirty long, was thrown out from the current in the main channel on to the flat, and rolled or floated sideways to the house, protecting it from the flood-wood and debris. Below the house there was a short bend in the river, which produced a back current against the lower side, counteracting the one from above. 

      General BARNUM, of Vergennes, bad commenced to build a dam and factory for the purpose of manufacturing whetstones, from a quarry near by, standing below the big bend and within a few rods of the west line of the town, and was the last to suffer destruction within the limits of the town. Another freshet, in which a great amount of property was destroyed, occurred on the 4th day of October, 1869. The first mill property on the river to suffer was that owned by G. A. and O. H. THAYER, of South Lincoln, there being only one mill on the river above at that time. The mill was started in the morning with a fair run of water, and was run until about the middle of the forenoon, when the river rose so rapidly that it was thought advisable to shut down; and in only a few minutes the water was running through the mill, and in another moment it was gone out of sight in the mad rush of the water. 

      The next mill on the river to suffer the same fate was owned by Elisha R. CAIN and situated only a few rods below. 

      A short distance below, the mills of James CAUGHLIN and Asa JACKMAN were badly damaged, though not carried off. 

      A grist-mill and saw-mill owned by O. S. H. BUTTERFIELD, situated on his present mill site, were totally destroyed and carried away. The damage to roads and bridges was very great and travel was greatly impeded for several days. 

      Revolutionary War -- Ebenezer DURFEY and Owen BRIGGS were in the Revolutionary War and both were pensioned at the rate of eight dollars per month. 

      War of 181 -- The following named persons were in the United States service in the War of 1812 from this town, or who have since resided here: Albert BEACH, Noah JENNINGS, James DOWNING, Prosper DURFEY, Thomas LEE, Benjamin CLARK, Uriah BUSH, Alanson HAMNER, Daniel BAGLEY, and Oliver W. BURNHAM. 

      War of 1861 -- The town has a soldiers' record of which her citizens may justly feel proud. The quota under the different calls of the president was promptly filled by brave and fearless men who were not afraid to face the enemy on the field of battle, and were, mostly, men of intelligence and good moral character. It is due to those who sacrificed the comforts and pleasant associations of home, to endure the hardships of army life in assisting to save the country, that their names and the memorials of them be perpetuated on the pages of history. The following list, compiled from the State records, gives the names of those who served in Vermont organizations: 

      Volunteers for three years credited previous to call for 300,000 volunteers of October 17, 1863: 

      G.H. ATWOOD, H. A. ATWOOD, S. BARNARD, A. BASSALOW, L. E. BRISTOL, J. S. BUTTERFIELD, J. H. BUTTERFIELD, T. J. BYRON, E. CANFIELD, F. CLARK, J. CLARK, J. CLARK, T. CLARK, K. CONNELLY, A. CUSHMAN, E. S. CUSHMAN, P. DELPHY, E. C. DOW, L. DOW, E. R. GOVE, I. S. GOVE, O. A. GOULD, T. T. HAMNER, R. S. HILL, L. J. HOADLEY, I. N. MAYO, S. W. MAYO, N. MINER, O. J. MOORE, R. RICHARDS, S. J. SARGENT, G. SHEDRICK, D. H. STEARNS, F. STEVENS, J. WALKER, J. F. WALKER, C. W. WEAVER, E. S. WHITTIER, J. J. WHITTIER, J. W. WILLIAMS, D. H. YORK, G. W. YORK. 

      Credits under call of October 17, 1863, for 300,000 volunteers, and subsequent calls: 

      Volunteers for three years. -- G. A. ATKINS, L. M. ATWOOD, A. J. BARNES, C. B. CHAMBERLAIN, S. G. CHAPMAN, J. W. COBB, Jesse COTY, Nelson CROZIER, P. DURFEY, A. B. GOVE, C. HAMNER, J. HUFSON, J. PERSON, F. SORIOL, J. UBAR, W. WHEELER, W. J. WHITTIER, H. J. WOOD. 

      Volunteers for one year. -- A. D. ATKINS, G. BLANCHARD, C. W. CLARK, E. KING, S. B. MORRILL, J. H. MURRAY, H. C. POWERS, D. C. UBEAR. 

      Volunteers re-enlisted. -- H. A. Atwood, P. DELPHY, J. J. WHITTIER 

      Enrolled man who furnished substitute.--G. F. Pope. 

      Not credited by name. -- Two men. 

      Volunteers for nine months. -- A. G. BABCOCK, J. COFFIN, L. J. DOW, W. E. GOVE, W. E. GREEN, C. P. JONES, D. D. JONES, L. M. KENT, J. MOULTON, W. E. NOYES, E. M. PERCIVAL, H. STENIOR, H. WOOD. 

      Furnished under draft. -- Paid Commutation, A. ATKINS, L. N. DOWNING, O. Frank, J. JACKSON, D. JOHNSON, D. PALMER, N. PAGE, N. PURINTON, S. DANFORTH, C. E. VARNEY. Procured substitute, C. E. BRISTOL, M. F. GOVE, O. STOKES, E. B. TRACY. 

      The year 1878 was replete with memorable events. It will ever be remembered by those who suffered, in consequence of an epidemic, of the financial crisis, and a fire. Diphtheria in its unwelcome and direful visits introduced sadness, sorrow, and gloom throughout the entire town. Twelve deaths were chronicled as the result of this terrible malady from May 1 to August 1. It first made its appearance in the family of Samuel Miner, in the west part of the town, then in the family of Dr. Almer A. HIER, at the Center. Five deaths occurred in the short space of ten days, within a few rods of each other. Dr. HIER, his wife, and three children were prostrated at the same time. The brittle thread that so recently held together the bright and happy family was snapped asunder, and Mrs. HIER and a little boy only survived. 

      The financial troubles were unprecedented. Every one that desired credit obtained it, and as the result business men trusted out their merchandise, and obligated themselves by placing their names to commercial paper beyond their capital. This was done hoping that times would change, business be more active, and money more plenty. Property of every kind and description was on the decline with very little prospect of ever rising. Things continued thus until the 26th day of January, when several attachments were made and the store of W. N. GOVE was closed. In the fore part of February the union store and M. B. GOVE's boot and shoe store were closed. In June the store of CAIRN & HARTWELL was also closed. With these parties many, farmers and others suffered, being connected with them in their business, either by loaning money or sign commercial paper. Men lost all confidence in their fellow men. More legal processes were served during the year than for several years preceding, and some of them upon parties least expecting it. A large quantity of property was sold under the hammer at a great sacrifice. Real estate on the average depreciated from thirty to fifty per cent in value, while several places at a forced sale were bought for less than one-third their former value. No less than ten sought relief under the United States bankrupt and the State insolvent act. 

      On the morning of August 4 a fire broke out in the building owned by E. I. HEWITT and M. B. GOVE. The lower part was occupied as a store by FLANKS & JOHNSON, and the boot and shoe store of M. B. GOVE. The post-office and town clerk's office were also on this floor. The second story was occupied by the Grangers and Good Templars for their lodge room. An ell was occupied by M. B. GOVE for a dwelling house. The furniture and fixtures of the Grangers and Good Templars, and the contents of the two stores were wholly consumed. The town records were in one of MARVIN's fire-proof safes and were uninjured excepting the animal portions of the binding, which were destroyed. The books were rebound and are apparently as good as ever. 

      Town Officers Elected March, 1886. -- Stephen M. COLBY, moderator; Moses B. GOVE, clerk and treasurer; Wilber E. HANKS, Charles A. KINSLEY, Isaac W. HATCH, selectmen; Samuel D. O'BRYAN, James WARD, Alfred C. MERRILL, listers; George W. BURNHAM, Milton J. STEARNS, Alfred C. MERRILL, auditors; Elisha B. CLARK, John H. BEANE, Walter S. COLBY, fence viewers; Howard CLARK 2d, constable and overseer of the poor; Elihu PURINTON, trustee of United States surplus fund; Abel T. MORGAN, town grand juror; Harvey FARR, agent; George R. STONE, inspector of leather; Howard CLARK 2d, pound-keeper; Stephen C. VARNEY, inspector of lumber; Stephen G. COLBY, sexton; Milton J. STEARNS, superintendent of schools. 

      County 0fficers in Town. -- Howard CLARK 2d, sheriff; Charles E. POPE, deputy sheriff; Moses B. GOVE, Stephen M. COLBY, Charles E. POPE, Watson MORGAN, George W. BURNHAM, Charles G. BUTTERFIELD, William W. VARNEY, justices of the peace.

      Nearly all of the first and early settlers belonged to the Society of Friends, and for many years it was the only society that sustained regular religious worship. Those who did not belong with them were the exceptions. The first organization of this society was July 16, 1801, at which time James VARNEY was appointed clerk. Meetings for Worship were held about two years previous to this, in a log house owned by Levi MEADER, situated very near the north line of the town, on the west part of the farm now owned by Hiram HAMNER. Their meetings were held for several years in private houses. A log meeting-house was built on the land now owned by Thomas MOODY, also one near where the town house now stands. I do not know when they were built or how long they were occupied. In 1802 the society proposed a plan for a house of worship to the Easton, N. Y., Quarterly Meeting, of which the Lincoln Society was a branch, for their approval. They then proposed to build a house twenty-four by thirty-six feet, with ten-feet posts, at all estimated cost of $500. The report from this quarterly meeting was not a very flattering one so far as regards their rendering any assistance, as the following extract from the report shows: "That the Friends of Lincoln had better for the present endeavor to accommodate themselves with such a house as they are able to build amongst themselves." 

      The present house was built in 1810 and was the only one for worship for Lincoln, a part of Bristol and South Starksboro for many years, and was the only church building in town until about 1863, when two churches were built at the Center. Large as the house now seems, it was often filled and on special occasions would not accommodate all that attended. 

      The Society of Friends is now quite small, but they continue to meet together twice a week for public worship. 

      The meetings of the other denominations for public worship were held in dwelling and school-houses in the different parts of the town, and sometimes for want of a more suitable place they were held in barns and groves. 

      The Methodist Society built a church in 1863, and the same year a Union Church was built, which was occupied by the Freewill Baptists and Christian societies. 

      Freewill Baptist Church .-- A Freewill Baptist Church was organized in town as early as 1832, and was admitted into the quarterly meeting conference in January, 1834. Rev. Ziba POPE was the first pastor. Israel FREEMAN, a colored preacher, was the recognized pastor in 1837. Samuel KENNISTON preached here before the organization, and was the first Freewill Baptist preacher ever located in town. Jarius DAVIS, Joshua TUCKER, and Mark ATWOOD were pastors of the church at different times. The first quarterly meeting was held in the upper part of Ziba POPE's barn, on the farm recently owned by George H. BABCOCK, and now owned by Daniel and M. B. GOVE. Failing to maintain its organization it was dropped from the quarterly meeting in June, 1852. 

      Another organization was effected November 13, 1862, with ten members, by Revs. E. B. FULLER, S. W. PERKINS, and O. B. DIKE. Amos TUCKER was chosen clerk, and John T. HILL deacon. The first monthly meeting was held in the Corners school-house November 25, 1862. The present membership is thirty-four. Rev. W. H. LYSTER is pastor, Alfred C. MERRILL, clerk, Nelson M. BROOKS and John T. HILL, deacons. 

      Christian Church.--The Christian Church was organized November 13, 1840, at the dwelling house of Hermon BEMENT, with twenty members, by Rev. Joseph D. MARSH, of Randolph, Vt. Rev. Merritt W. POWERS was the first pastor, Benjamin CLARK first clerk, and Elisha BRIGGS and Davis TUCKER were the first deacons. Six only of those who were members at its organization are still living, but are not residents of the town. Enos P. HOAG was about the first to unite with the church and has been a consistent member ever since. There are now sixty-four members. Rev. Charles D. BURDICK is the present pastor, Mrs. Ella M. BUTTERFIELD clerk, Loyal COLLINS and Cornelius SOPER deacons. 

      Methodist Church .-- The Methodist Church was organized in the spring of 1836 by Rev. Nathaniel STEARNS and was for several years connected with the church in Ripton, and was for a long time known as the Lincoln and Ripton Mission. The present church edifice and parsonage was built in 1863, through personal efforts of the late Rev. Caleb STEVENS, who was pastor of the church at that time. Rev. Smith M. WILBUR is the present pastor. Present membership, fifty-three. 

      Sabbath–schools -- A Sabbath-school is maintained at each of the churches and at the school-house in South Lincoln throughout the year, and each has a library of nearly three hundred volumes. Schools are maintained at West Lincoln and Downingsville through the summer months. The first Sabbath school in town was organized at Downingsville in June, 1843, through the personal efforts of Mrs. Fanny M. PURINTON and Mrs. Emily POWERS. 

      Physicians – A. J. CUSHMAN, a resident of the town for twenty-five years, has practiced medicine for the last three years, and is now attending lectures at the medical department of the University of Vermont. 

      J.S. DODGE, a graduate of the University of New York city has located in town during the last eight years. 

      Local Societies -- A lodge of Good Templars was organized in 1869 and flourished both financially and numerically. At one time the lodge numbered over one hundred members. They continued to hold their meetings regularly until August, 1878 when they lost their charter and furniture by fire. Since then they have ceased to exist as a lodge. 

      A Grange was organized in 1875 or '76, but was not a successful enterprise, and existed as an organization only a few years. 

      The Lincoln Cornet Band was organized in 1882 under the instruction of S. W. HATCH. Leroy S. VARNEY is the present leader and Albert F. GOVE drum major. It has now seventeen members. 

      Present Industries. -- The industries of the town are somewhat varied in their nature. A portion of the inhabitants devote their attention to agriculture, dairying, stock raising, and the manufacturing of maple sugar; others give their whole attention to the manufacturing of lumber. The abundance of timber on the mountain and the many excellent mill privileges render the town practically a lumber manufacturing one, and it is at present the principal source of its wealth. There are fifteen mills in town, in which either coarse lumber, clapboards, shingles, or staves are made from the logs. The mills have a capacity of cutting out several million feet per annum, and give steady employment to over one hundred men. Nearly one-third of the population of the town obtain their support either directly or indirectly from this industry. Besides the hands employed in the mills, a still greater number are employed in the woods on the mountains cutting the logs, and with teams in piling and hauling them, and drawing the lumber, etc., away. Only a few of these mills are confined exclusively to any one branch of the business. 

      There are three mills for the exclusive manufacture of clapboards, three for staves, and one each for shingles and butter-tubs. The mills for cutting coarse lumber can economically make clapboards and shingles, by sorting the logs and using such as are best adapted for those purposes. A portion of the waste or slabs is worked into headings and laths. HEATH Brothers' clapboard-mill is the first on the New Haven River, in that part of the town formerly a part of Ripton, and known, as "Pope's Paradise"--a name given to that locality many years ago, at which time Rev. Ziba POPE built a saw-mill and dwelling house and cleared up a tract of land. They manufactured during the year 1885 600,000 feet of clapboards and dressed them ready for market. The next mill on the stream is owned by GREEN & KELTON, and is situated in that part of Lincoln that was formerly a part of Ripton. They manufacture dimension lumber, hardwood flooring, and clapboards. G. A. THAYER's mill for sawing staves stands where the Jones mill formerly stood. He occupies the Pope mill, a few rods below, for the manufacture of clapboards. Mr. THAYER is the largest clapboard manufacturer in town. During the year 1885 he sawed and dressed 1,000,000 feet, besides dressing large quantities for others. James CAUGHLIN and A. A. JACKMAN & Son each own mills on the same stream, near together, and both manufacture coarse lumber, butter-tubs, and in addition JACKMAN & Son manufacture clapboards and do custom planing. S. W. ALLEN's mill for sawing coarse lumber, laths, and shingles is situated in the southeast part of the town, on Beaver Brook. S. C. VARNEY & Son are located near the Center and make all kinds of building lumber, heading, etc., and do custom work and planing. Hodijah LINCOLN, at West Lincoln, gives his attention wholly to the manufacture of staves. He does the most in the stave business, and in fact more than all the others in town combined. Seth T. HILL's mill for the manufacture of coarse lumber and staves is situated on the Downing Creek, in the northeast part of the town. Mr. HILL owns more acres of land in town than any other man, several hundred of which lie in one tract above his mill. W. J. BROWN's mill for the manufacture of butter-tubs is the next mill on the same stream. Below a few rods is the shingle-mill of Warren BROOKS. The next is the stave-mill of Seymour J. DAVIS. George and Fred G. BAGLEY saw all kinds of building lumber and clapboards; also do custom sawing. Their mill is situated above the Corners, on the Downing Creek. Abel T. MORGAN's mill for sawing coarse lumber and shingles, and Watson MORGAN's mill for sawing and dressing clapboards, are both situated at the Corners. W. E. HANKS and others own a mill still farther down the creek, which has been used for the manufacture of clapboards and butter-tubs. The upper part of the mill is used for grinding meal and provender. The only grist-mill in town is owned by O. S. H. BUTTERFIELD, and is located about one-half mile south of the post-office, on the New Haven River. It is fitted for doing all kinds of custom grinding. The mercantile business of the town is fully developed in all its departments. 

      Captain J. L. LINCOLN, at West Lincoln, carries a general line of groceries, dry goods, notions, boots and shoes. GOVE & GREEN, at the Center, carry a full line of groceries, fancy and dry goods, clothing, and hardware. Milton J. STEARNS, at the Center, has a stock of dry goods, crockery, meal, and feed. Moses B. GOVE gives his whole attention to the sale of boots and shoes. E. M. WHITNEY commenced in the mercantile business at South Lincoln April 1, 1886, with a stock of groceries. DODGE & GOVE have worked up a good business as pharmacists, and are doing a fair business in jobbing medicines, essences, flavoring extracts, etc., of their own make. They employ several men on the road selling their goods. CLARK & KINSLE do an extensive butchering, business at West Lincoln and supply several markets with meat. During the year 1885 they dressed at their slaughter-house 500 beefs, 500 sheep, and 200 veal calves. The maple sugar business is an important branch of the present industries. Many tons are annually made. Though sold at low prices, yet it nets the farmers a fair profit. Ira W. WAKEFIELD, at West Lincoln, and George R. STONE, at the Center, manufacture custom boots and shoes, and do all kinds of repairing. A. F. GOVE, gunsmith at the Center. V. W. MORGAN, at the Center, and Edgar R. SIPLES, at the Corners, are manufacturers of wagons and carriages, and do custom repairing. There are five blacksmith shops in town; Lorenzo DOW and Joseph MINER at West Lincoln, V. W. MORGAN and Luther NUTTING at the Center, and Thomas DUPOINT at South Lincoln. 

      Census. -- There has been a gradual increase in the population of the town since its settlement, as will be seen from the follow table: 1800, 97; 1810, 255; 1820, 278; 1830, 639; 1840, 770; 1850, 1,057; 1860, 1,070; 1870, 1,174; 1880, 1,367. 

      Marcus HEDDING.--The Hedding families come from the vicinity of Dutchess county, N, Y., to Starksboro, Vt. Marcus HEDDING, an uncle of the late Bishop HEDDING of the M. E. Church, settled in the north part of the town in 1795, and soon after his son John settled here. Marcus HEDDING married Candace PRESTON for his first wife and Mehitable VARNEY for his second. When they removed from Starksboro to Lincoln there was only a path marked by spotted trees between the two places. They packed their goods on a horse, which was led by a daughter riding one ahead. Harley HEDDING, a son of Marcus, was born in 1795, and was the first child born in town. John HEDDING died in 1815. 

      Lorenzo ORVIS was born in Norfolk, Conn. When quite young he came to Bristol, where he married a Miss BROOKS. They settled in town on the farm now owned by Hiram HAMNER, in March, 1795, and were the first that made a permanent settlement. When he moved here from Bristol Flats he came with an ox team and was two days making the journey over the hills of South Starksboro. At the organization of the town he was chosen first selectman, first lister, sealer of leather and weights and measures, fence viewer, and tithingman. He died in Ferrisburgh, Vt., in the ninety-first year of his age. 

      Wolcott BURNHAM came from Connecticut and settled in town as early as 1797 on the farm now owned by Reuben COWLES; he was elected lister at the organization of the town. His son, Oliver W. BURNHAM, resided in town; he held the office of selectman three years, justice of the peace seven years, and represented the town in the Legislature in 1827; was a prominent business man, and was extensively engaged in the iron business. He died June 20, 1860. George W., a soil of Oliver W., now resides in town. 

      Thomas GOODRICH was born in Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., September 10, 1780. At the age of seventeen years he left his home and came to Middlebury, Vt., where for two years he cultivated land on shares. He first came to Lincoln September 10, 1799, on his nineteenth birthday, and on the twelfth day of the same month he took a deed of the piece of land where he afterward settled, and now owned by James BUTTERFIELD. He married Esther FREEMAN, of New Haven, May 9, 1802, and died January 13, 1864. She was born September 17, 1781, and died September 6, 1846. Their children were Lyman, born March 7, 1804; Phebe, born July 30, 1806; Julia, born May 4, 1809; Alzina, born May 7, 1812 ; Moses, born April 15, 1815 ; Esther, born November 23, 1819; Dinah, born May 22, 1823; Ruth, born October 6, 1825. Alzina, Esther, and Ruth reside in town. He owned at one time some seven hundred acres of land and paid the largest tax of any one in town. He was quite eccentric in his ways. His team for general work consisted of an ox and cow yoked together. He kept the first hotel in town, and sold a few groceries to his townsmen; whisky, however, was the principal article. The hotel business was not a success, although quite well patronized by the fun lovers and dram drinkers. It was the seat of all the justice courts of the town and a portion of Bristol. It is related of him that he would drive his cattle into the woods without any yoke or harness, and would construct a yoke, and by means of elm bark would draw out a good load of wood. 

      Chase PURINTON was born in Kensington, N. H., April 27, 1757; he afterwards lived in Weare, N. H., and settled in Lincoln in March, 1803, on the farm now owned by a grandson, Elihu PURINTON, purchasing it of Jedediah DURFEY, also purchasing two adjoining lots south, making in the total about three hundred acres. He brought with him two yoke of oxen, a pair of horses, and six cows. Three of his sons came with the cows and oxen, taking a load of goods. The remainder of the family followed in a few days with the horse team, bringing what goods they were able. He was a blacksmith by trade, and the first that settled in town. On account of the uncertainty of the roads through the new and mountainous country, he shod his cows as well as his oxen and horses, before commencing the journey. The first mill for grinding corn and provender was built by him in 1806 on the water privilege near Abel T. MORGAN's saw-mill. The mill-stones were taken from the farm now owned by Charles HEYWOOD, and are still in use. He had eight children, Jonathan, born December 1, 1779, died in 1848; Elijah, born July 18, 1781, died in 1864; James, born November, 1783, died in 1864; Judith, born April 19, 1786, died 1877; Elizabeth, born August 3, 1788, died in 1875; Chase, jr., born July 19, 1792, died in 1872; Lydia, born October 1, 1795, died in 1882; Mary, born September 7, 1799, died in 1845. Three of the children of James Purinton now reside in town, viz.: Asa, Elihu, and Freeman. Two of the children of Jonathan also reside in town, Elijah and Mrs. Huldah PURINTON. The descendants of Chase are numerous throughout the United States and Canada; over forty of them are now residing in town. They hold a family reunion each year. The sons and daughters of Chase PURINTON lived to a remarkable age. One died at the age of ninety-two years, five others lived over eighty years. The average age of the eight children was seventy-eight years. At the funeral of Elizabeth PURINTON there were present over one hundred relatives, all of whom, with one exception, were her nieces and nephews. 

      Ebenezer DURFEY came from Connecticut and settled on "Elder Hill," so called, in 1804. He was a sharp, shrewd business man and quite prominent among the settlers, and was always known as 'Squire DURFEY. He held the office of town clerk nine years, selectman two years, constable three years, justice of the peace twenty-one years, represented the town in the Legislature thirteen times, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1822. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and was pensioned eight dollars per month during his life. He died in Westport, N. Y., at the age of ninety-three years. He had four sons and four daughters. Sally, the oldest, married Chase LAMOS, of Monkton, for her first husband, and Moses SARGENT for her second, and was the mother of the late Daniel H. SARGENT. She died January 21, 1870, at the age of eighty years. Prosper, the oldest son, was in the War of 1812; resided in town most of the time until his death, which occurred in 1879, at the age of eighty-nine years. 

      Jedediah DURFEY, a brother of 'Squire DURFEY, settled in town about 1796 or '97, on the place now owned by Elihu PURINTON. The first town meeting at which the town was organized, was held at his place in 1798. He was chosen selectman, lister, pound-keeper, and the only highway surveyor, at this town meeting. He was the first to represent the town in the Legislature, which was in 1801. He resided in town only a few years, and sold to Chase PURINTON April 24, 1802. 

      Moses GOVE, a son of Daniel and Mariam, was born in Weare, N. H., December 22, 1774. He married Hannah, his first wife, daughter of Nathan and Phebe CHASE, of Weare, in 1799, who died September 15, 1831, and Martha WORTH, his second, May 15, 1834. Moses GOVE died June 8, 1851. Their children were Nathan C., born July 17, 1880, and died in Lincoln March 31, 1850; Levi, born February 23, 1802, died in Lynn, Mass., August 12, 1885; John C., born November 14, 1803, and now resides in New York city; Phebe (Huntington), born November 26, 1805, resides at East Randolph, N. Y.; Daniel, born October 10, 1810, resides in town on the Ziba POPE farm; Mariam (Chase), born March 22, 1813, now a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah; Dennis, born May 28, 1816, died in the copper regions in Michigan August 1, 1854; Peltiah, born June 10, 1818, and resides on the same farm on which his father settled in 1803 or 1804. The children of Daniel are James T., born June 14, 1839, and died April 10, 1862; Phebe (Batchelder), born December 28, 1841, now resides in Middlebury, and Moses B., born September 28, 1847, now resides in town. The only child of Peltiah GOVE lives near the old homestead, and is now Mrs. Emily C. PURINTON. 

      Winthrop GOVE was born in Seabrook, Mass., July 27, 1773; married Judith GOVE, of Weare, N. H., who was born January 1, 1780. They settled in Weare after their marriage, where they resided a few years and then settled in town, March, 1804, on the farm now owned by Mrs. Electa SHERMAN, on what is known as Gove Hill. Their children: Richard, born in 1800; Lucy, born December, 1803; John, born March 12, 1806; Eleanor D., born July 7, 1808, and is the only survivor and still resides in town. 

      Elisha GOVE was born in Weare, N. H., August 26, 1784. At the age of twenty years he came to Montpelier, Vt., and there married Abigail RING of Salisbury, N. H., May 11, 1806, who was born August 15, 1773. They moved to Lincoln March, 1809, and settled on what is August as Gove Hill. She died November 14, 1844. He died June 4, 1858. They had three children, Azrias W., born November 27, 1808; Sarah F. W., born June 28, 1812, and Winthrop G., born March 2, 1815. Azrias W. GOVE still resides in town and for years practiced medicine (Thom*psonian school). He married Sophrona Kelton, May 1, 1834. Their children were Peace A., now Mrs. Beaver, born March 8, 1838; Mark A., born February 3, 1842; Webster N., born May 15, 1845 ; Emily J., now Mrs. G. A. Thayer, born June 30, 1849; Henry W., born December 16, 1851, and Abbie R., born September 18, 1854, and died May 4, 1876. Mark A., Webster N., Emily J., and Henry W. reside in town. 

      Benjamin TABER, M. D., was born in Montpelier, Vt., June 30, 1785. At the age of fifteen years he commenced study at the Friends' Boarding-school, Nine Partners, N. Y., as a charity scholar, his parents being poor and unable to bear the expenses. His father carried him about one-half of the distance from Montpelier to Nine Partners; he walked the remaining distance. His scanty allowance of money was exhausted before he reached the end of his journey and he was compelled to dispose of his sleeve-buttons to procure food. He remained at the boarding-school a number of years and studied medicine. He married Phebe CARPENTER, of Starksboro, Vt., December 8, 1808, and commenced the practice of medicine in that town. In 1817 he moved to Lincoln and located in the north part of the town, on the place for years known as the "Dr. TABER place." The dwelling house in which William EDDY now lives was built by him in 1819. He was the first physician that settled in town, and the only one for several years, and practiced until he was over sixty years of age. He died June 3, 1866, at the age of eighty-one years. They had seven sons and two daughters, all of whom are now living with the exception of one son who died in his youth. The oldest, Russel, was born November 8, 1809. He commenced in the foundry business on the home farm and became successful in the undertaking; now resides in Iowa. Louis, born September 2, 1811, resides in Mount Pleasant, 0. Silas B., born April 24, 1813, resides in lowa. Sarah, wife of Daniel GOVE, of Lincoln, was born March 11, 1815. James was born December 21, 1817, and died March 23, 1832. Phebe L., wife of Peltiah, of this town, was born November 23, 1819. David C., born March 15, 1822, and Benjamin J., born November 8, 1825, both reside in Minnesota. Seaman, born November 14, 1872, resides in Texas. 

      Dr. Luther M. KENT was born at Hinsdale, N. H., April 26, 1803. At the age of nine years he came with his family to Warren, Vt. His father immediately joined the military force then quartered at Burlington, and there died; and in spite of all efforts to find the place of his interment, he still sleeps in an unknown grave in or near by the now flourishing city. By his own unaided efforts he educated himself in the ordinary branches, completed his medical course and located in Lincoln in January, 1828, living in a small "log-cabin," at what is now known as Kent's Corners. He engaged in active practice, and continued to live on this same place up to 1859, when he removed to Bristol and remained there up to the time of his death, which occurred October 21, 1870. He was appointed first postmaster in Lincoln (see account of post- offices on another page). Dr. KENT was married to Abigail S. RICHARDSON, in Warren, January 20, 1827. Of four children born to them one, Denslow M., died at eighteen years of age. The surviving are Adah R. (Mrs. C. P. BUSH) and Dr. E. M. KENT, who now reside in Bristol, and Lucy A. (Mrs. Jesse P. GREEN), in Chicago. The widow of Dr. L. M. KENT, who with her husband was closely identified with the early history of Lincoln, survived him some ten years and died at the home of her son, Dr. E. M. KENT, in Bristol, in August, 1880, and side by side they rest in the little cemetery just a little way from their old home and the scenes of their early labors. 

      Hon. William W. POPE was born in Hingham, Mass., October 12, 1807, and was the only son of Rev. Ziba POPE, a pioneer preacher of the Freewill Baptists. When six years old he came with his parents to Randolph, Vt., and lived there until 1830, and then moved to Lincoln, where he has since resided. He married Miss Caroline KENT October 23, 1835, by whom he had a son and a daughter; the latter died in its infancy. The son, George F., is the head of the firm POPE, BERRY & HALL, jobbers in tea and spices, Burlington, Vt. His wife died October 19, 1841, and August 22, 1848, he married Mrs. Mercy DOW, whose maiden name was FARR, by whom he had one son, Charles Edward. William W. POPE was elected justice of the peace in 1834 and town clerk in 1839, which two offices he held until 1870, when, on account of his age and partial loss of memory, he refused to serve any longer. In 1836, and for five or six successive years, he represented the town in the General Assembly, and again in 1850. As a legislator he was careful and considerate, but a firm and earnest advocate of what he considered right and justice, and equally as earnest in denouncing wrong. In 1860 he was chosen associate judge of the Addison County Court. In his prime he was a man of more than ordinary mental ability and strength. His counsel and advice on legal points were clear and concise. His familiarity and knowledge of the statutory law of the State and the rulings of the higher courts, with his sound and careful judgment combined, rendered him a safe and able counselor. Until within about ten or twelve years, when his memory became somewhat impaired, he was one of the principal men in the management of the business of the town. Not a single position of trust or responsibility that his townsmen could bestow upon him, but what he has held, and discharged the duties pertaining to it in a satisfactory manner. The aggregate number of years that he has held office in the town is far more than that of any other man. He was a strict temperance man, and a strong advocate of its principles; a constant attendant upon the public worship of God whenever his health would permit; well versed in the sacred Scriptures, and for many years an active member of the Sabbath-school, and a large portion of the time the teacher of a Bible class. He died at his residence of Bright's disease, April 16, 1880. 

      Hon. Daniel H. SARGENT, a son of Moses and Sally SARGENT, was born in Lincoln February 26, 1821. He married Mary Jane HILL, of Starksboro, by whom he had four children -- Sewell J., Lois (Mrs. Howard CLARK), Alson M., and William H., all of whom live in town. His second wife was Mrs. George (BROOKS) NICHOLS, daughter of Obed BROOKS, by whom he had four children, Herbert C., George A., Mary J., and Wallace. Mr. SARGENT was at an early age placed in positions of trust by his townsmen, and always faithfully discharged the duties of his office. In 1845, at the age of twenty-four years, he was chosen one of the selectmen of the town, and held that office nine years. He was justice of the peace nineteen years; a member of the Legislature in 1855 and 1860; assistant judge of the County Court in 1876 and '77. He died June 7, 1879, on the farm where he was born and where he has ever since resided. No better eulogy can be given than the following extract from an obituary of Mrs. Ellen JOHNSON: "In this afflictive stroke from the hands of an all-wise Providence not only does a family suffer the loss of a kind and indulgent husband and father, but a community has lost a prominent and highly respected citizen. Mr. SARGENT has long been looked upon as one of our most worthy men. His legal knowledge, careful judgment, candor, and strict integrity combined to render him an able adviser, and his opinion has been prized by such as have had occasion to seek advice. It cannot be said of him, 'He had no enemies.' Such eulogies are for men of less firmness and stability of character; but it may be truly said he had many friends, and those most intimately acquainted with his character esteemed him most highly." 

      Rev. Nathaniel STEARNS was born in Monkton in 1780. He came to Lincoln in 1835, and established the M. E. Church of this place. He died in RIPTON in 1852. His two sons, James L. and Joseph M., resided in town until their decease -- the former March 17, 1874, aged fifty-four years, the latter November 12, 1884, aged sixty-nine years. Three of the children of James L. now reside here, Milton J., Mary S., and Wesley R., the former a merchant at the Center. Four of the children of Joseph M. also reside here, Lovina (Mrs. Zeno PAGE), Cynthia (Mrs. C. F. MURRAY), Sabra, and Elwood. 

      Rev. Zenas C. PICKETT was born in Hope, Hamilton county, N. Y., April 27, 1807. His first charge as an itinerant preacher was on the "Wells Mission," N. Y. He was stationed on the Lincoln charge in 1870, where he remained three years, and again in 1876, preaching another term of three years. In 1879 on account of his health he located in town, having purchased a small place. The fiftieth anniversary of his married life was celebrated July 8, 1881. The following extract is from an address of the pastor of the M. E. Church, Rev. Amos OSBORN, delivered at the wedding anniversary, which seemed almost prophetic of his death, which came as a welcome messenger only ten days later: "I congratulate you in view of the near approach of your departure from earth heavenward. Your sun, aye, mine too, is in the western sky; the shadows of evening are gathering. 'I brush the dews from Jordan's banks; the crossing must be near.' Soon a voice will be heard, 'Come up higher.' I am quite sure you will answer, 'Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; I am prepared to go.'" 
 
 
 

Chapter XXV, pages 481 - 512. 
History of the Town of Lincoln. 
"History of Addison County, Vermont, 
With Illustrations And Biographical Sketches
of Some Of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers." 
Edited by H. P. Smith. Syracuse, N. Y.;
D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1886.

Transcribed by Jan Maloy, 2002