No sooner had the dangers of the Revolutionary War been passed than the early settlers, some of whom had sold valuable possessions in the older New England States to purchase land in Hubbardton, were harassed by an indiscriminate service of ejectment papers upon them by unknown and evil-minded claimants. These embarrassments, it seems, were occasioned by the careless manner in which the original proprietors disposed of their claims, on the presumption that the town was six miles square. It is said that the grantees of the ALLENS were never molested in this way. This uncertainty retarded the settlement of the town, so that though Uriah HICKOK and William TROWBRIDGE began clearing in town as early as 1774, there were but nine families here in 1777. These all occupied log houses in the southeastern part of the town. They were Benjamin and Uriah HICKOCK, William TROWBRIDGE, Samuel and Jesse CHURCHILL, John SELLECK, Abdiel WEBSTER, Benajah BOARDMAN and William SPAULDING, with their families. After the evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga, July 6, 1777, a party of Indians and painted Tories came to Hubbardton, under a Captain SHERWOOD, and made prisoners of Benjamin and Uriah HICKOK, and two young men named Henry KEELER and Elijah KELLOGG.

      On the following day was fought the famous battle of Hubbardton, described in a previous chapter. In the mean time the inhabitants hastily collected their personal effects and fled. John SELLECK, on whose land, a little north from the Baptist house of worship, Colonels WARNER, FRANCIS and HALE, rear guard for General ST. CLAIR, had encamped, had taken his family from town the day before. Mrs. BOARDMAN and two children were left in his house, but after the battle. succeeded in reaching Castleton. Benjamin HICKOK escaped from his captors, returned to his family and conducted them with the members of his brother Uriah's family to the deserted house of J. HICKOK in Castleton, whence they proceeded southward. 

      On the morning of July 9th Colonel WARNER notified Samuel CHURCHILL of his danger, and he started with his family when the firing began. They all then, with the exception of John and Silas, who took part in the battle, returned to the house. Silas was taken prisoner. SHERWOOD and his party surprised and captured them at the house, and Samuel CHURCHILL was tied to a tree and apparently consigned to death by the flames because he protested that he had no flour in his house, when SHERWOOD relented. Thus Samuel CHURCHILL and his sons John and Silas, Uriah HICKOK, Henry KEELER and Elijah KELLOGG were taken to Ti. and subjected to the hardships incident to their position. CHURCHILL and HICKOK escaped after a short time, and finding their houses deserted, went on to their families, that of the latter in Castleton, and of the former at their old home in Sheffield, Mass., whither they had traveled -- a party of four women, two boys, and two mere infants, a distance of about three hundred and fifty miles without a guide. The other prisoners were retaken by Colonel BROWN in October following. After the capture of Burgoyne, CHURCHILL brought his family to Castleton and left them for a time, while he and his sons rebuilt their old home in Hubbardton; William SPAULDING and Uriah HICKOK returned the next spring; no others came back until 1780 and few until 1783. Early in 1784 the inhabitants found the whitened bones of the killed on the site of the battle of Hubbardton and gave them burial.

      After the close of the Revolutionary War, new families began to arrive, and by the summer of 1784 there were about twenty families in town, among the new arrivals being Lemuel WOOD, Joseph CHURCHILL, Ithamer GREGORY, Janna CHURCHILL, Josiah CHURCHILL, Nathan, Joseph, Daniel, Isaac, Hezekiah and John RUMSEY, and perhaps several others. For a number of years they were obliged to go over a bad road to a mill in the west part of Castleton, which had but one run of stones, for their flour and feed. "In winter they would go with an ox team and be gone two or three days."

      The first road in town was the old Ti. road, which was too rough and crooked to be of much use to the settlers. The next was more useful, being a north and south road through the east part of town. Says Amos CHURCHILL in his history published more than thirty years ago: "The first tax that was assessed on the town was for making a road through north and south, west of the center, but did not succeed. The next move for the same road was the grant of a lottery; the plan was laid, the tickets sold, the money collected, the lottery drawn, and the chief manager absconded with the money, so that the old east road was still the thoroughfare. The third public move was for a turnpike; this succeeded, and a good road was made, greatly to the injury of the east part of the town. The first settlement commenced in the south-easterly part of the town where the main business transactions were carried on for many years, and it got the appellation of village. There were in the length of two miles about thirty dwelling-houses, with a good supply of stores, mechanic shops, etc. But on the turnpike road coming into use, travel and business being withdrawn from that street, it ran down, and now it is not much but a neighborhood of decent farmers. The railroads on every side have destroyed the turnpike road."

      The first frame building erected in town was a barn built by Samuel CHURCHILL in 1785. The nails used in its construction were picked up on the site of Fort Ti. after it was burned. 

      The town was organized on the first Tuesday of March, 1785. The earliest records have been lost or destroyed, and the proceedings of the earlier meetings cannot be given. The earliest record attainable is on March 4, 1793, when Captain Benjamin HICKOK was chosen moderator of the meeting; David HICKOK, town clerk and treasurer; Israel DEWEY, Timothy ST. JOHN, and Bigelow LAWRENCE, selectmen; Thaddeus GILBERT and Bigelow LAWRENCE, constables; Dyer WATROUS, Asahel WRIGHT, Nathan RUMSEY, Elisha WALKER and Ithammer GREGORY, listers; Thaddeus GILBERT, collector, and William POPE, leather sealer.

      Of some of these early families all, or nearly all, are gone. There were once fourteen families by the name of CHURCHILL in town; thirteen by the name of RUMSEY, and seven by the name of HICKOK, the three names being borne by a majority in the town. Now there are none resident here with either name. Amos CHURCHILL, before quoted, mentions as native and formerly resident in Hubbardton, even at that early date, men who afterwards became useful, as follows: Two members of Congress, one lieutenant-governor, four judges of courts, two land commissioners, one surveyor-general, two brigadier-generals, one major-general, four colonels, one minister to a foreign court, one high sheriff; a number of ministers of the gospel, one missionary to Burmah and; one to Diabekir, in Turkey.

      Among the early settlers Nathan RUMSEY was very prominent. He was active in inducing settlers to immigrate to Hubbardton, kept the first store, and erected the first grist-mill. He represented the town and served many years as justice of the peace and captain of the militia. After the death of his wife he went west and accompanied Lewis and Clark in their journeys through the extreme west, and after his return wrote a journal of his travels. He was a Revolutionary soldier, participated in the War of 1812, was taken prisoner in September, 1814, and died in his captivity at Halifax in March, 1815.

      The first settlement of the town, however, as before stated, commenced in 1774, by Uriah HICKOK and William TROWBRIDGE, from Norfolk, Conn. Elizabeth, daughter of Uriah HICKOK, was born on the 1st of August, 1774, and died in September, 1776, thus furnishing the first birth and death in town.

      James WHELPLEY, a soldier of the Revolution and a great hunter, settled in Hubbardton in 1787. He was frequently a member of constitutional conventions, represented the town a number of years, and served for a long time as justice of the peace. He outlived all his children, dying January 6th, 1838, at the age of ninety years. 

      Dr. Theophilus FLAGG, the first physician in town, came in 1791. He was for a number of years deacon in the church and representative of the town. Joseph CHURCHILL came to town in the winter of 1783, and raised a family of seven sons and five daughters, all of whom reached maturity. He was many years justice of the peace and selectman, and was noted for his remarkable strength.

      David H. BARBER, son of David and Sarah (Lawrence) BARBER, came from Castleton, in 1784 to live with his uncle, Bigelow LAWRENCE. He afterwards married Clarissa WHELPLEY, by whom he had a large family of children. Some of his descendants still live in town.

      Rufus ROOT, grandfather of Seneca ROOT, though not an early settler here, was interested in the town from having come three days after the battle of Hubbardton to pick up the stragglers and wounded. Seneca ROOT, who established a residence here in 1837, was the postmaster at East Hubbardton for fifteen years after the establishment of an office there.

      Christopher BRESEE, born near Stockbridge, Mass., March 13, 1788, came to Pittsford, Vt., with his father when he was eight years of age, and resided on the farm now occupied by Wallace E. BRESEE. About the year 1813 he came to Hubbardton and resided on the farm now occupied by Alexander WALSH. In March, 1837, he removed to the farm now owned and occupied by his son, Albert BRESEE, a sketch of whose life will be found in subsequent pages. 

      The ST. JOHN families came from Connecticut. Nehemiah ST. JOHN, with Ruth, his wife, came from Redding, Conn., about 1786. Their son, Seth, was then sixteen years of age. Nehemiah was a descendant of Matthias ST. JOHN, who came to Boston from England in 1630, and was made a freeman of Dorchester, Mass., on the 3d of September, 1634. Seth married Rebecca FOSTER in 1793, and became the father of the following children: Samuel W., born in 1795; Ruth, 1797; Levi, 1799; Seth, 1801, and Nehemiah, 1805. They all resided for some time in Hubbardton, and finally removed, Seth and Ruth to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and the rest to Wisconsin. The elder Seth died August 8, 1846.

      Timothy ST. JOHN, of a numerous family, was born in Norwalk, Conn., May 3, 1757 He came to Hubbardton before 1789 with his brother-in-law, Joseph RUMSEY. In 1789 he built the first framed building west of the old saw-mill near the turnpike. In 1794 he married Rachel CURTIS, and died on Christmas day, 1831. His wife died June 6, 1837. Two sons, Ezekiel and Reuben, and three daughters survived them. The first named son was killed by a falling tree in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in December, 1840. Reuben remained on the homestead (where his son Reuben now lives) until his death August, 19, 1882. Another son, Ezekiel H. ST. JOHN, resides now at the head of Horton Pond in Sudbury, and contributes to this chapter nearly all that relates to the history of Hortonville. He was born on the 20th day of June, 1831.

      Samuel PARSONS, born in Redding, Conn., on the 15th of December, 1765, came to Hubbardton in 1787, and soon after married Esther SELLECK, and settled on the farm still known as the Parsons Hamlet. He died May 27, 1846, and his wife February 21, 1848, leaving a daughter, Betsey, who removed to western New York, and a son, Aaron, who was born August 7, 1800, and died March 16, 1862. He was a shrewd man, caustic in speech, and though of intemperate habits, kept and enlarged the possessions which he inherited.

      David BARBER was born in West Salisbury, Conn., March 15, 1770; came with his parents to Castleton in 1783, and in 1784 went to live with an uncle on the CHRISTY place, in Hubbardton. In 1792 he married Clarissa, daughter of James WHELPLEY, He died June 11, 1860. He was the father of six children, descendants from some of whom still reside in town. Mr. BARBER was married twice, the second wife being the widow of judge RICH, of Shoreham. He was in the Legislature from 1813 to 1815 inclusive, in 1825, '26, '35 and 36. Two of his sons, James W. and Milton G., were also in the Legislature two years each.

      Asahel WRIGHT came from his native place, Lennox, Mass., as early as 1774, but afterwards served six years in the Revolution, part of the time as a minuteman in Massachusetts. He returned to his claim in 1787, and remained here until his death, a period of more than sixty years. He left several children, of whom but one, Justus, stayed on the homestead, the others finding homes in western New York.

      James RESSEGNE came from Connecticut about 1789, and married Sarah RUMSEY. Of their children Abram and Isaac alone reached maturity. They established homes on adjoining farms near the center of the town and became prosperous farmers. Abram went to Wisconsin in 1834; Isaac remained in town until his death, March 11, 1864. He was for many years deacon of the Congregational Church. His wife, Mary DEWEY, survived him two years, and the property passed from the family.

      David DAVIS married Martha, daughter of William SPAULDING, and came to Hubbardton about 1785, when their son David was less than a year old. After his death his widow married William HILL and became the mother of Harriet, wife of Justin JENNINGS. The child, David DAVIS, better known as "Major," remained here and in Westhaven until his death on the 17th of January, 1860. His home in Hubbardton was in a "wild glen" on the old turnpike road. He was a wheelwright, and was noted for his ready wit and overflowing good humor.

      Joseph SELLECK, before mentioned, died here December 7, 1836, aged seventy-one years. He left three children, Luman, who went to Illinois in 1842; Huldah, afterwards the wife of Matthew WHITLOCK, and Wealthy, who married Amasa JORDAN.

      Rufus GRISWOLD, a native of Connecticut, came early with his brother Samuel to Orwell, and afterward to Benson. He removed to Hubbardton about 1818, carrying on for a time the business of tanning, but finally settled on a small farm where he died. He died in August, 1882, aged eighty-nine years.

      Frederic DIKEMAN, grandfather of George W. and M. M. DIKEMAN, a sketch of whose lives appears in subsequent pages, was born in Redding, Conn., August 26, 1760. He served in the Revolutionary War, and came from Ballston, N. Y., to Hubbardton in 1796, settling on the farm now owned and occupied by Myron M. DIKEMAN. He was a shoemaker and farmer. He was four times married. Perry, the third child by his first wife, was born in Ballston March 18, 1788. Frederic DIKEMAN died here May 17, 1848.

      William RUMSEY, a native of Connecticut, settled very early on the farm now owned by Albert BRESEE, where he died on the 22d of February, 1836, aged eighty-five years. He had five sons, Walker, Henry, William, Joel and Chauncey S., and two daughters, Betsey and Nancy. Chauncey S. RUMSEY still lives in Castleton. 

      Joseph JENNINGS, from Lanesborough, Mass., settled before 1789 on the well known Jennings place, which remained in the family for more than ninety years. His first wife, Faith, died August 8, 1789, aged thirty-five years. He afterwards married, a member of the SELLECK family. He died in March, 1813, of the epidemic, leaving two sons, Ira and Justin JENNINGS. There were also children by the first wife. Ira JENNINGS married Betsey, daughter of William RUMSEY, and about 1835 went to Michigan. Justin JENNINGS, born January 18, 1793, when he reached his majority found employment with Samuel WALKER, a farmer, merchant and manufacturer of potash. He afterwards boated on the canal, and peddled, finally developing into a drover, and becoming noted as "Captain Tobe," from St. Lawrence to Boston. He thus amassed a princely fortune. Though a Democrat in a Republican town he was elected to the Legislature in 1849 and 1850. On the 16th of June, 1830, he married Harriet HILL (born October 12, 1802), who bore him five sons, as follows: Noble, born April 22, 1831, died July 18, 1869; Andrew J., born July 5, 1834, died November 30, 1846; Joseph, born February 28, 1836; Cyrus, born February 23, 1838, and Sumner, born December 20, 1840, died November 27, 1869. Justin Jennings died March 1, 1873, his; wife having preceded him January 6, 1866. Of his two surviving sons, Cyrus has become the proprietor of the mill at Hortonville, and evinces the same sterling qualities, that brought his father such well-earned success. His wife, Alice A. EDDY, whom he married at Brandon, November 13, 1861, was born in Hubbardton, February 21, 1842. They have four children, as follows: William A., born December 10, 1862 ; Eddy J., born August 18, 1865; Elmer E. born August 8, 1867, and Joseph S., born July 22, 1875.

      The part that Hubbardton took in the early wars has been as fully as possible set forth in this and a previous chapter of this work. The warlike spirit of former days cannot have degenerated greatly, if the following list of enlistments may be accepted as evidence:

      Volunteers for three years credited previous to the call for 300,000 volunteer of October 17, 1863. -- Charles J. BLACKMER, co. H, 5th regt.; Hiram W. BLACKMER, 2d bat.; Marcus EATON, co. B, 2d bat.; Charles A. FAY, James W, GIBBS, co. H, 5th bat.; Edward Z. GOOD, co. C, 9th regt.; Jacob P. HALL, co. C, 11th regt.; John M. HALL, Silas L. HART, co. B, 2d regt.; Allen HOLMAN, Co. C, 11th regt.; Joseph N. HOWARD, 2d bat.; Isaac Newton PERRY, co. H, 5th regt.; Ezekiel H. ST. JOHN, co. B, 2d regt.; Warren B. VARNEY, 7th regt.

      Credits under call of October 17, 1863, for 300,000 volunteers, and subsequent calls. Volunteers for three years. -- Barton BLACKMER, Charles J. BLACKMER, Franklin BLACKMER, Harrison CONGER, 2d bat.; Patrick DOWNEY, co, H, 7th regt.; John HOWARD, 2d bat.; Albert LEE, Charles K. ROOT, co. I, 17 th regt.; Fenimore H. SHEPARD, Harvey SHEPARD, co. A, 7th regt.; John M. THOMAS, co. A, 5th regt.

      Volunteers for one year. -- Edward BIRD, 5th regt,; Henry E. VARNEY, Warren B. VARNEY, 2d bat.

      Volunteer re-enlisted. -- Joseph H. HOWARD, 2d bat.

      Enrolled men who furnished substitutes. -- David BARBER, Henry G. BARBER, Francis C. GAULT.

      Volunteers for nine months. -- John P. BARBER, co. F, 14th regt.; Lewis N. CRANE, co. D, 14th regt.; Albert B. HALL, Daniel HOLMES, Nathaniel A. KILBORN, Charles H. MANLEY, James MORGAN, James D. PERKINS, Stillman D. PERKINS, William A. PERRY, Charles K. ROOT, Duane SMITH, co. F, 14th regt.; Charles C. WESTCOTT, co. G, 12th regt.

      Furnished under draft. -- Paid commutation, William BALIS, Chandler GIBBS, Sumner JENNINGS, Charles R. JONES, Samuel W. ST. JOHN. Procured substitute, Zimri H. HOWARD.

      The following figures, taken from the United States census reports, indicate the growth and decline in population of the town : 1791, 404 ; 1800, 641; 1810, 724; 1820, 810; 1830, 865; 1840, 719; 1850, 701; 1860, 606; 1870, 606; 1880, 533.

      Following are the present officers of the town : Clerk and treasurer, S. M. DIKEMAN; school directors (town system), R. C. ALLISON, A. L. HILL, Allen ST. JOHN; selectmen, H. W. PHILLIPS, D. P. NARAMORE, Timothy PARSONS; overseer poor, Seneca ROOT; constable and collector, E. C. ROACH; listers, E. C. ROACH,T. E. WALSH, S. W. ST. JOHN; auditors, Albert BRESEE, William WALSH, F. C. GAULT; trustee surplus revenue, Cyrus JENNINGS; fence viewers, Chester ROACH, John B. BARBER, H. H. PETTY; grand juror, J. P. GIDDINGS; inspector of leather, William BANSIER; agent to prosecute and defend, E. J. GANSON; superintendent of schools, R. C. ALLISON.

      Ecclesiastical. -- Until December, 1787, religious services were held in the old schoolhouse. At that time the people built a log meeting-house at what is now East Hubbardton, which was of rude and primitive construction. This was the first church in town. In 1800 another building, known as the Hubbardton Baptist Church, was erected, and Elder Nathan DANA was chosen by the society as pastor. At its organization the church had twelve members; now it has twenty-five or thirty. The pastor is Rev. Chauncey BAKER. 

      The Congregational Church of Hubbardton was organized by Rev. Eleazer HARWOOD in November, 1784. There were then but eleven members, and Rev. Ithamer HIBBARD, who is mentioned in the history of Poultney, was the first settled pastor. The first house of worship was erected in 1818, followed in 1838 by the present edifice, which will seat 200 persons. The present pastor, Rev. R. C. ALLISON, has officiated here about three years.

Hortonville

      Hortonville is a small business center, and the only pretense of a village in the town. Its mills are a great convenience to the surrounding,, country; the water privilege is of the best, and was once more utilized than now. Of its first inhabitants, it is almost impossible to find any trace. The first mills were built some time toward the close of the last century by Ithamer GREGORY. He came to Hubbardton in 1784, and on the first organization of the militia, in 1785, was chosen captain. Besides his property in the village, he bought a considerable tract of land beyond the pond, once known by his name. Of this last there is a deed on record from him to Gideon HORTON dated 1805. His title to the rest being involved in law, it partly, by direct purchase and some adroit management, passed into the hands of said HORTON, the result of which was a suit at law instituted by GREGORY against him. We now lose sight of GREGORY altogether. He was a resolute, quiet, peaceful man. Upon one occasion the people around the pond, aggrieved at the height of water raised by his dam, came as a mob to destroy it. Placing himself between them and the object of their wrath, he said, "Let us leave the matter in dispute to arbitrators," to which they assented, and the matter was settled to the relief of both parties by lowering it a little. The level of the pond was once much higher than now, as a man now living is said to have speared fish off a bridge in the road leading from Hortonville to Brandon.

      Major Gideon HORTON, who now owned the entire water privilege as well as the land around, came with his father and grandfather from Colebrook, Conn., to Brandon in 1783. Gideon HORTON, sen., and his son Hiram, were prominent in the early history of the town, where Gideon, jr., remained until 1808, when he came to Hubbardton, to which place, it would seem, he had been some time preparing the way. His house was east of the present residence of Henry ARNOLD, which, being burned, he fitted up the last named, which he had used as a store and dwelling, he carrying on the business of a merchant in addition to his other occupations. What is remembered as the old red store was built by himself or son. He is said to have built the present grist-mill and saw-mill, soon after his coming to the place. He was a man of much public spirit, of whom some odd stories are told ; the head of a numerous family of sons and daughters. As a whole they were aristocratic in their tastes and habits, of dignified and courteous demeanor and gentlemanly bearing, and from them the place received much of its religious and social character. He died October 2, 1842, aged seventy-three. His wife was Thyrza FARRINGTON, of Brandon. His mother was of the DOUGLAS family, a member of which, a brother, settled in that town and became the grandfather of Stephen A. DOUGLAS, United States Senator from Illinois.

      Of his four sons, Jewett, the second, was for some time engaged in trade, and a short time before his going to Sudbury was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Jefferson GOODRICH. They both removed to Sudbury and bought farms about the year 1835, where he remained until a little before the year 1860, when, his wife dying, he spent the remainder of his life with his sons, and died in Orwell in 1871, aged seventy-nine.

      Daniel, the first, in his earlier life settled in the place and carried on the business of a clothier and wool-carder, and is supposed to have erected the building which stood above the old tannery, used for the business; or it may have been built by his father. He built and occupied the house now the residence of Horace KNAPP. He also was a respectable farmer, and during his stay in the place enjoyed the esteem and respect of his townsmen, and was very liberal in his contributions to the church. His family of four daughters were married and settled before the death of his wife in 1848, and one was dead. After that event, in the spring of 1840, he removed to Sheldon and spent the remainder of his days with Harriet, his youngest child. He died June 18, 1863, aged seventy-seven.

      Charles W., the third son, studied medicine and settled in Sudbury, where he practiced successfully many years. He removed to Brattleboro about 1855 (having previously buried a son and daughter, his only children), where he lived a lonely and desolate man. He was much esteemed by his fellow citizens, and died at Brattleboro in 1875, aged seventy-five.

      Rollin Van Ransom, the fourth son, upon the death of his father was in the possession of the mill property, the homestead and considerable other real estate, and was entitled by his position and character to stand among the foremost citizens of the county. He gave much of his time and attention to sheep husbandry and was looked upon as a prosperous man. He had been married for some years to Mary HYDE, of Sudbury, an estimable woman, and sons and daughters were born to them, youths and maidens; when suddenly all was changed. He had for some years felt well after being a little dry, just a little, while at last his appetite overcame the powers of resistance, and the spirit of his father, which had for ten years slept quietly beneath its tombstone, seemed to rise from its grave.

      It was in the winter of 1852-53; one SARTWELL, who had been for many years employed in the grist-mill, proposed to leave. He was a plain, honest, simple a man, had accumulated a few hundred dollars, and, I believe, he was HORTON's creditor. The mill had fallen somewhat out of repair. There was a long unsettled account, loosely kept, and some other causes of difficulty raked up; part of which were left out to three referees, who, strangely enough, adjudged to HORTON a considerable sum for damages done by the miller to his business.

      By submitting to this decision the miller supposed the matter to be settled, when other claims were presented, which, if allowed, would have sent him penniless away. Until now HORTON had had things pretty much his own way, when the affair came to the ears of the neighbors, who began to bestir themselves, and meeting together waited upon the parties to inquire into the matter. They found the miller dazed and dumbfounded; his wife, who was never seen beyond her gate, on her bed with distraction. They then waited upon HORTON and denounced his conduct and the action of the referees in no measured terms. The miller found friends, and writs were issued on both sides. An expensive law suit followed, which lasted for some years, but terminated in the miller's favor. SARTWELL removed to Hydeville, where he died soon after the close of the war. HORTON, finding the matter becoming serious, mortgaged his homestead for $2,000 and sold the grist-mill to Samuel RUSSELL, of Crown Point, and the remainder of his property, in detached portions, long afterwards, upon which he is supposed to have realized but a moiety of its value, and never much at any one time. He returned from Illinois after some years and went to Sudbury, a poor man. There his wife died in 1862, aged fifty-two years.

      The two younger of his four children remained with him, and they supported themselves by “taking farms " for a time, when, his younger daughter marrying, he was left alone. Hyde, a youth of eighteen years when the family removed, never returned, and was murdered by Indians while herding cattle in the far West. The father, who had long since given up his intemperate habits, was now a stricken and desolate man. The tongue of censure was silenced by the recollection of his past condition in the presence of his ineffable calamity. He spent a few years among his relatives in the vicinity, and during the last nine years of his life found an asylum with a respectable widow, in the management of whose estate he showed considerable care and judgment. He died near the place of his former abode February 10, 1883, aged seventy-two years. His children were far away, and of the crowd of mourners who followed his parents to their graves, but two were present. Such was the end of Rollin Van Ransom.

      In addition to Major HORTON, among those who, beside taking a prominent part in the general affairs of the place in their day and generation, further served their country and perpetuated their names by raising large families, were Jason KINGSLEY, and last but not least, Captain Reuben WEBB. The birthplace of the first is not known. In the twenty fourth year of his age he married Parnel ABEL, of Bennington, August 2, 1879. I think I have been told that he came first to Hubbardton and then removed to Orwell. He came from Sudbury to Hortonville. He is said to have been a man of rare ability, and was always spoken of as old Squire KINGSLEY, whose business as justice of the peace was large if not lucrative. Said one of his neighbors, " Had he pointed his feet that way, he would have been made judge of the court." Before coming to Hubbardton he had evidently seen better days. Said Mrs. W. P, Hyde, "The friends and relatives who came to visit him appeared to be people of high standing."But she knew not whence they came. He injured his prospects in life by indulging in the social habits of those days. On coming to Hortonville, he, with his son Asahel, carried on the business of wagon-making for some years. His house was the old brown one that stood between the dwelling of Cyrus JENNINGS and Horace KNAPP. His shop was where the blacksmith shop now is. The last glimpse we have of him is in an old diary, June 16, 1835. "Poor old Squire KINGSLEY and wife go West to visit their children. His wife had a bad cough." They never returned. She died in 1837, of smallpox. He lived a few years longer and died near Rochester, N. Y.  Of his children there must have been half a score, most of whom settled in western New York before my recollection. The youngest daughter was Mrs. Thomas CUTTS, of Orwell. Another daughter married Timothy LAMPLIER and died in Westhaven. Two of his sons, Orrin and Asahel, remained in the place for some years. Orrin lived in a house standing on the site of Cyrus JENNINGS'S residence. He was a shoemaker, a busy, fussy little man, much given to traffic. He finally left the place in 1847, lived in different places in the vicinity until 1853, when he removed to a farm in Kingsbury, N. Y., where he died in 1863, aged sixty-two. Asahel remained until 1839, when he bought part of the Ethan P. EDDY farm of R. St. John, lived there twelve years, removed to Salisbury in 1852, where he died in 1881 aged eighty-two years. His name was usually mixed up in church matters.

      Captain Reuben WEBB, the village blacksmith, was born in Norwich, Conn., in 1780, from which place, at the age of fourteen, he, with a young man known as Dr. BURKE, came to Vermont. The pair traveled alone in winter, their possessions on an ox sled, and first stopped in Orwell at a place called Abel's Corners. BURKE often taught school and, many years after, the writer's father was one of his pupils. He settled in Benson where he lived to an old age. WEBB remained in the vicinity for some years and married before settling in the village. He was a powerful and muscular man, very self-contained, shrewd and wily. He was the husband of four wives and survived them all. The first, Taphner PETERS, he married in 1800. At what time he came to the village I do not know. On coming there he first lived in a log house that stood south of the store, and afterwards built the dwelling now occupied by Hiram LINSLEY, where for a time he kept a tavern. He built the stone blacksmith and trip. hammer shop in 1824; there he labored at his forge and anvil with little intermission until past his three-score and ten, when age and infirmity compelled him to desist. In 1847 he built the dwelling-house now the residence of Cyrus JENNINGS, which he sold or gave to his son Adin, as well as the business of the shop. He then set up a small grocery, and in an evil hour accepted a license from the selectmen to sell distilled liquors according to the law of that time, 1851, which he used with little discretion. Soon after, the present prohibitory law went into force, viewed by the minority as an act of bigotry to be enforced by a spirit of inquisitorial tyranny. Captain WEBB, two or three years after, having some business misunderstanding with one ORSKINS, the latter, to make himself even, entered a complaint against him in the winter of 1855-56. The grand juror was a new man, burning to distinguish himself, who received it with delight, and the weak and infirm old man was hauled before a justice court, with a crowd of witnesses more or less respectable, who claimed to know nothing about the matter, save one. He plead guilty to several offenses and was fined with costs, which he was ill able to pay. How far he was technically guilty we do not know, but by the more respectable part of the community, the affair was looked upon as an outrage. The old man, who had probably yielded a few times to the importunities of those whom he had previously looked upon as friends and neighbors, felt himself struck below the belt and insulted. The associations of the place seemed unpleasant, and in the course of a year he removed to Benson, where he spent seven years of his second childhood. In 1863 he was removed to Stockholm, N. Y., where he died three years later, aged eighty-six years and six months. He for many years kept a diary of the events transpiring in his own town and vicinity in a most neat and accurate manner, a complete history of the community. Of several children, but one settled in Vermont. Roswell, one of the eldest, studied medicine and practiced successfully in northern New York. He returned to Hortonville t with his family and died soon after (June 2, 1846) aged forty-three. The departure of Captain WEBB may be said to have completed the history of what was once known as the "old kingdom," for what reason I know not, perhaps from the varied spiritual influences that may have permeated the heights and depths of its religious and social state.

      It was sometimes remarked in my boyhood by some of the knowing ones that if the HORTONS would leave, capital and enterprise would pour in and develop the latent resources of the place, but the reverse happened, and a sort of depression settled down on the little community until the past, compared with the present, seemed a golden age. New men, however, came, some with the intention of staying for a while, getting what they could and going away, in which last, fortunately, for themselves, they were successful. But I anticipate some years. In 1838 Norman EDDY came into the place, married, and afterwards permanently settled there. In company with a Mr. HOFFMAN he engaged in the manufacture of leather and shoe-making, which he soon after carried on alone. His wife dying in 1851, the following year he removed to Brandon, sold his house and shop to R. W. BROWN, and his tannery to a Mr. CRONE. By them the two branches of, his business until recently were carried on, but are not likely to be resumed. In 1855 the Daniel HORTON farm was bought by Archibald GIBBS of Benson for $4,000. It was next sold to Horace KNAPP in 1883.

      In 1856 a lumber lot belonging to R. V. R. HORTON was sold to Amos DOUGLAS for $4,000, who also, I believe, bought the saw-mill. The property returned into HORTON's possession after having been denuded of much valuable timber.

      In 1871 the saw-mill was sold to Edward HALL, who immediately erected the present mill. After his death in 1873 it was purchased by Henry WILSON. The grist-mill was bought by Henry WILSON in 1866, who improved it to a considerable extent. He died in 1875, and in 1880 the two mills were bought by Cyrus JENNINGS for $6,000. By him the property has been greatly improved.

      Of merchants there have been a score beside the HORTONs. Before my recollection there was a store kept under the sign of BENSON & RAY, which I have seen. After J. HORTON removed to Sudbury a store was kept open by three men in the order named, BAKER, CASE and ABBOTT. The store was closed in 1841, and re-opened in the fall of 1844 by two young men, Horace SPENCER and Mason BURR. In 1848, BURR having gone out, a partnership was formed between Horace SPENCER and Gilbert GREGORY. Some real estate was purchased, and in 1849 the present store was built and well stocked. In 1850 they seemed to be doing a good business, when in the summer, to the confusion of their creditors, an assignment was made of their goods, which were sold at public auction. A store or shop was kept open by different parties, when in 1856 Noble JENNINGS commenced trading here, and established a post-office. On his going away he was followed by his two brothers successively, when in 1867 Sumner JENNINGS sold the store building to Wilber Kellogg, of Benson, who invested a considerable part of his patrimony in trade, but in 1870 he closed out his business at public auction. His successor was closed out five years later. The present merchant, D. P. NARAMORE, who has remained some nine years, seems to hold and add to his own.

      In 1845 a partnership was entered into between James P. MORGAN and Harvey HURLBUT, for the purpose of sawing marble quarried in Sudbury, and a mill was erected, but the expense of transportation rendering the business unprofitable, it was abandoned.

      Religious meetings were kept up at an early day by a small and respectable body of Methodists, supplied by ministers from the Troy Conference. The last of these was Rev. William BEDELL, who closed his labors in 1849. The Baptists then undertook to support meetings for a few years, but they were not congenial to the spirit of the place and were in turn supplanted by the Universalists, and for the last twenty years or more it has been left as an abandoned field.

History of Rutland County Vermont With Illustrations And Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men And Pioneers
Edited by H. Y. Smith & W. S. Rann
Syracuse, N. Y.
D. Mason & Co., Publishers  1886
Chapter XXVII..
History Of The Town Of Hubbardton
(pages  616- 630)

Transcribed by Karima ~ 2002

Childs' Gazetteer of the Town of Hubbardton, Rutland County, VT., 1881-82

Childs' Business Directory of the Town of Hubbardton, Rutland County, VT., 1881-82

Hubbardton, Vermont ~ from Wikipedia

Hubbardton, Rutland Co., VT ~ A Short History

Hubbardton Historical Society

Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site