CHAPTER XXXIV.
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF VERGENNES.
FOR many years Vergennes has been waiting to see her history in print, and the question has often been asked, Why is not the history of Vergennes written? Most of the towns about us have one, but not Vergennes. Even the indefatigable Miss Hemenway failed to procure one. Any one who has attempted to gather up any fragments of her history knows that the answers to this question are numerous. The territory of Vergennes had been inhabited by white men twenty-two years before she had a corporate existence. A fraction of three towns, her records were not her own, and the records of Ferrisburgh, which gave her the largest territory of any of the three, were burned in October, 1785. The men who made the history of Vergennes had no leisure or inclination to write out for posterity the description of the scenes and events that transpired here. The population of Vergennes has been so changeable that tradition cannot do much for us, and only by the most patient searching of the few records left can we form an idea of her condition in the past, of her business interests, or the character of her people; even the names of the men who did most for the founding and settlement of our city are passing out of the memory of the present generation. To recall some of those names and some of the scenes in which they were actors is the most that we can do now; and we only repeat that we cannot present a picture of their daily life in their business and social relations.
It should be remembered that the history of Vergennes must be different from that of a farming town. A different class of people located here. Their pursuits and avocations were different. With only 1200 acres in her territory, the farming interest within her limits was of small moment. Those who expected to live by farming settled elsewhere. Manufacturers, merchants, and professional men, with such mechanics and laborers as were needed, composed her population. Of course, when the numerous ready-made tools, building materials, vehicles, clothing, and other conveniences now found in our stores had to be made by hand in mechanics' shops, a large number of mechanics were needed; but as a class they have left but little record of their doings or of their families.
The records of real estate conveyances and of town officers elected, with very slight traditional recollections, form the only basis for a statement of incidents and events in the forgotten past. A complete history of Vergennes can never be given, because much of it is lost beyond recall. A few disconnected facts may be gleaned, but their narration must read something like a chronological table or a page in the dictionary.
During the French War, from 1755 to '60, many, soldiers and scouting par-
ties passed from the older New England States to and from Canada. There were two routes, one up the Connecticut River and thence to Lake Memphramagog; the other in the vicinity of Vergennes. To cross Otter Creek, over which there were no bridges or ferries, made it desirable to find a place where they could ford the stream, and doubtless some kind of a trail leading to the fords was known to them, or the bearings from the mountains enabled them to find their way through an unbroken forest of a dense and heavy growth, with neither red man nor white man found to break this awful solitude of nature. Noah Porter, grandfather of George W. Porter, of Ferrisburgh, once said that he crossed Otter Creek, in one of those years, with a scouting party on the rocks at the head of the falls (the deep channels have since been blasted out), and he and his party were so impressed with the wild and chaotic features of the scene that they spent some time in viewing the falls. He said the west channel appeared very small and was so filled with floodwood you would hardly notice there was any channel there ; that there were several beaver houses built on the floodwood.
The reports of soldiers aroused the love of adventure incident to pioneer life, and an excitement was manifested in Connecticut and Massachusetts and on the banks of the lower Hudson, to secure an interest in the cheap lands and rich hunting grounds of the northern wilderness. In 1761 sixty towns were chartered in Vermont. New Haven's charter bore date November 2, 1761; Panton, November 3, 1761, and Ferrisburgh, June 25, 1762. These are the three towns from which Vergennes was taken. New Haven and Panton were chartered to citizens of Litchfield county, Conn., and Ferrisburgh to men of Dutchess county, N. Y.
In 1762 Deacon Ebenezer Frisbie, of Sharon, Conn., assisted by John Clothier, Isaac Peck, and Abram Jackson, surveyed the lines of the town of Panton. Beginning at a walnut tree on the bank of Otter Creek (about two rods above the west end of the bridge over Otter Creek) and running due west to the lake; thence six miles south; thence seven miles east; thence down Otter Creek to the place of beginning. They were paid for fifty-three days' service.
This first surveying party that was ever in Vergennes found that the distance to the lake was less than seven miles; and it also appears that the north line run by them was about eighteen rods south of the south line of Ferrisburgh, leaving a strip between the two towns not covered by any charter.
In October, 1788, the Legislature of Vermont granted to Whitelaw, Savage, and Coit the three islands near the falls, as land not heretofore chartered. By agreement the line between Panton and Ferrisburgh was fixed to run from the corner of New Haven just above the east end of the bridge, and a broken cannon was placed in a cleft in the rocks to mark the spot, and is there now, although buried out of sight.
In running six miles south they covered a large tract claimed by Addison, and, as Addison's charter ante-dated Panton's, after a long controversy it was settled by compromise, Addison holding the territory claimed. Probably nothing was done in 1763 toward settlement. Ferrisburgh was also surveyed in 1762 by Benjamin Ferriss and David Ferriss, but no settlement effected.
It appears from the proprietors' records of Panton that in 1764 James Nichols, Griswold Barnes, David Vallance, Timothy Harris, Joseph Wood, Captain Samuel Elmore, William Patterson, Eliphalet Smith, Zadock Everest, Amos Chipman, Samuel Chipman, etc., to the number of fifteen, did go to Panton and do some work on fifteen rights.
The statement in Swift's History of Middlebury gives from tradition the following version, fixing the date two years later than the record. He says that "Fifteen young men from Salisbury, Connecticut, and adjoining towns, started for a home in this region, with some tools and effects in a cart drawn by oxen. They followed Otter Creek from its source to Sutherland Falls, cutting a way for their cart as best they could. They found no house north of Manchester. At Sutherland's Falls they dug out a large canoe and put in it their freight, and some of them as rowers started with it, towing their cart behind the canoe. The rest of the party, with the oxen, went on by land. John Chipman stopped at Middlebury; the others came on, drawing their canoe with their oxen around all the falls. Some of the party stopped to prepare a place for permanent settlement in New Haven above the falls, the others went on and settled on the lake shore. They all returned to Connecticut in the fall.
"The charter required that five acres should be cleared and a house built not less than eighteen feet square on each right within five years from date of charter; but this was not accomplished. In accordance with a contract made with the proprietors, Isaac Peck, Jeremiah Griswold, and Daniel Barnes began to build a saw-mill at the falls in the fall of 1764, but did not complete it that year. In December, 1765, a bargain was made with Joseph Pangborn to build a good grist-mill at the falls, to do good service by the first of May, 1767, for which he was to have a water power and fifty acres of land adjoining, and the mill when built. It is uncertain whether this mill was built by him, for in the summer of 1766 Colonel Reid took possession forcibly of all the property about the falls, claiming under a New York grant all the land on Otter Creek, three miles wide from the mouth to Sutherland's Falls. An entry in the Panton records makes it certain that Reid came in 1766, for at a meeting on the third Tuesday in November, 1766, they recite that Colonel Reid had taken possession of the mill at the falls which they had built.
"In 1769 the proprietors of Panton revoked the grant of a mill lot and water power to the men who built the saw-mill, because they had not completed it by the time agreed, and had allowed Colonel Reid to wrest it from their possession. In Slade's State Papers, pages 30, 31, and 33, in the copy of
Governor Tryon's letter, and answer of committee to same, signed by Ethan Allen, clerk for said committee, and dated August 25, 1772, it appears that 'more than three years previous Colonel Reid took possession of the saw-mill, one hundred and thirty sawlogs, and fourteen thousand feet of pine boards, and did at that same time extend his force, terrors and threats into the town of New Haven, and so terrified the inhabitants (about twelve in number), that they left their possessions and farms to the conquerors, and escaped with the skin of their teeth.' The committee's letter also states that 'not long after, the original proprietors of said mill did re-enter and take possession thereof, but was a second time attacked by Colonel Reid's stewart with a number of armed men . . . and obliged to quit the premises again,' and the letter admits that not long previous to the date of the letter, a small party did dispossess Colonel Reid of the saw-mill, which seems to have ended the controversy."
The romance and embellishment of this affair, which may be true, is more interesting than the naked facts. It is said that Colonel Reid came here with a few men -- Donald McIntosh, a native of Scotland, who was in the battle of Culloden, being foreman -- and took possession of the mill; entered the house of Joshua Hyde, a settler in New Haven, just above the falls, and took him prisoner, and crossed the creek; on landing he managed to escape and recross in the boat of his captors, and disappeared; that some friends of Hyde negotiated with Reid, who paid for Hyde's crops, etc., and Hyde gave him no further trouble at that time. After a few years Ethan Allen and a party of Addison and Panton settlers visited the falls and routed Reid's men and put Pangborn in possession. That about one year later Ira Allen was passing from his settlement on Onion River to Bennington, and reaching the falls on a stormy evening, he thought to stay with his old friend Pangborn. On knocking at his cabin door he was met by a stranger with a drawn sword and threatening attitude, who, after some parleying and explanations, admitted Allen and gave him a night's lodging. Allen learned that Colonel Reid had previously come on with a dozen Scotch immigrants, who had been led to believe it to be a military movement, and they kept up the regulations of a military camp, after driving off Pangborn and his associates. In the morning Allen pursued his way to Bennington, but about ten days afterward he, with one hundred men, appeared to the Scotchmen at the falls, who found resistance to be useless and were secured while the company under Allen's direction burned every hut that Reid had built; destroyed the grist-mill built by him, and broke the millstones and threw them in pieces into the river. Allen then explained to Reid's men how they had been deceived, and most of them left and settled in the valley of the Mohawk. Donald McIntosh and John Cameron remained. Joshua Hyde, who had been driven from his farm by Reid, was with Allen's men, and doubtless enjoyed the adventure. He had sold his farm, however,
and settled in Middlebury.[note 1] In a petition to Governor Tryon by the adherents of New York in 1772 it is said that there were about fifteen families on Colonel Reid's tract.
Nothing more is found of record in regard to the falls until July 9, 1776, when Joseph Pangborn deeded to David Remington the fifty acres given him by the proprietors of Panton. David Remington was afterward convicted of Toryism and his property taken to the use of the State, and sold by the commissioner of confiscation to Gideon Spencer and others. Spencer became the sole owner in 1786, the consideration in the deed being £500-$1,666.
In 1777 many inhabitants left their homes upon hearing that Burgoyne was coming up the lake and the Indians and Tories of his army were making plundering excursions all along the lake shore, and when Carleton came with his army in 1788 nearly every settler abandoned his farm and business, and the families scattered, some to Pittsford and the southern towns of Vermont, and others went back to the towns in Connecticut and Massachusetts from which they had emigrated to Vermont.
The Council of Safety sitting at Bennington on the 6th of March, 1778, issued a letter of instructions to Captain Ebenezer Allen [note 2] to raise a sufficient number of men and proceed to New Haven Fort, where he was to take post and send out scouts to reconnoitre the woods to watch the movements of the enemy and report them to this council or the officer commanding the Northern Department (probably at Rutland). They say, "as there are some few inhabitants north of the fort, should you judge them to be disaffected to the interest of the United States of America, you will confine him or them and secure his or their estate for the use of this State until such person or persons may be tried by a Committee of Safety next adjacent to the offender, etc."
Under date of March 19, 1778, a letter of Governor and Council, ratified by General Assembly, to Captain Thomas Sawyer, at Shelburne, congratulates him on his victory, laments the loss of Lieutenant Barnum and men, [note 3] and says: "Viewing your dangerous and remote situation, the difficulty in reinforcing and supplying you, do therefore direct you to retreat to the blockhouse in New Haven. Bring with you the friendly inhabitants. You are not to destroy any building, wheat or the effects. You will remain at said blockhouse until relieved by Captain Ebenezer Allen or Captain Isaac Clark."
A letter to these captains directs them to repair to his relief without loss of time; to assist the inhabitants, and, if possible, to secure the wheat at Shelburne, and such other effects as in their power, but not to burn any buildings or other effects.
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[note 1] It is stated that at this time Allen built a block-house fort near the falls; the exact location is unknown. It is certain a fort was built previous to 1778 and called New Haven Fort.
[note 2] See Governor and Council, Vol. 1, p. 228.
[note 3] Lieutenant Barnabas Barnum, of Monkton, who was surprised by a party of Indians and British soldiers, and killed.
On May 22 following, Governor Chittenden writes to Captain Brownson that David Bradley, in behalf of the inhabitants of New Haven and Ferrisburgh, applies to this Council for liberty for their inhabitants to remain in their possessions at present, as by reason of the situation of some of the women it was impracticable for them to remove. He was directed to allow such indulgence as necessity required.
In March, 1779, the line of the northern frontier was established at the north line of Castleton and the west and north lines of Pittsford, and all the inhabitants north of said line were directed and ordered to immediately move with their families and effects within said lines, and that the women and children go even farther south, and the men work on their farms in "collective bodies with their arms."
It is generally supposed that no inhabitants remained in the territory that is now Vergennes, from the fall of 1778 till peace was declared in 1783, when they began to return to their farms.
It was probably in the fall of 1778 that Eli Roburds and his son Durand were taken prisoners and carried from their farm (lying between G. F. O. Kimball's and Willard Bristol's, and extending back to the Beaver Meadow) by a band of Indians, Tories, and British soldiers, and imprisoned for three years or more. It is said that they were exchanged; that while prisoners they were sent under guard to labor, but that Eli refused to work for the British, and was so free in his remarks on the subject that he was not allowed to leave as soon as his son.
Writers have pictured the sufferings of the prisoners thus taken from their peaceful homes to endure the hardships of a British prison; but we should not forget the sad condition of their wives and small children, helplessly witnessing their husbands and elder sons forced away from them, while their houses were burning and everything they had that was of value being carried off by the plunderers. A more pitiful sight, indeed, it must have been to see those stricken mothers carrying their infants and leading other children, with scat clothing or food, through the woods on foot, to the southern towns in Vermont! Knowing how dark the future and how sad the present, their courage and fortitude seem almost without a parallel in history.
After a few more years of war and suffering, the struggles of a people few in numbers and weak in resources, against the power and wealth of Great Britain, brought triumph and peace, a result that can be explained by only one word--Providence. With returning peace the attention of the people was again turned to their personal interests; and as the obstacles to the settlement of their forsaken farms were removed they began, in 1783, to return to the new settlements.
In May, 1783, the Panton proprietors met at the inn of Captain Willard, in Pawlet, and, among other things, voted "to sequester ten acres of land, togeth-
er with the privilege of the falls on Otter Creek, for mill building, to John Strong, lying at the northeast corner of Panton, on condition said Strong build a good saw-mill at the above mentioned place by the 20 of November, 1783, and a good grist-mill by the 20 of August, 1784, that shall run at the times above mentioned," etc. Evidently the old mills had been destroyed at this time. Spencer's lot (that was formerly given to Pangborn) of fifty acres and Strong's ten acres had not been marked out, and in 1786 it was arranged between them, Spencer taking the west part up to within seven rods five links of the bridge, and Strong taking his ten acres above that point.
In March, 1784, Asa Strong, eldest son of John Strong, of Addison, Beebe Pangborn, and Elkanah Brush lived near the falls on the west side. Asa Strong's house was where the south end of the Shade Roller Company's dry house is. In this year it is said that Gideon Spencer, then living in Bennington, built a saw-mill, and in 1785 built a grist-mill near the middle of the channel, between the island and the west shore. All above the mill, up to the landing above the Shade Roller Company's factory, was filled with floodwood, a
part of which they had to cut out to get water for the mill. In the summer of 1784 some fourteen families settled in Willsboro, N. Y., on the patent of Wm. Gilliland, and got the lumber for the buildings at Vergennes. Donald Mclntosh, who had been in Canada through the war, returned to his farm on Comfort Hill about this time.
In October of this year Ethan Allen, of Bennington, deeds to Alexander and William Brush, of New Haven, six acres of the governor's lot of five hundred acres, in the northwest corner of New Haven, of which Allen had become the owner. Judge Roberts's present home is near the corner of the six acres.
In 1785, while New Haven retained all her territory extending to the head of the falls, the Legislature imposed a tax on New Haven to build one-half of the bridge over Otter Creek at the head of the falls, and the next spring the proprietors of New Haven, in public meeting called for that purpose--
Ist, Chose Luther Everts moderator;
2d, Voted that there be a tax of one penny on each acre of land in New Haven, for the purpose of building a bridge across Otter Creek near the falls;
3d, Chose Andrew Barton collector;
4th, Luther Everts, treasurer;
5th, Eli Roburds and William Brush a committee to oversee the building of bridge aforementioned;
6th, Chose Bezaliel Rudd, William Eno, and Robert Wood committee of inspection;
7th, Voted every common laborer should have four shillings and six pence per day, and a yoke of oxen, 2 shillings 6 pence;
8th, Voted the Committee purchase a Barrel of Rum, and more if needed for the business;
9th, Voted that every man have 1/2 pint of Rum per day;
10th, Voted, that the Committee purchase a Grindstone for the benefit of the workmen.
1785.--Ethan Allen deeds to Widow Ruth Brush seven acres from the northwest corner of the governor's lot, running from the bridge in the direction of the present plank road (so called) and then to the creek.
In October of this year the Legislature passed an act establishing the county of Addison from Rutland county to the Canada line, which boundaries were changed to nearly the present limits when Chittenden county was organized, in 1787. County officers were appointed in 1785 for Addison county, William Brush being one of the judges.
Timothy Rogers, of Danby, Vt., a large landholder, came into this vicinity this year. He moved in October from Button Bay to near Barnum's Falls, on Little Otter Creek. He was proprietors' clerk of Ferrisburgh; at the time of removing, the records of Ferrisburgh were burned. He said that he landed from his boat at the foot of the falls on a rainy evening and attempted to build a fire that they might light torches to guide the women and children to his house, but the rain put out the fire, as they supposed. He carried his goods out of the boat and left them on the shore for the night. In the morning his men told him, what proved too true, that the fire had not been put out, but had revived and spread, and burned some of his effects--among them a chest of drawers in which were all the records and public papers, as well as his private deeds for about 6,000 acres of land, and notes and bonds for about $2,000.
On the 30th of May in this year Ethan Allen was in New York city, and conversed with the French consul about a city that was to be incorporated about the falls. This was more than three years before the date of the charter, and is the earliest allusion to the project. At that time there could not have been twenty families on the territory.
1786.--Gideon Spencer, of Bennington, who had already built mills on the falls, moved to Vergennes and became identified with the interests of the place, and an active and successful operator. The records show that he was engaged in building and running mills and iron works, buying and selling water power, and timber, and farming lands. He was evidently a far-seeing and sagacious man. Unfortunately for Vergennes, he encumbered most of the water power on the west side of the creek with a long lease, which is still in force. He had several sons, who became men of property and influence in the vicinity. His son Gideon, jr., lived on the farm and built the brick house afterward owned by Samuel P. Strong, and then by Samuel P. Hopkins. Soon after he came to Vergennes he built a large gambrel-roofed house on the east corner of Andrew Crady's present house lot, and kept a tavern. A fine spring of water in the street in front of his house supplied the neighborhood, until the supply was cut off by digging wells and cellars in the vicinity.
In December of this year the town plot of Ferrisburgh was surveyed by
Timothy Rogers, surveyor, and a committee appointed for the purpose, consisting of Abel Thompson, Gideon Spencer, Wm. Utley, and Wm. Haight. They surveyed lots enough in the most desirable locations to give one to each proprietor, five rods by six rods; then a second division of the same number of the next most desirable lots; then all the remainder in a third division. The "green" and public lots were designated, and the principal streets. There was a small triangular piece above and near the bridge which they called the "handkerchief lot," " for a gift of s'd Proprietors to any man that will settle and continue the malting business on s'd lot two years, to the advantage of himself and the public." Major Wm. Goodrich accepted it and afterwards deeded it with the stills, worms, tubs, etc.
The first session of Addison County Court was held in March of this year, in Addison; John Strong, chief judge; Ira Allen, Gamaliel Painter, Wm. Brush, and Amos Fassett, assistant judges. Samuel Chipman, then living near the falls, was appointed county clerk. He was the first lawyer that settled in Addison county, and remained in Vergennes about eighteen years, with fair success as a lawyer; but his forte seems to have been speculating in real estate. He declined serving as clerk after one year, and Roswell Hopkins (grandfather of our present Dr. Hopkins) was appointed and held the office sixteen years, all of which time he was a citizen of Vergennes and conspicuous in public affairs in town, county, and State. He was clerk of the House of Representatives from 1779 nine years; he was secretary of State fifteen years, and declined further nomination in 1802, when about to remove from the State. He was one of a committee of distinguished men to revise the laws in 1797. He was a man of fine talent, well educated, and possessed of most agreeable social qualities; he became one of the most popular men in the State.
The following lines, written by him, are found on a blank leaf of a book in the county clerk's office:
He was called " doctor " sometimes. He explains it as " doctor of conviviality." In 1787 he was granted by the State a tract of land, 11,264 acres, in Hopkins's Gore. In 1803 he thought Vergennes was becoming too crowded, and he moved to St. Lawrence county. The town of Hopkinton was named in his honor. In 1789 he bought for a trifle two hundred acres of land (what was lately the American House stands almost in the center of the south line of the lot), and later owned the Botsford farm and occupied a house near the site of Botsford's house.
1787.--In this year several business men came into Vergennes and business was prosperous. The Legislature took some measures to secure reciprocity with Canada, and Ira and Levi Allen were instrumental in procuring the admission of timber, lumber, pot and pearl ashes, and other products free of duty from Lake Champlain, and thus opened the way for a business which assumed large proportions, and was a great boon to all dwellers in this region. Great rafts of spars, square timber hewed in the woods, were taken to Quebec, and much of it there loaded into ships and taken to England. The ships in that trade were constructed with port-holes in the stern, and long timbers were slid from the rafts into the holds of the vessels. The raftsmen lived in houses built on the rafts. Potash was also carried on the rafts.
In January of this year at a town meeting in Panton they voted that "they are not willing to have no part of the town taken off for a city at the northeast corner of the town." In February of this year Wm. Brush resigned his office of assistant judge. Roswell Hopkins was appointed county clerk and Seth Storrs State's attorney.
At the session of the Governor and Council at Bennington, Ethan Allen presents his letters from the French consul relative to the name " Vergennes," and other matters. The plan of forming a city about the falls had become publicly known at this time.
1788--This year was an important era in the history of Vergennes. It is perhaps impossible to give a faithful picture of her situation and business at that time. Several saw-mills and one gristmill were in operation, a small forge on the east side of the creek and some small potash establishments, a brewery, and blacksmith shops. There were a few framed houses, mostly gambrel-roofed, the frames covered with upright planks, nailed with handmade wrought nails and clapboarded, but seldom painted. Most of the dwellings were of logs surrounded by the stumps and small clearings, with the forest in close proximity. One hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventyfive inhabitants were on the territory.
In June of this year Jabez Fitch, a man then fifty-one years old, with two sons, went from Connecticut to Hyde Park, Vt., and passed through Vergennes. In a journal kept by him he writes, under date of June 5, 1788: "A little after sunset we arrived at one Smith's, a little north of Snake Mountain,
where we put up for the night and found comfortable entertainment. We are now within about six or seven miles of New Haven falls. I lodged with one Samson, a Tory, but hope I have not caught the infection. Friday, June 6, we took breakfast before we started and our landlord went with us as far as the falls. We soon came into the town of Panton and traveled about five miles through the woods before we came to a house. At about nine o'clock we arrived at the falls and crossed the creek in a canoe, but our horse and dog were obliged to swim. We made some stop at this city. I was in at Colonel Brush's to leave some letters and at about ten set off on our way again. We soon came into the town of Ferrisburgh and found the road extremely muddy. We called at one Tim Rogers', about noon in hopes to obtain horse-baiting, but were disappointed and were obliged to travel about five or six miles further, most of the way without a house. About two o'clock we arrived at one Cogswell's in Charlotte."
It is not clear why he had to swim his horse and dog; perhaps the bridge built in 1786 was out of repair. There was no post-office in Vergennes at that time and none nearer than Rutland. Before the Congress of the old thirteen States would admit Vermont into the Union, Vermont had in her splendid career as an independent State sovereignty, in March, 1784, appointed a postmaster-general (Anthony Haswell, of Bennington) and established five post-offices--one in Bennington, one in Rutland, one in Brattleboro, one in Windsor, and one in Newbury, and established the rate of postage to be the same as it was in the United States, and provided for post-riders to make weekly trips; and the people congratulated themselves on their liberal mail facilities. The next year after the admission of Vermont into the Union Congress established a post-office in Vergennes on June 1, 1792. On the records of the Governor and Council at Manchester, October 23, 1788, the following entry appears:
" A constitution of the city De Vergennes having passed the general assembly was read and concurred with two amendments, which was agreed to," and, October 24, "an act granting the city of De Vergennes town privileges having passed the General Assembly, was read and concurred." This was an act permitting Vergennes to organize as the towns about her did, with selectmen men, etc., for four years (afterward extended to six years) before electing city officers.
The misnomer in the record quoted above was the error of the scribe. The Legislature was sitting at the time at Manchester and consisted o Governor Thomas Chittenden, twelve councilors, and eighty-four members. Gideon Spencer was a member from Panton, Alexander Brush from New Haven, and Abel Thompson from Ferrisburgh. The act of incorporation received Governor Chittenden's approval the day it was passed, in which the corporate name is, "the Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council and Freemen of the City of Vergennes." Thus Vergennes, with and because of her splendid water power and commanding situation, regardless of her small population, became a city--the
third in New England in point of time, Hartford and New Haven having been chartered in I784.
The origin of the name given to the city is explained in a correspondence between Ethan Allen and the French consul, Hector St. John De Crevecour, a French nobleman who had been educated in England and came to America in 1754 and settled on a farm near New York city. In 1780 he went to Europe, and in 1783 returned to New York as consul for France. He then became acquainted with Ethan Allen, to whom he writes from New York, under date of May 31, 1785, a long letter in which he suggests the idea of Vermont showing her gratitude to the French patriots of the Revolutionary War by naming some new towns after distinguished Frenchmen, and says: " I would propose that the town to be laid out on the first fall of Otter Creek be called the town of Vergennes or Vergennesburgh; "this in honor of the Count De Vergennes, French minister for foreign affairs. In a letter from France a few months later he alludes to the name of Vergennes again. On the 2d of March, 1786, Allen wrote to St. John from Bennington that the Governor and part of the Council met at Bennington to consult about the various propositions of St. John and were well pleased with them. The council concluded to recommend to the Legislature that "on the land contiguous to the first falls on Otter Creek they would incorporate a city with certain privileges and infranchisements and have already named it De Vergennes, to perpetuate the memory of your prime minister in America to all eternity."
In September, 1788, the following bond was executed in Vergennes, but no record appears of its enforcement:
"Land owners in Vergennes.--Bond for a twentieth part of their lands in the city.
"Know all men by these presents.--That we, the persons hereunto subscribing land owners in the district prayed to be corporated as the mayor, aldermen and corporation of the city of Vergennes, to be set off from part of the towns of Ferrisburgh, New Haven and Panton, do each of us separately bind ourselves in the penal sum of one hundred pounds lawful money of the State of Vermont, to the treasurer of said State, and his successor in said office, to be paid within two years after the district above prayed for shall be corporated by the Legislature of the State of Vermont, for the true payment of which sum we, the persons subscribing and ensealing these presents, do each of us separately bind ourselves, our and each of our heirs, executors and administrators, firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals and dated this twenty-ninth day of September, A. D. 1788.
"The condition of the above obligation is such that if the persons above obligated shall well and truly make and execute good and sufficient deeds of conveyance of one-twentieth part of the lands they each separately own in the district above prayed to be established, as above, to the corporation of said city
of Vergennes within two years after the same shall be legally appointed and established by the Legislature aforesaid for the sole use and benefit of said corporation so long as they may or shall legally exist as a corporation aforesaid, to be put to such use or uses as said corporation may from time to time direct, then this obligation to be void and of no effect. But if any person or persons obligating as above shall refuse or neglect to make out such deed of conveyance, then this obligation to be and remain in full force and virtue on such obligator or obligators respectively and separately; which sums when collected by the treasurer of the State of Vermont aforesaid, after deducting all needful expenses which may accrue, shall by said treasurer be transmitted to the corporation aforesaid to be for the sole use and benefit of the corporation forever. And it is hereby provided that the lands given shall be at the option of the giver to say where and the value shall be appraised by the corporation.
"William Brush, L. S.; Eli Roburds, L. S.; Alexander Brush, L. S.; Timothy Rogers, L. S.; Charles Spencer, L. S.; Ebenezer Mann, L. S.; Jacob Klum, L. S.; William Haight, L. S.; Solomon Beecher, L. S.; Jared Payne, L. S.; Abel Thompson, L. S.; Gideon Spencer, L. S.; Sam'l Wood, L. S.; Roswell Hopkins, L. S.; Jabez G. Fitch, L. S.; Richard Burling, L. S.; Sam'l Chipman, L. S.; Israel West, L. S.; David Brydia, L. S.; William Goodrich, L. S.; Jon'thn Sexton, L. S.; Donald McIntosh, L. S.; Wm. Utley, jr., L. S.; Asa Strong, L. S.; Ebenezer Ransom, L. S."
The limits of Vergennes by the first act of incorporation were fixed as follows: Beginning on the line of Ferrisburgh and New Haven at the southeast corner of the town plot in said Ferrisburgh; from thence running north 320 rods to a stake and stones; thence west 400 rods to stake and stones; from thence south across Otter Creek 480 rods to stake and stones in Panton ; from thence east across Otter Creek 400 rods to stake and stones; from thence north 160 rods to bounds first mentioned, comprising I,200 acres of land and water; about 655 acres from Ferrisburgh, 300 acres from Panton, and 245 acres from New Haven.
November 1, 1791, a large tract was taken from the remainder of New Haven and annexed to Vergennes; but in October, 1796, this last act of annexation was repealed and the tract annexed in 1791 was now formed into a distinct town by the name of Waltham. The freemen of Waltham, however, at that time were not allowed a representation in the Legislature, and were directed to meet with the freemen of Vergennes in said city for election of State officers and representatives. They were first allowed a representative in 1824.
In 1788 David Brydia, who lived at the mouth of Otter Creek (Fort Cassin), sold to Nathaniel Stevenson for $10 lot No. 45 (A. T. Smith's house lot), and Stevenson soon built a large gambrel-roofed house on the lot.
Alexander Brush deeds to Stephen R. Bradley, of Westminster, for $20 the lot where Amos Wetherbee now lives.
1789. -- George Bowne, a merchant of New York city, buys the falls on the east side, with ten acres, at a tax sale, for ten shillings and two pence. In October, 1789, Rogers deeds one-half of the same to Jabez G. Fitch, with all the mills, buildings, iron works, and privileges of falls for £800--$2,666. Jabez Fitch also bought of Rogers lots 13 and 14 (Methodist Church lot and part of the Franklin house lot).
Jabez G. Fitch, who came to Vergennes in 1788 or '89, was one of a large
and enterprising family in the vicinity of Norwich, Conn. He quickly engaged in active business in Vergennes and bought real estate largely; was engaged in the Quebec trade in lumber and potash. He was a live Yankee, capable of doing any kind of business; could build a saw-mill or make an elegant clockcase, as he did for Thomas Robinson, and which now stands in the town clerk's office in Ferrisburgh. He was not, however, a cautious man; his business was extended and he became embarrassed. In his latter days he was poor, and somewhere about 1820 his body was found in the creek at the foot of the falls. It was supposed that he fell from the bridge, the only railing of which was a square timber on the sides.
In 1790 the following return was made by James Atlee, deputy sheriff, on a writ against Jabez G. Fitch, in favor of John, Frederick, and Samuel De Montmellin, merchants in Quebec: "I attached the following property: one dwelling house, the residence of said Jabez, with the lots numbers 13 and 14 (Methodist Church and Franklin House lots), one storehouse on lot number 8 (where the probate office now is), with two other lots adjoining; one dwelling house, the residence of Spinks, bloomer; one frame barn, two sorrel horses, one eight the other nine years old, with one gray horse seven years old, with two yoke of oxen, three brown and one black, two potash kettles with the house thereto belonging with 1000 bushels of ashes; one forge with every implement necessary for carrying on the same in said forge and apparatus thereto belonging, one coal-house, one blacksmith shop, one dwelling house, the residence of Woodbridge, one grist-mill with all the mill work therein complete, five sawmills with the buildings belonging to the same, one fulling-mill, with the falls, dams, flumes and conveyances thereto belonging; likewise all the lots said buildings stand on, the whole situated in Vergennes, the property of the within named Jabez G. Fitch."
Election of Officers.-- In the charter of Vergennes the time of the first meeting for the election of city officers was fixed to be in July, 1792 (afterwards extended two years), and an act passed empowering the people to adopt a town organization and elect town officers, as towns in the State did, until the time arrived for electing city officers.
Under this act on the 2d of March, 1789, William Brush, justice of the peace, signs a warning for all the inhabitants that live within the limits of the city of Vergennes to meet at the dwelling house of William Brush, to elect
officers, etc. At this meeting, on the 12th of March, it being the first town meeting ever held in Vergennes, William Brush was chosen moderator; Samuel Chipman, town clerk; Dr. Ebenezer Mann, Richard Burlin, Colonel Alexander Brush, selectmen; William Brush, treasurer; Captain Durand Roburds, constable; Timothy Rogers, Samuel Chipman, jr., Jabez G. Fitch, listers; Eli Roburds, leather sealer and grand juror; William Goodrich, Ebenezer Ransom, surveyors of highways; Asa Strong, poundkeeper; Jacob Klum and William Haight, with some of the above named, petit jurors.
The grand list of 1789 contained thirty-three names, three of them nonresidents, showing thirty resident citizens. The names not previously mentioned as elected to office were Gideon Spencer, Ambrose Evarts, David Adams, Donald McIntosh, William Utley, Benjamin Ganson, Charles Spoor, Ebenezer Huntington, John Hackstaff, Israel West, Job Spinks, Solomon Beecher, Aaron Bristol, Josiah Higgins, Jacob Smith, Roswell Hopkins, Nathaniel Stevenson.
1790. --This year thirteen new names are added to the grand list; those most prominent are Azariah Painter, James Atlee, Robert Lewis, Albon Mann, Jonathan Spencer, David Brydia.
In 1791 are added Samuel Davis, Abram Baldwin, Thomas Tousey, Enoch Woodbridge, John W. Green, Roger Higby, Timothy Goodrich, and others. The list now contains fifty-seven names. The list of 1792 is not found, but in the list of 1793 the names of Thomas Byrd, Justus Bellamy, Stevenson Palmer, Thomas Robinson, Jacob Redington, Josias Smith, and Azariah Tousey are found; and in the list of 1794 the names of Jesse Hollister, Benjamin G. Rogers, and Samuel Strong appear, and Job Hoisington, who bought the late Philo Bristol place of Josias Smith for £25. Until 1797 the residents in what is now Waltham are included. In 1797, after Waltham had been separated from Vergennes, seventy-three names appear. After Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791 a census was taken by the government, and the result gives 201 inhabitants. Taking the lists as a basis of calculation, in 1797 there were 360 inhabitants. By the census of I800 the population was 516.
"The population of the place was rapid, beyond the most sanguine calcula-
tions. In a very few years they had members to make a respectable congregation. Circumstances obvious in a new, uncultivated country prevented them from having any regular preaching of the Word for some time. In the year 1790 they procured a regular candidate for a short period. They had little regular preaching till the year 1792, in the month of May, when a candidate, Mr. Daniel Clark Saunders, A.M., educated in the University of Cambridge, New England, came among them and continued several months. In the fall of 1793 he again received an invitation to settle in the gospel ministry, with which he at length complied." A regular church was organized September 17, 1793, by Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, of Sharon, Conn., who had been sent as a missionary to the infant settlements of Vermont.
The learned doctor's idea of rapid settlement would hardly satisfy a modern man in the present age, and possibly the doctor's successors might not like the way preaching was paid for in his day, if we may judge from the following vote passed in town meeting March 28, 1792: " Voted to raise the sum of thirty pounds on the list of the year 1792, one-fifth part in cash, the remainder in cattle or grain at the market price, to be expended in hiring preaching the ensuing Summer."
In June of the same year Enoch Woodbridge, Roswell Hopkins, and Samuel Chipman, jr., were chosen a committee "to wait on the committee appointed to come into Addison County to set a stake for county buildings," and voted, "that if established in Vergennes the buildings shall be erected free from expense to the County."
But very few of the men who were active business men before the election of city officers in July, 1794, have descendants or relatives in Vergennes at present. They planned and toiled in clearing and improving Vergennes and increasing her resources; but most of them have passed out of the memory of all survivors, and tradition retains but faint images of them. That they were bold and energetic men is certain; shrewd and sagacious in business, free and generous in their hospitality, and of kindly sympathies; plain and unpretentious men, but men of force. Those of the name of Brush, who have been mentioned in this sketch, are strangers by hearsay even to our oldest citizens. William was appointed by Governor and Council in 1785 to be assistant judge and elected by the people in 1786 to the same office, which he resigned in 1787. Alexander, a colonel in the militia before coming to Vergennes at an early day, was a respected citizen. He lived at one time in a house which stood where the National Bank now is, and kept a tavern. Elkanah Brush lived many years on the lot now owned by Mrs. Phair, at the corner of Panton road and Main street; he married the widow of Luke Strong about 1808, and afterward lived in the Thompson house.
Jacob Klum conducted a tannery on the bank of the creek back of Francis McDonough's house, and later on the west side, living in the shop which Ahvia
Scovil first occupied. Eli Roburds died in 1805, and was succeeded on his
farm by Durand Roburds, then major, who held many offices in Vergennes.
He afterwards sold his farm and moved to Ferrisburgh, to the house ever since
occupied by his children.
Richard Burling after a few years is mentioned as a resident of New York city. While here he was active in various kinds of business, principally mills and iron works, and making potash, and the commerce growing out of such business. The Burling family at White Plains, twenty miles from New York, were owners of large tracts of wild lands in Vermont, and probably gave the name to Burlington.
Dr. Ebenezer Mann died at Vergennes February 12, 1796, in his sixty-second year. Dr. Ebenezer Huntington was a practicing physician for Vergennes and vicinity, and acquired great popularity. He was a genial man, a good story teller, and enjoyed a joke. He lived on Comfort Hill, next south of Thomas Fish's present residence. He was the father of Fordyce Huntington, long a prominent citizen, and remembered by many.
Donald McIntosh, the Scotchman who came with Colonel Reid in 1766, went to Canada during the Revolutionary War, and returned at its close to the place on Comfort Hill, where he lived for many years and on which he was buried. He died July 14, 1803.
Nathaniel Stevenson, also one of the earliest settlers, was engaged in building mills and a forge on the west side of the creek, above the bridge, but did not remain here many years.
Timothy Rogers was a large landholder and interested in the city, but did not long remain a resident here.
Thomas Byrd, an Englishman and a Quaker, was a character of note here for many years; a man of sound judgment, of fine personal presence, and of extensive reading. He was early elected mayor, and became the leading trial justice for Vergennes and vicinity. Many a culprit received his sentence from him--"ten stripes at the publick whipping post," then the common mode of punishment. The post stood for many years near the present public watering trough. 'Squire Byrd, as he was generally called, lived in a house where O. C. Dalrymple's store now is. Although a good Quaker, he was not quite a non-resistant. It is told of him that a citizen of Ferrisburgh, in an altercation with some one in a store in Vergennes, told the man he lied, and was immediately struck and felled to the floor. He went to Esquire Byrd to enter complaint, and told his story. Byrd asked him, "Did you tell the man he lied?" "Yes." "And he knocked you down?" "Yes." "Well, he served you right. You may go; you can't get a writ here."
Justus Bellamy, long a conspicuous citizen of Vergennes, lived at the Sherman wharf. For many years he was the proprietor of Bellamy's distillery, which stood near the brick store at the wharf. The late Elliott Sherril mar-
ried one of his beautiful daughters. Edmund Smith married another. The Bellamy family at a later day moved to Canada.
Thomas Robinson, father of the late Rowland T. Robinson, who came from Newport, R. I., lived in Vergennes several years, a part of the time engaged in manufacturing, and at length bought a large tract of land, which proved to be the best farm in Ferrisburgh and a monument to his skill and judgment in the selection.
Jacob Redington, soon after coming here, opened a tavern in a building on the jail lot (C. B. Kidder's store).
Josias Smith, from Tinmouth, Vt., graduated from Dartmouth College in 1789; came to Vergennes in the spring of 1791, and was a practicing and successful lawyer in Vergennes to the time of his death in 1810. He was first city clerk under the charter election and was mayor at the time of his death.
Azariah Painter, who came here in 1789, was prominent in business circles and well known as keeping tavern here for many years. He bought of Jesse Hollister, in 1800, what is now the Stevens House. He had two sons, Lyman and Hiram. Two daughters of Hiram Painter are now living in Vergennes, Mrs. Keeler and Mrs. Sprague.
Azariah and Thomas Tousey were interested in mills and iron works. Azariah started the stilling-mill and resigned it to Thomas; they came from Newtown, Conn., but left no known descendants here.
Enoch Woodbridge came from Manchester to Vergennes in the beginning of 1791, bought and moved on a farm near where Ezra Champion lives, and in a few years moved to the grounds now occupied by Mrs. Hawley. He was a highly educated man of talent, a graduate of Yale College; was in the army through the Revolutionary War, a part of the time as commissary. After the war he went to Bennington county, where he was register of probate five years, judge of probate one year, State's attorney two years, which office he resigned in the fall of 1790 to come to Vergennes, and was soon elected judge of the Supreme Court, and for seven years was chief justice. He was father of Enoch D. Woodbridge; of Mrs. Villee Lawrence and several other daughters. F. E. Woodbridge and the late Mrs. Pierpoint were his grandchildren. He died April 21, 1805, in his fifty-fifth year.
Dr. John W. Green purchased in 1790, for £40, the lot and buildings where F. E. Woodbridge now resides.
Abram Baldwin, David Booth, and Zalman Booth, all of Newtown, Conn., bought property in partnership, and did business on the west side of the creek for several years.
Roger Higby (or Higley) was a lumberman engaged in sending timber to Quebec, but failed in business. He lived where the Farmers' National Bank stands.
Samuel Davis, a blacksmith, raised a large family in Vergennes, one of
whom, the Hon. Bliss N. Davis, who was born here in 1801, stated at the Vergennes Centennial that his "father made the axes that felled the trees to make room for the houses in Vergennes."
Robert and John Lewis built potash works a little above the mouth of Potash Brook. A few years later they assigned a large amount of property for the benefit of their creditors.
Samuel Davis lived in the house north of the Congregational Church, and his shop was in what is now William E. Green's garden.
Thus we see that down to the time when the city government was formed a very large proportion of the few people here were active, energetic, and bold business men, actively engaged in converting timber and wood and ores of the neighborhood into merchantable condition.
The city officers were elected in July, 1794, agreeable to the law of incorporation. (The time of annual meeting was changed in 1800 to the fourth Tuesday in March.) This first city meeting was held in a new school-house standing near the present town house. Enoch Woodbridge was elected mayor; Josias Smith, clerk; Roswell Hopkins, Samuel Strong, Phineas Brown, and Gideon Spencer, aldermen; Azariah Painter, sheriff; Samuel Chipman, Eli Roburds, Elkanah Brush, Ebenezer Huntington, Oliver Pier, and Jacob Redington, common councilmen.
The records of the Court of Common Council show a respect for a strict construction of the charter law, that has not always since been apparent. When, a few months later, Samuel Hitchcock moved from Burlington to Vergennes, and became associated with the picked men elected to fill the city offices, Vergennes could boast of as large a number of strong-minded and accomplished men as ever graced a country village. Samuel Hitchcock, who had married a daughter of Ethan Allen, and was himself the peer of any lawyer in his day, lived for several years in a house standing on the ground now occupied by the Catholic Church.
In 1794, a minister was settled, and licenses were granted for six taverns. In 1795 a jail was provided.
Daniel Harmon became a citizen of Vergennes and lived where the National Bank is, and probably had a store in the lower corner of the same lot, apparently the best location in the city for a store. In 1796 Harmon conveyed a lot 22 by 40 feet, to Josiah and William Fitch, "traders in company." This was what was lately known as Pat Foster's store.
The First Newspaper.---In this year correspondence was held with Anthony Haswell, of Bennington, with a view to his establishing a printing press and publishing a weekly paper in Vergennes; and a committee was appointed to agree with some person to establish the printing business in this city, and give them the use of a public lot. Thompson's History of Vermont says that the Vergennes Gazette was founded at Vergennes by Samuel Chipman, August,
1798. A copy of this paper is shown by Mr. Johnson (No. 74.), dated February 5, 1800 "Printed for Samuel Chipman, jr., by Fessenden at Printing Office adjoining Court House." The Vergennes charter and by-laws were printed at Vergennes in 1801 by Chipman & Fessenden.
Public Buildings.---In April, 1797, a stock company was formed to build a court-house, with 124 shares at $25 a share, the city to give the use of a public lot on which to erect it, and to take as many shares as could be paid for with the avails of another public lot to be leased for the purpose. The preamble to the subscription reads: "From the central situation of this city it is contemplated that the time is not far distant when the Legislature of Vermont will be convened in said city, if suitable accommodations can be had. Among the many considerations which demand the attention of the citizens to prepare for such an event, that of erecting a convenient house in which they may assemble for the transaction of public business is of primary importance. An undertaking of such expense is of too great magnitude to be effected by the ordinary mode of taxation in our infant State. Other measures, therefore, must be adopted."
Tousey, Baldwin & Co. subscribe for 10 shares; Gideon Spencer, for 8 shares; Zalman Booth, for 7 shares; Robert Hopkins, for 6 shares; Jabez G. Fitch, for 6 shares; Dibble & Sherrill, 6 shares; Samuel Hitchcock, for 6 shares; Samuel Strong, for 6 shares; Daniel Harmon, for 4 shares; Jesse Hollister, for 3 shares; twelve others, 2 each, 24; twenty others, 1 each, 20 shares, leaving for the city 18.
The building was completed in time for the meeting of the Legislature October 11, 1798, and stood on the highest land in the city a little farther back from the street than the present town house. It was a building nearly square, with large windows; was two stories high and well arranged for the purpose for which it was built. The second story was used for a Masonic hall until anti-Masonry became dominant in the State, when it was converted into a school-room. To the lasting disgrace of the city the building was taken down in 1838.
At the time of the meeting of the Legislature Isaac Tichenor had just been re-elected governor; Paul Brigham, lieutenant governor; Roswell Hopkins, then mayor of Vergennes, was secretary of State; Daniel Farrand, of Newbury, was speaker of the House; Daniel C. Saunders, who had been recently dismissed as minister in Vergennes and was then living in Burlington, preached the election sermon, in accordance with a custom that prevailed in Vermont until 1835. Vergennes was represented by Amos Marsh, who was the next year and several successive years elected speaker. John Strong, of Addison, was one of the twelve councilors. The session continued twenty-nine days.
Party spirit ran high in Vermont at that time, and for the first time in her history the important civil officers to be elected by the Legislature were chosen
from the dominant party exclusively, amid great excitement. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, Israel Smith, a man in high repute for his learning and virtue, was refused an election on party grounds merely, which roused a violent and bitter feeling, and gave rise to the epithet current for a long time, "The Vergennes slaughter-house."
A delegation of Indian chiefs from Canada came to Vergennes during the session to ask of the State compensation for their lands, as they claimed, from Ticonderoga to Canada line. Their claim was considered, but not granted. The Legislature, however, paid their expenses while here, and gave them a hundred dollars in token of friendship.
Mathew Lyon, the very able and prominent Irish politician of Fair Haven, who came to this country a poor boy at thirteen years of age, and was bound out in Connecticut to pay the cost of his passage, had been arrested for a trial under the alien and sedition law, and by the United States Circuit Court, sitting at Rutland, in October, 1798, was sentenced to four months' imprisonment and to pay a fine of one thousand dollars, with costs. He had been elected to Congress in 1796, and at the next election in September, 1798, there was no choice; but in December following Lyon was elected while he was in jail. At the conclusion of his trial in October he expected to be confined in Rutland jail; but the United States marshal was a bitter political opponent of Lyon's, and it is said lived in Vergennes. He took Lyon to Vergennes jail, where he treated him with great rigor. Lyon's friends from Fair Haven sent him a stove for use in the jail. Lyon's term of imprisonment expired February 9, 1799, and it was expected that he would be re-arrested; but having been elected to Congress he, as soon as the door was opened, proclaimed himself on his way to Congress, and thus made it unlawful to arrest him. There was, however, intense excitement throughout the district as the time of his liberation approached. He was a man to have warm and devoted friends and bitter enemies, and the natural instincts of Vermonters for free speech and a free press had been outraged, and they seemed anxious to enter their protest against political persecution. The following contribution to the Rutland Herald is reprinted in Governor and Council, Vol. IV, and may be interesting to the people of Vergennes: "At the time of his [Lyon's] imprisonment in Vergennes under the odious sedition law, passed by Congress during the Federal administration of John Adams, when he had stayed out in prison the term of his commitment of four months, and nothing remained but the payment of his thousand dollars' fine to entitle him to his liberty, it was found that the marshal of the State, whose sympathies and preferences were strongly with the Federal party and against Lyon, would stickle about receiving for the fine any other than money that was of legal tender, and in that case it might be difficult to procure the specie. Most of the gold then in circulation was of foreign coin which passed at an uncertain value according to its weight, which often varied by different
weighers, and was therefore not a legal tender. It was known that Mr. Lyon while in prison had issued frequent publications, therein freely discussing and sometimes censuring the measures of the Federal administration, and that if any pretext could be made for continuing his imprisonment and thereby prevent his taking his seat in Congress, to which he had been re-elected while in prison, the marshal would not hesitate to resort to it. It was further ascertained that if the fine was paid, the marshal intended to re-arrest him for his subsequent publications. Therefore, to secure his liberty so that he could take his seat in Congress, which had already convened, Mr. Apollos Austin, a resident citizen of Orwell, and a man of wealth, at his own expense and trouble procured the thousand dollars in silver dollars, and on the day that Mr. Lyon's confinement expired, Mr. Austin with the entire body of Republicans in Orwell, nearly every man went to Vergennes, where a like spirit brought together some thousands of the Republicans from other parts of the district and State, in order, probably, to overcome the authorities from re-arresting. Mr. Austin, however, was not permitted to pay the money he had brought. All claimed the privilege of bearing a part, and one dollar each was the maximum they would allow any one individual to pay. One gentleman from North Carolina, a staunch Republican, was so zealously anxious for the release of Mr. Lyon from prison, that he might take his seat in Congress, at that time nearly equally divided by the two greet political parties, came all the way on horseback from North Carolina with the thousand dollars in gold to pay the fine, supposing that as Vermont was then new and was comparatively poor, the resources of the people were not sufficiently ample to meet the exigency. Having paid the fine the
friends of Mr. Lyon immediately took him into a sleigh, followed and preceded by a concourse of teams loaded with the political friends of Lyon, which reached from Vergennes as they traversed Otter Creek upon the ice, nearly to Middlebury, from which place a large number continued to bear him company to the State line at Hampton, N. Y., where they took leave of him and wished him God speed on to Congress."
It is singular that such an enthusiastic and excited gathering of people from all parts, with teams enough to fill every vacant cleared space in Vergennes (for there were no public conveyances as exist to-day), could have taken place and no one in Vergennes to preserve a record of the proceedings, or even to hand down to the next generation the tradition of the great excitement. The writer well remembers the stories of his grandparents, then neighbors of Lyon, the excited crowd which attended Lyon's passage through Fair Haven, with music and banners and the wildest enthusiasm; but the leading men of Vergennes were of the Federal party, and had no sympathy for their political opponents. The words of censure of the government for which Lyon was imprisoned seem mild in comparison with the political abuse of the present age.
However much the citizens of Vergennes may have been interested in pub-
lic affairs, they were not indifferent to business matters, which seem at that time to have been in a prosperous condition. In August, 1798, Spencer leases to Azariah Tousey a site for a slitting-mill and the privilege of erecting a dam at the foot of the falls, from the hole in the rocks on the island (now visible) to the west shore.
In January, 1799, Josiah and William Fitch sold their store (on the bank lot) to Curtis & Sawyer for $800. Sawyer married a daughter of Roswell Hopkins and continued in trade here for several years. Argalus Harmon bought the lease of the public lot in front of the green.
Among recent settlers of that time appear the names of Amos Marsh, who lived on the Franklin house lot; Luke Strong, another lawyer, who built the Thompson house and died there in 1807, aged thirty-nine years; Luther E. Hall, who first lived where Kidder's store is and then in a house now occupied by F. C. Strong (he lived to a good old age in Vergennes); Belden Seymour, from Connecticut, whose trade was that of a hatter (accumulated property, and he and his sons were long identified with the business of Vergennes); Henry Cronk, long sheriff and constable, and tavern-keeper (married a sister of Roswell Hopkins; at length removed to a farm in West Ferrisburgh); Wm. Burritt (for many years an active and prosperous business man in Vergennes); Bissell Case, a tavern-keeper; Asa and Abraham Dibble, the latter assistant judge of County Court.
The grand list of 1798 shows seventy-eight names. Fifty-four houses are entered in the list at from one dollar to eighteen dollars: average, five dollars forty cents; two hundred and forty acres improved land. The total list was $6,709.25, but property, except houses, was entered at about five times the amount of our one percent. General Strong enters fifty acres improved land; Donald McIntosh fifty acres; Roswell Hopkins forty acres, leaving only l00 acres for all the others.
From 1791 for about ten years the Newtown Company, as it was called, was active in manufacturing, in buying and selling real estate, and in loaning money. The company consisted of Abram Baldwin, several of the name of Tousey, and several of the name of Booth. Baldwin and the Touseys did not long remain here; they were probably rich, but they were not popular.
Dr. David Fitch was a popular physician; he was born in 1795, was a deacon in the Congregational Church, but his history is not well known.
Belden Seymour, from Newtown, Conn., came here about 1796 and established the business of making hats; not exactly the style used to-day, but satisfactory to the wearers. He first bought a lot with a store on it in the block between Elbow and Green streets, and eventually owned a large part of the square. Belden Seymour was successful in business, and at length retired with a competence to his farm on Comfort Hill, where he died in 1841. His wife, who was Abigail Beers, lived one hundred years wanting a few weeks. She was sister of Mrs. Green, the mother of William E. Green.
For many years after the city organization, taxation was light; in one year the expense for the care of the city poor amounted to $15. The bridge was the great burden, but with the help from the adjoining towns and the aid of the lottery authorized by the Legislature they managed to keep up a bridge. In 1800 they bargained with General Strong to put four trestles under the bridge, put in one new string piece and 800 feet of plank for $13; and in 1805 he offered to build a new bridge for $500.
Many roads in Vergennes and vicinity had been opened, but frequent changes in their location are recorded.
In 1795 the new school-house mentioned stood near where the town hall is; a few years later it was moved on to the present school-house grounds on South street and used until the large one, now Mrs. Julia Adams's residence, was built.
Strong & Chipman built a grist-mill on the island, which they afterward sold to Ephraim Hubbell, and Hubbell to Francis Bradbury February, 1810. The largest island was then much larger than it now is. One survey says it extended up stream six rods above the bridge. It was bordered by trees and wild grape vines, and some one had a garden on it. A gentleman now living told the writer that the first grave he remembers was on that island: a stranger was buried there. In low water there was a dry passage from one island to the other, until channels were blasted out to secure water for the mills. The trees were cut and portions of the large island were dug away for the same purpose. Owing to this cause a mill on the island for dressing cloth was undermined and fell into the stream.
Within the next few years the names of many new residents appear, increasing the population to 516 in 1800, and to 835 in 1810. About 1797 John H. Sherrill, grandfather of William A. Sherrill and Mrs. William E. Green, brought his young wife on horseback with Elliott Sherrill, then an infant in her arms, and came into Vergennes on a dark, rainy evening. In Swift's history it is said that he had a store in Middlebury in 1798. He lived here in 1800. He first lived where the Baptist Church stands, but soon moved to the house on the west side, belonging to Dr. Ingham's estate, and about 1830 he built the brick front where he lived until his death. He was an honored and respected citizen. Another citizen of this date was Abraham Dibble, who was assistant judge of Addison County Court in 1801-04.
Benajah Webster, a native of New Hampshire, who had learned the gunsmith's trade in New York city, came to Vergennes about 1806, and began and continued for many years the business of blacksmithing. He first lived in the house vacated by Samuel Davis next north of the Congregational Church, but afterwards built the brick house now the property of William E. Green, and converted his old house into a shop. The bricks for his house were made at the yard of Dr. Griswold, on the farm now occupied by Carleton Bristol. Mr.
Beers, the father of Ransom Beers, was at first associated with Webster. Mr. Webster had a large family of children; in later years he moved on to the farm in Ferrisburgh now owned by his grandson, William W. Bard. Warren Webster, a son of Benajah, followed the trade of blacksmith in Vergennes a while and moved West. One daughter, Delia Webster, achieved distinction and was known throughout the United States for her successful efforts as an abolitionist and her consequent imprisonment in Kentucky, and a trial which aroused the sympathy of every abolitionist in the land.
The Harmon family was prominent in Vergennes during the first quarter of the present century. Daniel Harmon came from Bennington county about 1795. Calvin and Argalus came two or three years later. They were known principally as merchants and distillers. They traded in the stone store now standing on Main street north of East street.
Edward Sutton came to Vergennes about 1803, and until his death in 1827 was a successful merchant, leaving a large estate for those days. He lived in the house previously owned by Amos Marsh, and his store has since been remodeled to form the dwelling house of J. B. Husted. At the time of his death he was in partnership with Edward J. Sutton, who died the same year, and the business was closed, and the store building was rented and used as a store for several years by many different parties --- William F. Parker, Bixby & Blackman, Cyrus Smith, and others. The estate of Mr. Sutton was divided in 1828 between his two daughters, Caroline and Jane Sutton. The death of Jane Sutton, in 1832, from cholera, followed next day by the death of Edmund Parker, caused an intense excitement in Vergennes.
Edward A. Kendall, in Travels through the Northern Part of the United States in 1807 and 1808, says: "Still lower on the Otter Creek, and only five miles short of its entrance into the lake, is a cataract which ranks among the most beautiful in New England. On its banks are seated the town and village of Vergennes, a name intended to honor M. De Vergennes, sometime minister of the court of France. Sloops ascend from the lake to the foot of the cataract; and, from this and other circumstances, Vergennes is well seated for iron works; bog ore abounds in all the adjacent country, and stone ore is brought from Crown Point, on the opposite side of the lake. A furnace, and other extensive works, in addition to those which have been long established, are at this time erecting. There are bridges across the Otter Creek, both at Middlebury and Vergennes; and each of these villages exhibits a busy and thriving appearance.
"Roads both from New York and Boston meet in Vergennes, whence there is a road due north to Burlington, distant twenty-two miles, a commercial village and port of entry on the lake, and by which there is a constant communication, either by land or water, with Montreal, in Lower Canada."
In 1809 an important lawsuit was decided in regard to the falls. Silas
Wright, of Weybridge, sued Strong & Spencer, of Vergennes, for damages, claiming that the building of a dam at Vergennes, and the changes made at the falls, caused such a rise of water that the lands on the creek and on Lemon Fair, were overflowed, to the great injury of the owners; but after a long trial, with many witnesses, the jury brought in a verdict for the defendants.
The query that has always been most pressing for an answer in regard to Vergennes---Why does not Vergennes grow faster in numbers, wealth, and business? was just as unanswerable in 1800 to 1805 as it ever has been. It was admitted everywhere that her situation was in the midst of a fertile and productive country; that her water power was unrivaled; that the whole body of water in Otter Creek, with a fall of thirty-seven feet, was available for any purpose for which water power could be used; that the locations for mills were peculiarly free from danger by reason of freshets; that her means of communication by water with the northern markets were all that could be desired; that her people were intelligent, numbering among them some of the brightest minds in the State; and yet her population was constantly changing; men did not come to stay; the returns from capital invested in her business, except in rare instances, were not satisfactory. But in the fall of 1807 and the year following it was thought that this question would not be asked again; that a bright future awaited the little city. A strong company of wealthy gentlemen of Boston proposed to embark in the iron business in Vergennes on a large scale. Captain Francis Bradbury came on here and in October, 1807, secured a perpetual lease of water power, and about seven acres of land on the west side of the creek, from Gideon and Stephen Spencer, for the consideration of $3,000 and an annual rent of $300, and very soon assigned three-fourths of it to Stephen Higginson, William Parsons, James Perkins, and Benjamin Wells, all of Boston. There was at that time on the ground leased a forge and slitting-mill, a shop for making nails, and near by a "steel-factory." On the east side was a small forge; on the island a gristmill, and also one on the west side, and a number of saw-mills. In January, 1808, this company advertised that they would purchase charcoal in large quantities, and built large coal barns for storing it; at one time they had fifteen such barns. Spencer's gristmill stood in the little hollow eight or ten rods below the bridge. A low shed for the use of his customers extended toward the present dry houses, and at the end of that a large gate, closing the road to the wharf. A flume ran from the present dam by the side of the rocks in the bank on a level to carry water for the machinery below. The large yellow house (so called) was soon built, and in 1809 Thomas H. Perkins leased, on a perpetual lease for $5,000 and an annual rent of $500, the remainder of the falls and mills and the land to Panton road on the south and city line on the west, with some reservations of small lots previously leased. The small leases were bought in by the company and their business enlarged. Their forge had nine fires; they bought the Monkton ore
bed and large tracts of wood land, started a small forge on Little Otter Creek, near the covered bridge on the road to Monkton; numbers of mule teams which they introduced for hauling ore and coal were quite a novelty. Colonel Wells, an accomplished gentleman of Boston, was for many years the managing agent. It is said that 177 tons of cannon shot were cast at their works for the use of MacDonough's fleet at the battle of Plattsburgh, and it is also said that the iron business was closed soon after the war and that the company met the fate that many other iron-makers have had to meet---heavy losses; and the old question returned unanswered, the population of Vergennes being no greater in 1820 than in 1810. Their grist-mill and saw-mill were continued for many years.
In 1825 they advertised for custom at their mill, and also that they desired to sell various tracts of land in the vicinity. In 1815 Philip C. Tucker came on from Boston as a clerk or book-keeper for the company, and remained till 1830, the acting agent in closing up their business. He was fifteen years old when he came to Vergennes, and during his clerkship studied law, and opened an office in 1824, and continued a successful lawyer until his death in 1861.
Previous to the operations of the Monkton Iron Company, as they were
called, the burning of wood into charcoal in pits in the fields had been practiced to some extent, but was largely increased when this company began to purchase. Immense quantities were made on the lands of the Spencer family in Panton and Addison, who owned what are now the farms of N. Richards, H. Hawley, E. Holland, J. Carter, Thomas Nooman, and other tracts. When Ira Ward was a young lad his father was engaged in the business for Spencer, his family finding a temporary home in a house where E. Holland lives. Ira, just old enough to drive the cows home from the woods (when he could find them), in passing along the road south of the house discovered a bear advancing toward him. After gazing at him a few moments the animal turned and left. Deer and game of all kinds were abundant in all this region even at that time.
The necessity for workmen in the mills, asheries, and on the rafts, and in chopping wood for coal, and the money so freely paid out by the Monkton Iron Company, had brought to Vergennes quite a number of Canadians with their families, a portion of whom occupied a cluster of houses on what is now the Shade Roller Co.'s yards, and was then called "French Village." A still larger number lived on East street. Among them were some quaint and original characters, ever ready to give expression in broken English to their wit and drollery, or to relate the adventures of their lives in Canada, some of them in lumber camps and some of them in the Northwest or Hudson's Bay Company as voyagers or carriers.
Previous to the War of 1812 Vergennes had become a central point for
pleasure parties from the surrounding towns, and Painter's Tavern, where the
Stevens House is now, was a resort for such parties and balls. There were
Page 667 CITY OF VERGENNES.
many young ladies in Vergennes, at that date and a little later, whose fame for beauty, wit, and intelligence has come down to succeeding generations, and some of the men whom the living now remember as quiet and sedate citizens were then considered as agreeable and accomplished society men, much inclined to gayety. As tending to show a slight difference in the now and then, the following incident is given, as related to the writer a few years ago by an aged lady who lived in Vergennes and was a young lady in society from 1805 to '10. She said she well remembered going to a ball where the daughters of the richest man in Vergennes were able to enjoy the luxury and the very great distinction of appearing in calico dresses, while their associates were obliged to wear the homespun and home-woven linsey-woolsey dresses that all had been accustomed to wear before they were startled by the introduction of such an extravagance as calico dresses. She could not conceal the fact of her then admiration and longing for a dress in elegance equal to the calico dresses of her rich friends.
In the summer of 1813 Lieutenant Thomas MacDonough, then thirty years of age, who had already made it manifest that he possessed the courage and promptness and the cool and calm judgment necessary for the position, was given the command of the very small naval force on Lake Champlain, and December 19 took his vessels into Otter Creek for winter quarters at "the button woods," three-fourths of a mile above Dead Creek. Commodore MacDonough, as he was then called, made Vergennes his headquarters, and during the winter was engaged in building several galleys or gunboats, to carry two guns each. Before these were completed, on the 5th of April, 1814, General Wilkinson, then commanding the United States troops at Champlain, N. Y., informed Commodore MacDonough that the vessels of the enemy on Lake Champlain would soon be ready to sail, and probably would attempt to land a force for the purpose of destroying MacDonough's vessels. On application Governor Chittenden ordered out the militia in Franklin, Chittenden, and Addison counties, 500 men to be stationed at Burlington and 1,000 at Vergennes, and on the 11th Wilkinson advised MacDonough to erect a strong battery at the mouth of Otter Creek. From the 16th to the 20th, General Wilkinson and Governor Chittenden were both at Vergennes, and the site of the proposed battery was agreed upon. About the 12th of April a large body of militia arrived at Vergennes and was quartered in different places--some in barns, some in the school-house, some in the vacant house formerly occupied by President Saunders. As the result of the consultation at Vergennes the militia were all discharged except the company of Captain William C. Munson, of Panton, on condition that they should rally on the firing of alarm signals, and General Macomb was ordered to send 500 United States troops to Vergennes. Ira Ward, now living, with a number of other members of Captain Munson's company, was sent to Hawley's farm on the lake shore (Olmsted Keeler's) to watch the lake and give notice of the approach of the enemy. The anticipated attack of the British did not occur until the 14th of May, when one sloop and eighteen galleys commenced an attack on the battery at the mouth of the creek, commanded by Lieutenant Cassin. The point has since been called Fort Cassin. MacDonough, with what vessels he had afloat, soon appeared and put the enemy to flight, taking from them two fine rowboats. About the last of May, MacDonough's vessels were completed and sailed down the creek. It has always been asserted in Vergennes that his flagship, the Saratoga, was launched the fortieth day from the time the first tree used in its construction was cut in the woods. He spent the summer on the lake, and the result at Plattsburgh on September 11 is too well known to need repetition.
MacDonough was a tall, spare man, extremely popular with all his acquaintances in his vicinity. His office was in the second story of a wooden building that stood where N. J. McCuen is now in business, the lower room being used for a guard house. One of the militiamen in the guard-house accidentally discharged his musket, the ball passing through the floor and near MacDonough. In one of the consultations as to dismissing the militia, MacDonough said, "If you will take your militia home I will take care of the fleet. I am in more danger from your men than from the enemy."
A number of ship carpenters came with the commodore to assist in the building of his vessels. Captain Brown was superintendent. Edward Roberts went to the battle with him, and afterward remained in Vergennes.
There was great fear and anxiety among the citizens of Vergennes at the time of the attack at Fort Cassin. Some of the families packed their valuables to have them in readiness for removal, and some more excitable ones did remove temporarily, but the scare was of short duration.
The law of the State then required that each town should deposit with the town treasurer powder and lead for use in an emergency, and on the I3th of May the town officers of Ferrisburgh met at Theophilus Middlebrook's (then town treasurer) to "run " bullets and prepare cartridges, and continued at the work through the night. On hearing the cannon about daylight their anxiety was so great that they insisted on having news, and David, then twelve year old and anxious to go, was dispatched on horseback to learn the news. He could not be prevailed on to stop until he got to the point, about the time the firing ceased, and he then returned with the good news. The fears of the people were quieted for the time being, but a feverish state of excitement prevailed throughout this region until after the battle of Plattsburgh, which was one reason why the people rallied so quickly when called upon to repel the invasion.
On the 4th of September, 1814, General Macomb, then in command of 3,400 United States troops at Plattsburgh, of which number 1,400 were invalids, appealed to Governor Chittenden for aid, as his small force was so man- ifestly inadequate to resist the large force advancing to assault him. Governor Chittenden, believing himself unauthorized to order the Vermont militia out of the State under such circumstances, called for volunteers. Hon. E. P. Walton says in Governor and Council: "This call was at once responded to, not only in the western counties nearest the scene of battle, whose men arrived in time to take part, but also in Central and Eastern Vermont. Irrespective of party opinions or age, the people turned out en masse, fathers and sons, veterans of the Revolution, and lads too young for military service--all pressed on toward the lake." Many went from Vergennes and vicinity; prominent among these was Samuel Strong, who had been major-general of the Third Division of Vermont militia from 1804 to '10, when he resigned; and Major Jesse Lyman, who had been an officer in the Revolutionary army. Judge Swift says in his History of Middlebury: "When a sufficient number of volunteers had met together, they organized as they could, in a summary and unceremonious way, by putting forward such prominent men as were willing to be officers. And when new recruits came on they took their places as they could in the ranks. To General Samuel Strong, of Vergennes, was assigned the position of commander-in-chief of the Vermont volunteers; Major Lyman, of Vergennes, was his right-hand man, and was appointed colonel."
Judge Swift, then secretary to the Governor and Council, and Amos W. Barnum, of Vergennes, who was the governor's military aid, crossed the lake from Burlington to Plattsburgh in company with General Strong and others, on Thursday morning, September 9, and met General Macomb at the fort. On Sunday, the 11th at seven P. M., General Strong writes to Governor Chittenden: " We are now encamped with 2,500 Vermont volunteers on the south side of the Saranac opposite the enemy's right wing, which is commanded by General Brisbane. We have had the satisfaction to see the British fleet strike to our brave commodore, MacDonough. The fort was attacked at the same time, the enemy attempting to cross the river at every place fordable for four miles up the river, but they were foiled at every attempt except at Pike's encampment, where we now are. The New York militia were posted at the place under Generals Moore and Wright. They were forced to give back a few miles until they were re-enforced by their artillery. The general informed me of his situation, and wished for our assistance, which was readily afforded. We met the enemy and drove him across the river under cover of his artillery. Our loss is trifling. We took twenty or thirty prisoners. Their number of killed is not known . . . . What shall be our fate to-morrow I know not."
Before this letter was written, however, Lieutenant-General Sir George Provost, "governor and chief of his majesty's North American Provinces, and commander of the forces," as he styled himself, had hastily left for Montreal, and what were left of his 14,000 troops, veteran soldiers of Wellington's army, at ten o'clock that night began to follow his example. It is not strange that so
signal a victory filled the whole country with astonishment and delight; but it is strange that men of Vermont had the courage and resolution to volunteer to form a part of a force so small and seemingly so inadequate to meet so large and well-appointed an army of trained veterans. Towns, cities, State Legislatures, and Congress united in their tributes of thanks and honors to the victors. The Legislature of Vermont passed very flattering resolutions of thanks to General Strong and the volunteers, and to Commodore MacDonough, to whom they also granted a tract of land. The Legislature of New York voted a sword to General Strong, and as a picture of a gala day in Vergennes in 1817, the following is copied from the Northern Sentinel of July 18, 1817: in the art of war, flushed with recent and astonishing victories, conquerors of the conqueror of Europe, boastful of their prowess, and confident of success -- when such a force retires before our newly-raised, undisciplined troops, not one-fourth their number, we have cause of gratitude to the God of Armies, who so manifested his strength in our weakness. We are not unmindful that, uninfluenced by local considerations, with no motive but the love of country, no prospect of fame except at the sacrifice of your life, no interest but a sense of duty, and notwithstanding every discouragement, you, Sir, volunteered in defense of a sister State. The act will be remembered by the people with gratitude. Accept, Sir, this sword. It is the gift of a free people to a free man. It bears on its hilt the device of a Herculean Mountaineer crushing in his arms the British lion; it will be a memento for your sons to imitate your example, and incite them to deeds of glory. It is given, not as a reward but a pledge, which the State of New York will redeem when occasion shall present itself. We are directed to communicate to you the consideration of his excellency the lieutenant-governor and of the representatives of the people. We offer you our personal regard and respect." Vergennes people felt a special interest in the battle of Plattsburgh, from their exposed situation and liability to an attack from the British fleet; and the fact of the building of the vessels of our fleet here the previous spring had also increased their interest in the result; and they were, moreover, acquainted with the prominent actors. Few battles have been more important in their results than this, which had great influence in securing the treaty of peace which soon followed, and was celebrated, when received here, with illuminations and great rejoicing. The volunteers were not all fortunate enough to return uninjured. Thomas Stevens, Wm. McKenzie, and others in this vicinity received wounds. Major Lyman contracted fever from which he died soon after. General Strong took a severe cold which resulted in what was then called consumption, which made him an invalid the rest of his life. The trade of Vergennes has always been large in proportion to her population. To be a successful merchant in that day required planning, prudence, discrimination, and a wise foresight. Customers expected to find in every store dry goods, crockery, hardware, drugs , and medicines, and all kinds of groceries; especially all kinds of liquors, which were sold as freely and in almost as large quantities as kerosene is sold today. The merchant then must take grain and nearly all kinds of produce for his goods, and find a market for the barter taken as best he could. He must give long credits and have the happy faculty of making collections without offending his customers. It was a good training school for the development of the faculties, and many were made strong and fitted for public duties by this training.
The census of Vergennes for 1820 shows the number of inhabitants to be less than in 1810 -- 835 in 1810, and 817 in 1820 -- and until 1823 there was no perceptible increase , and no nice buildings were erected. There were about thirty two story houses, but most of the others were low and of little value.
Brush became captain, and in 1818 the Congress was built here by Captain Sherman at an expense of $30,000, of which R. W. Sherman was captain; and again in 1820 Captain Sherman built here the second Phoenix at a cost of $45,000. In 1824 he built the Mountaineer at Caldwell, on Lake George, and in 1838 the second Caldwell at Ticonderoga, and in 1832 the Water Witch at Fort Cassin. Soon after coming to Vergennes Captain Sherman purchased the house and property at the wharf and afterward acquired a large real estate in Vermont. Captain Sherman was the representative from Vergennes to the State Legislature in 1835 and '36. In 1836 he united with the Congregational Church in Vergennes and was ever after one of its firm supporters. He died in 1844, leaving a widow and five sons - Jahaziel, Walter W., Richard W., Charles, and Benjamin. Charles, now the only survivor, lives in Marshalltown, Iowa. One of the lake steamboats brought from Burlington to Vergennes a large company of his business associates to attend the funeral of Captain Jahaziel Sherman.
spring, and having been advised by physicians to ride in the open air he spent much of his after life on horseback. Being a man of great will power, he would ride when so weak that he had to be helped on to his horse. He and Judge Whallon, of Essex, N. Y., established a ferry by horseboats from the farm in Ferrisburgh now owned by Olmsted Keeler, to Grog Harbor. He built the turnpike from Middlebury to Vergennes, and from Vergennes to Adams's ferry. When the Vergennes Bank was organized in 1827 he was elected its first president, and held the position till his death. He had one son, General Samuel P. Strong, and four daughters -- Mary, the wife of Roswell D. Hopkins; Clara, wife of E. D. Woodbridge; Susan B. Strong, the founder of the Vergennes Library, and Electa, the wife of William H. Smith. The successful business career of General Strong, his sound judgment, the fame he acquired at the battle of Plattsburgh, and his constant activity, notwithstanding his feeble health, combined to make him a man of note at home and abroad. He was a tall, spare man of few words and unassuming manner. Early in life he manifested the same qualities of independent opinion, prompt decision, self reliance, and determined perseverance that in after years made him a leader among men. Many incidents in his life have been known to the public. When he was fifteen years old he went with his father and brother from Addison to Pittsford to get a drove of cattle, to supply the American soldiers at Crown Point with beef. When within a few miles, their father left the boys to watch the cattle and prevent their straying while he went to reconnoiter. The father was surprised and taken prisoner by scouts from Burgoyne's army, which had taken the post. The boys waited a reasonable time for their father to return, but as he did not come they drove the cattle back to Pittsford, and saved them from capture by the British. took great interest in the improvement of farm stock, and introduced a superior breed of cattle and fine horses. About 1827 he started a hemp-factory in Vergennes and built a rope walk on the grounds now belonging to the American Hotel, which he then owned; he was always ready for any business enterprise that promised success. He was instrumental in building a tow path to increase navigation and in starting a bank in 1826. He lived in the house now owned by Charles Merrill, and had the best kept house and grounds in the city, the best horses and carriages, and entertained the most company and traveled more than any other citizen. He was fond of horse-racing and high living, and bold and daring business ventures. He owned several hundred acres of land, comprising the Woodbridge and Wetherbee estates and lands adjoining, and had a private race-course on the hill. He was largely interested in one of the best ore beds in Moriah, N. Y., but did not live to reap the benefits of his development. In later years fortune frowned upon him and he died poor, December 1, 1838, aged fifty-seven years. He had no children. His brother Theophilus was with him at one time and his brother Charles became interested in property in Vergennes. Charles W. Bradbury, the late head of the present family, was the son of Charles Bradbury. Francis Bradbury had two children -- Francis, who died in Waltham, and Frances, who married Samuel S. Woodbridge; after his early death she married Otis M. Haven, and is still living. a dozen shade trees. There were a few two-wheeled chaises in town for one horse, and four two-horse coaches hung on leather thoroughbraces; steel springs were unknown; lumber wagons with no springs were the wagons in common use; there was not a four-wheeled and covered one-horse vehicle in Vergennes until after 1830. Very few stoves were in use previous to 1824; the cooking was all done by open fires on the hearth, in open fire-places; matches were unknown. To buy a ready-made garment in the stores in those days was impossible. If a farmer wanted a new coat his wife and daughters must secure a fleece of wool and send it to a carding-machine, and receive it back in the form of rolls; then spin it on the old-fashioned spinning-wheel, and either weave it themselves or have it done; then send it to a fulling-mill, where the cloth is fulled, a nap raised, and then pressed. When finished, the man must go to a tailor's and have his garment cut and made. None of the present comforts for the feet were known except the ordinary leather boots, and they had to be made to order, not being kept on sale as at present. The first ready-made clothing in Vergennes was brought from Montreal. was in Panton, the other in Vergennes. It was occupied then by _______ King. A little north of King's was a two story framed house owned by Alured Hitchcock, who died about 1830 leaving a large and interesting family, who soon moved to Illinois; two of the sons were farmers near Galesburg and one of them a professor in Knox College at Galesburg; the oldest daughter married Nehemiah Locy, a teacher in a Western school district and afterward professor in Knox College; two other daughters married Western men. Hitchcock had a good farm, which was sold after his death to Elliott Sherrill and the house removed. The next house was the large house now standing opposite the cemetery; Sevy Pratt and Solomon Hobbs owned it. Just south of where the brick school-house is now, was a long wooden building used many years for a school-house. Opposite was the house now standing there, owned and occupied by Mitchell Rock, who worked for Mr. Sherrill many years in his clothdressing mill. One of his daughters married Anthony Balduke; another married Charles Sholler. The brick house south of the school-house was owned and occupied by Samuel P. Strong; the hill this side of his house was covered with trees where the boys had to go for the birch twigs needed in the schoolroom to teach the young idea how to shoot. Jo. Lebonte, a noted character in Vergennes, lived opposite the present school-house, southeasterly; he had been a servant for Colonel Wells, and was famous for his witticisms and oddities. He had a large family. Mrs. January is the only one remaining in Vergennes. Asa Strong, one of the first settlers in Vergennes, and long sheriff and constable, lived where Mrs. Jacob Smith now lives, in the house which is now on the opposite side of the street. Elliott Sherrill lived where his son now lives, and George Thomas, a carpenter, opposite. The Thompson house, originally clapboarded, was bricked up about this time and occupied by Major John Thompson, then in active business running carding-machines, etc., on the island. The next house was where Mrs. Phair lives; it was then occupied by Theodore Clark, and was an inviting place, with a veranda on the south side and all in fine order. The row of houses opposite was not there then, but a large common or green used on training day and other public occasions. The barns of General Strong for the use of his large farm, which extended far up the creek, stood near where is Dr. McGovern's house, General Strong living in the house he built in 1796, where J. D. Smith now lives. John H. Sherrill lived at the Dr. Ingham place, and the Mather family where the bakery is, and there was one other house on the rocks. Opposite Sherrill's were two tenement-houses in a dilapidated condition. The gambrel-roofed house, where Spencer formerly kept tavern stood on the corner of Crady's garden, and was occupied by several tenants, among them Aaron Stewart, the father of Shelden Stewart, and John Flanagan, father of the late sheriff of Burlington and hotel-keeper in Hinesburg, and Newton and Martha Flanagan. Opposite was a dwelling and a shoemaker's shop under one roof; Jacob McLean then occu- pied it. Just below Demper's was a low house used by John Gibson, who tended the Monkton Iron Company's grist mill, and on the other side of the road was a similar house in which Bradbury's miller lived. Captain Bradbury had a store near the creek, and Theodore Clark had a store at the end of the bridge. Back of Clark's store was a potashery. In the space about the landing several small houses stood, making a little settlement by themselves, and called French Village. A small building used by John H. and Elliott Sherrill, for carding and cloth dressing, stood near and below the bridge; then a saw-mill, and farther down stream a stone grist mill and mill shed. A pent-road with a large gate led to the wharf, and by the side of the road and farther south were several large coal barns. The old forges and furnaces were idle but one dwelling, where Laurence Austin lives now, was occupied, and also the large yellow house where lived John Willson, a pilot on Lake Champlain for many years. He died about 1830, leaving a widow and two sons William Willson, long a clerk in Vergennes, and who died in New Jersey; and Edmond, once cashier of Exchange Bank in New York, now a retired capitalist in Jersey City. There were no sidewalks in Vergennes; every vacant place in the street on the west side during the winter and spring was filled with piles of saw-logs and lumber, the logs in vast numbers being drawn in while sleighing lasted, there to await the slow process of being cut into boards by the old-fashioned upright saw. The complaints in regard to our roads and sidewalks are not likely to come from those who then had to pick their way either between or over the saw-logs, in the day when rubber over-shoes were unknown and when Vergennes clay possessed all of its native adhesiveness.
Page 641 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 642 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
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Page 646 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
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Page 648 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
To every man, both me and you;
But this respect in due proportion
Pay to every man as is his station.
I, of Vergennes, am alderman;
Yea, more, a common councilman.
In the office of county clerk I am put
And clerk of the County Court to boot;
Of State I'm also secretary,
A justice, too, which none will query.
Isn't more respect to me due, then
Than almost any otherman.
In titles numerous and great,
Heaped on me here and through the State.
Be careful, then, due deference show,
Both here and where'er else I go.
Page 649 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 650 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 651 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 652 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 653 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 654 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
The First Church.-- In June, 1794, the Rev. Daniel C. Saunders was settled in the city as a minister of the gospel. He lived in a large framed house just west of judge Roberts's homestead, until August, 1799, when he was dismissed to become the first president of the University of Vermont. He writes in May, 1795, in speaking of Vergennes: " Where so lately was the foot of the savage, there is now the church and the altar. Divine goodness has caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose. Future successive ages may have a laudable curiosity to know the history of the beginning of this particular church of Christ first established in the infant city of Vergennes. To gratify them the following remarks are submitted to the eye of the candid and the inquisitive:
Page 655 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 656 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 657 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 658 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 659 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 660 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 661 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 662 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 663 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 664 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 665 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 666 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 668 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Page 669 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 670 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
"Honor by New York to Major-General Strong.---
"Yesterday the sword voted by the Legislature of the State of New York to be presented to General Samuel Strong in consideration of services rendered by him at Plattsburgh in 1814, was delivered to him by the Hon. Ralph Hascall, Colonel Melancthon Smith, Major Reuben Sanford, and Major David B. McNeil, appointed by the lieutenant-governor of that State, acting as governor, to perform that service. The day was fine, and the several exercises were conducted in a manner peculiarly gratifying, under the direction of David Edmunds, Amos W. Barnum, Enoch D. Woodbridge, Luther E. Hall, and Francis Bradbury, esq., the committee of arrangements on the occasion, and Major Lawrence and Captain Huntington, marshals of the day. In the morning the delegation from the State of New York were met at Mr. Johnson's inn in Ferrisburgh by Messrs. Woodbridge and Bradbury, and Captain Geer's troop of cavalry, and escorted to this place. It is but justice to remark here that the conduct of the troops on this occasion, and through the exercises of the day, was such as to do honor to themselves and their commander. At one o'clock General Strong was escorted from his house to Mr. Painter's inn, where, after a short interview with the gentlemen from the State of New York, he proceeded through a numerous procession of the volunteers, who accompanied him to Plattsburgh, and other respectable citizens, to the platform in front of the court-house. The delegation from New York were then escorted by Captain Geer's troop, dismounted, to the top of the platform, where the following address was delivered to General Strong by Colonel Melancthon Smith in behalf of himself and his associates:" Vergennes, June 26, 1817.
"Sir, The Legislature of the State of New York have directed the governor to cause to be presented to you a sword as a testimony of the high sense they entertain of your valor and public spirit and for the services rendered by you during the invasion of Plattsburgh by the British troops in September, 1814. The lieutenant-governor, acting as governor, has honored us with this commission. In adverting to the events of that period when a numerous, disciplined and well appointed army, under officers of experience and well versed
Page 671 CITY OF VERGENNES.
To which General Strong made the following reply: "To be honored, gentlemen, for any services I may have rendered, with the approbation of a State acknowledged to be the first in wealth, in commerce and population, and in no respect inferior to any State in the Union, affords a satisfaction I cannot undertake to express. It is well known that the precipitate retreat of the British troops from Plattsburgh to their own territory, prevented the citizens and militia of the States of New York and Vermont from coming to a close and severe con flict with the enemy. Had it been otherwise I am persuaded that the volunteers from Vermont, who knew no discouragement in flying to the relief of your State, when suddenly invaded, would have faithfully performed the duty which one member of the Union always owes to another. I accept the sword, gentlemen, and request you to communicate to the lieutenant governor and Legislature of the State of New York the high sense I entertain of the honor they have conferred. And you will permit me to say that the manner in which you, gentlemen, have executed your commission has added much to my gratification. You will please accept the assurance of my respect and esteem."
The sword presented was of exquisite workmanship, its hilt and scabbard of gold. On the scabbard was the following inscription: " Presented by his excellency, Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of the State of New York, pursuant to a resolution of the Senate and Assembly of the said State, to Major-General Samuel Strong of the Vermont Volunteers as a memorial of the sense entertained by the State of his services and those of his brave mountaineers at the Battle of Plattsburgh."
After the presentation of the sword the general and the delegation from New York, with the citizens, proceeded to Painter's Inn, where they partook of a dinner provided for the occasion.
Page 672 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Business in Vergennes seems to have languished after the war; the Monkton Iron Company did not long continue the manufacture of iron. In Thompson's Gazetteer of Vermont it is said they suspended in June, 1816, and also that the machinery in operation on the falls during the war consisted of one blast furnace, one air furnace, eight forges, one rolling mill, one wire factory, besides grist, saw and fulling-mills, etc.
From 1816 to '23 were dark days for Vergennes, it not showing any increase in business, wealth or numbers. The cold summer of 1816 was unfavorable to all engaged in farming and had a tendency to lead men into other occupations. The saw-mills, however, were at work to good advantage. Captain Jahaziel Sherman and those associated with him were building steamboats in Vergennes, which gave employment to a good number of men, but had no influence in bringing men of capital and enterprise into Vergennes. General Samuel Strong, John H. Sherill, Captain Sherman, Belden Seymour, and a few others were occupied in producing from the soil or by manufacture some addtion to the real visible wealth of the community; but a large number of the citizens seem to have thought they could get rich by trading commodities or lands with each other. Some lumber and potash were sent to Canada and considerable wheat was carried to Troy. Until the Champlain Canal was opened in 1823, wheat and other products were transported by teams to Troy, and goods for the merchants brought back. Most of the teaming was done in the winter, while the sleighing was good, by farmers residing in the vicinity. The favorite route from here was through Bridport, Orwell, West Haven, etc., and taverns were found once in six miles, and frequently nearer, and were well patronized, although many of the travellers carried food from their homes. All the merchandise that came to Vergennes (except for a few articles from Canada) was brought by teams. The merchants went to market twice a year and purchased goods enough to last them six months. To order by sample or give orders to travelling salesmen was a thing unheard of. To get to Boston and back required about six days' riding in stages.
Page 673 CITY OF VERGENNES
In two thingsVergennes has always excelled, viz., her district schools and her hotels; it is not easy to see the connection, but we accept the fact. There were two district schools and three hotels usually. For many years previous to 1826 Thomas W . Rich kept what had then gained a reputation as Painter's Tavern and since as Steven's house. Mr. Rich was a graduate of Dartmouth College and came from Monkton to Vergennes. He died in 1826. The arrival of two stages a day at Rich's Hotel was an event of great interest -- one from Boston and one from Montreal. The mail route with the mail to be carried in stages was established in 1793 and kept up until the raliroad was completed in 1849. To see handome coaches and four good horses driving up to the hotel for the passengers to get out, while the mail was being changed and the coach driven to barns back of the site of Smith & Ketchum's present warehouse, where the horses which had been driven twelve miles were taken off and fresh ones put in their places, was a mild excitement coming every day, but ever new. The average mail for Vergennes in 1820 might all be carried in a common hat. Many a boy has thought that his ambitious views would be fully satisfied if he couuld become a stage driver.
Previous to 1815 Jahaziel Sherman came to Vergennes and remained here to become an important factor in the history of the city. He was a man of great dignity of presence, of courteous manners, of great method and a system in his business affairs, and universally respected for his probity and high sense of honor. Before coming to Vergenens he was associated with J.B. Germain, of Albany, in navigating on the Hudson. In 1815 the Champlain Steamboat Company finished a steamboat built at Vergennes by Edward Roberts, a master carpenter, of which Mr. Sherman became captain; this was the first Phoenix, 140 feet long, costing $45,000, to run eight miles an hour. The Champlain was built here in 1817 for John Winanns & Co., of which George
Page 674 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Samuel Strong, second son of John Strong, of Addison, came to Vergennes in the winter of 1793-94 with his wife and four children, and moved into the house formerly occupied by his brother, Asa Strong, which stood near where now stands the south end of the Shade Roller Co.'s dry house. Samuel Strong had been a farmer in Addison and for two years high sheriff of Addison county. He soon became the owner of a saw-mill and of timber lands, and by buying lands at a low price and managing his mills and farms with much prudence and skill, his property increased in value rapidly. In 1796 he built the large house (now J. D. Smith's) which has not been changed in appearance outwardly since first built, and is the only place in Vergennes that has remained in the family of the original owner without a sale. At the first city meeting after he came to Vergennes he was elected alderman, and he held important offices for many years; was representative 1804 and '05; assistant judge of the County Court five years; mayor of Vergennes 1811 to '16; at the same time was active in the militia of Vermont and rose rapidly from one grade to another, to become a major general in 1804, which office he resigned in 1810. When carding-machines were first introduced to card wool into rolls for the spinning-wheel by machinery, instead of the slow process of carding with hand cards, General Strong was largely engaged in their introduction into the New England States, New York, and Canada. When the news came to Vergennes that volunteers were wanted to resist the advance of the British at Plattsburgh, he immediately started for Burlington and was there chosen by the general voice to take the command of all the volunteers, and, with letters from Governor Chittenden, crossed the lake with the soldiers and reported to General Macomb. After the battle he returned with a severe cold, which terminated in consumption from which he never entirely recovered. In 1816 he went to Georgia for the sake of a warmer climate, hardly expecting to return; but he came back the next
Page 675 CITY OF VERGENNES.
At one time in loosening the floodwood, that accumulated to the great annoyance of mill-owners, the floodwood gave way and took him with it down the falls. He could not swim, but did not lose his presence of mind. He would sink to the bottom and crawl toward land until obliged to rise for breath, and then repeat the process. He had nearly reached the lower island when picked up by some one in a boat.
In 1809 Amos W. Barnum took the freeman's oath in Vergennes, and continued to reside here till his death in 1838. He was son of Stephen Barnum, of Monkton, and from his first residence in Vergennes was prominent in the business and public affairs of the day. Very soon after taking up his residence here he was elected alderman and continued to hold important offices. He was four times elected representative. He was mayor from 1824 to '28. He was a self-educated man of superior talents, of pleasant address and extensive in formation, with ideas in advance of his age. At one time he incurred the ridicule of his associates by predicting that some then living would see a railroad in Vergennes. He was a large owner of real estate here and elsewhere; he
Page 676 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
In 1826 Reuben Brush, who lived in what is now a part of the Stevens House, died. He had been a partner of William White for many years. In February, 1809, Josias Smith deeds to him and William White, of Sunderland, merchants and partners under the firm name of White & Brush, the lots between the Stevens House lot and the residence of C. T. & C. O. Stevens, for $2,500. They continued in trade until near the time of Brush's death, and were successful. When Mr. White came here in 1809 he was thirty-five years old; had been married thirteen years to Polly M. Gardner, of Troy. His son, William H. White, was eleven years old. George Fields came from Sunderland with Mr. White and at a later day moved on to a farm in Waltham owned by White & Brush, into the house where Stephen Burroughs now lives, and proved to be a successful farmer. William White died July 27, 7832, at the age of fifty-six. He was a large and dignified man, respected by all who knew him. For many years two nieces of his wife lived with him as daughters of the family, and were favorites in society. One of them, Jane Gordon, married the Rev. Buel Smith; the other, Mary Gordon, married Bacon Wheeler. Reuben Brush was also a favorite in business and social circles. He died in 1826 at forty-eight years of age, leaving a widow, one daughter (now Mrs. Doolittle, of Burlington), and two sons, both dead. His widow afterward married Dr. Henry Hewitt.
Francis Bradbury, a gentleman of the old school, was long in active business in Vergennes as a manufacturer and merchant. He belonged to a wealthy Boston family and had been a sea captain before coming to Vermont. In the fall of 1809 he leased of Gideon and Stephen Spencer the water power on the west side of the creek and assigned it to the Monkton Iron Company, of which he remained a member. In 1810 he bought the grist-mill on the island and sold goods most of his business life here, in a store on the west side of the creek.
Page 677 CITY OF VERGENNES.
About 1823 Zebulon R. Shepherd, from Moriah, N. Y., and one of his sons, started a mill at the falls on the east side for sawing marble, which proved a failure after a few years; and about this time Horace Wheeler, a brother of Preserved Wheeler, of New Haven, and Reuben Wheeler, of Vergennes, built a large brick block on the corner of Main and Green streets, which was rented for stores and shops until burned in 1830.
In 1824 Amos W. Barnum leased to A. T. Rathbone a site and water power for a blast furnace on the east side of the creek. The furnace was built the same year and soon leased to Hector H. Crane. Barnum also started a "Tow Path Co.," to tow from Fort Cassin to Vergennes the canal boats that were expected to come through the new Champlain Canal. A charter was obtained, the path opened and used a number of years until the steamboats commenced towing boats up the creek, and a regular line of packets and freight boats found employment in freighting lumber and produce to Troy and New York, with return freights of merchandise.
Barnum and others also began to agitate the project of establishing a bank in Vergennes, and in November, 1826, a charter was obtained; in 1827 the bank commenced business, with a capital of $100,000.
From and after the year 1823 business in Vergennes assumed a more promising aspect. Horace Wheeler built a large brick block at the corner of Main and Green streets. Zebulon Shepherd started a marble factory; A. T. Rathbone a blast furnace; several new stores were opened; a tow-path was opened on the bank of the creek from Vergennes to the lake. In 1827 the bank commenced business, and Amos W. Barnum started a hemp-factory, as before stated, at the falls and built his rope-walk. In 1828 John D. Ward bought the lease of the Monkton Iron Company's grounds and built a foundry, canal, etc.; employed a large number of men, and built up a flourishing business, which he continued until 1836. In 1834 two new houses of public worship were built, and the city soon commenced the laying of sidewalks and planting of shade trees.
It must be difficult for the young people of to-day to form any conception of the contrasts in the present and former methods of business and travel, or the comforts and conveniences of every-day life. Very little money was in circulation, most of the trade being in barter. The roads were muddy and by no means clear of roots and corduroy; the hills were steep, and bridges and sluices were often dangerous; not a sidewalk in Vergennes, and not more than
Page 678 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
On the 1st of July, 1824, the first number of the Vermont Aurora was published in Vergennes by Gamaliel Small, editor and publisher. On the 15th of July he says: "Since 1798 no great improvement has been made until within two years past. Among the manufacturing establishments in Vergennes are a furnace and marble factory recently built, three saw-mills, two grist-mills carrying seven run of stone, three woolen manufactories, two tanneries, one of which is doing extensive business for the foreign markets, two distilleries, and eleven stores, each having an extensive assortment of goods imported the last spring; there is also a book-store, a house of public worship, three schoolhouses, and upwards of one hundred dwelling houses. The number of inhabitants within the confines of the city is upwards of one thousand, a considerable portion of which have settled here within the last year. There have recently been built and are now building several elegant brick dwellings.
While we justly boast of the scenery in and about Vergennes, one of its charms has been sacrificed to the spirit of progress. The island below the falls was a charming spot before the railroad crossed it and connected it with the west shore by filling the intervening space. The island contained perhaps an acre and a half of land bordered with trees. It was a favorite camping ground for small bands of Indians, who were in the habit of making annual visits to Vergennes previous to 1830; who put up their wigwams there and were visited by the curious, who were expected to buy baskets or bead-work of the squaws. Their birch-bark canoes, and the skill with which they managed them, were a wonder and delight.
Vergennes, as Remembered by the Older Citizens, about 1825. -- Beginning on the south line on the road to Addison, a log house stood at the southwest corner, opposite Dustin Baror's present residence; one end of the log house
Page 679 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Page 680 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
In 1826 some of the former high expectations in regard to Vergennes's future greatness had vanished in the decay of the business of the Monkton Iron Company; but to the young people of that day their elders seemed happy in the pursuit of their various avocations. Their free and generous hospitality and their cordial, social intercourse brought to them their own rewards. The district school of the western district must be remembered by those who then attended it as a joyous gathering of happy children and youth, sure ever after to think their schoolmates were made of better material than the rest of mankind. At this time a grist-mill owned by Francis Bradbury was in operation, standing where N. G. Norton's mill is, run by Elijah Hitchcock, and on the rocks southwesterly from it was the wool-carding and cloth-dressing shop of Major John Thompson, with one very interesting appendage in the estimation of the boys of that time, viz., the tenter bars extending nearly the length of the island. On the small island General Strong had two saw-mills with a long slide upon which logs were drawn up to the mill from rafts below the falls. The bridge across Otter Creek was without other railing than a stick of square timber laid on the sides. At the east end of the bridge and below it was another cloth-dressing establishment, owned and operated by Reuben
Page 681 CITY OF VERGENNES.
Wheden, who was an active and enterprising business man. Below his shop was a saw-mill and then a gunsmith's shop, and lower down a blast furnace where A. T. Rathbone cast stoves and hollow ware. The first object of interest above the bridge after crossing to the east side was the broken cannon set into a cleft in the rocks, a few feet from the water and thirteen feet above the bridge as it then stood, but higher up the stream than it now is. The original monument which marked the bounds between New Haven and Ferrisburgh was a walnut tree, and after the decay of the tree a committee marked the spot where it had been by placing there a broken cannon, where it has since remained. Just back of this cannon stood a building and tannery much smaller than the present one, and near it were found the remains of the tubs and appurtenances used in the brewery started there in 1789. About half way up the hill stood a gambrel-roofed house owned by Daniel Nichols and rented to Pemberton. Higher up the hill was a small house occupied by Jemmie Bond, as he was always called, who supplied fresh meat to the citizens, from a cart. On the corner of Water street was a two-story brick house; the basement on Main street was afterwards used as a store, and the house occupied by its owner, Wait Martin, as a dwelling. The house now occupied by F. C. Strong was then occupied by William H. White. Across the street lived Captain Francis Bradbury, and on the lower corner of the bank lot was a small wooden building used for a store and occupied by Hector H. Crane. Where the bank is now, was a two-story wooden house occupied by General Villee Lawrence, the frame of which was moved later to form the present residence of General Grandey. A jeweler's shop, used by Edmund Smith, stood where is the probate office. A portion of the Havens store stood on the corner and was occupied by B. & G. Spencer, merchants. Upon the next block, now so closely built, was first Belden Seymour's hat shop, a small wooden store, and then next a similar building where General Lawrence sold goods and bought produce. Nearly in the middle of the block was the cosy dwelling house of Belden Seymour, with a yard in front filled with shrubbery; the house was a story and a half and built of wood. Two small wooden stores came next, occupied by F. Huntington and White & Brush. On the corner stood a low, rambling, gambrel-roofed wooden building, which had been used for a tavern; it was then used for a store and mechanic shops. On the opposite side of Main street was a two-story house, the dwelling of Reuben Wheeler, with a store in one corner, where Adams & Wheeler traded. Where the Farmers' Bank is, was the law office of Noah Hanley, soon after used as a harness shop by William Joslin. Next was the dwelling house of Reuben Brush, now a part of the hotel, and on the corner was "Rich's tavern," owned by White & Brush and kept by Thomas W. Rich from 1816 to '26. The building C. B. Kidder occupied was a large brick block built by Horace Wheeler, of two stories and basement, the basement stores fronting on Green street being thought very desirable locations.