CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 59J73 066 
 
 History of the town of Johnson Vt. 1784 > 
 
 3 1924 028 838 055 , 
 
 olin I 
 
F 
 
(First President of tlie Oread C'lul). and Chaii'nian of the Committee in 
 charge of tlie Compilation of the Johnson History.) 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE TOWN OF 
 
 JOHNSON, VT, 
 
 1784 - 1907. 
 
 COMPILED AND PUBLISHED 
 
 UNDEE DIRECTION OF THE 
 
 OREAD LITERARY CLUB 
 
 FOB THE BENEFIT OF THE 
 
 JOHNSON PUBLIC LIBRARY FUND. 
 
 1907. 
 
 Bublington: 
 
 Fkee Peess Pbinting Co., 
 
 pbintebs, bindebs, stationebs. 
 
 1907. 
 
Copyright 1907, Mattie W. Baker. 
 
Johnson Village is 460 feet above sea-le^^el. 
 
 At the first census, taken in 1791, the inhabitants of the town num- 
 bered 93. 
 
 Papulation by decades : 
 
 1800 255 
 
 1810 494 
 
 1820 *. 778 
 
 1830 1079 
 
 1840 • 1410 
 
 1850 1381 
 
 i860 1526 
 
 1870 1558 
 
 1880 , 1495 
 
 1890 1462 
 
 1900 1391 
 

 ' saqsuuot 
 
 MsgM 
 
 (I) 
 
 , 
 
 -O 0) 
 
 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE TOWN. 
 
 This township, containing 23,040 acres, Was first granted to a man 
 by the name of Joseph Brown, who was one of the first three settlers 
 of the town of Jericho, some time previous to the year 1780. He caused 
 the outlines to be surveyed, commenced the allotment in the eastern part 
 of the town, and gave it the name of Brownington. 
 
 In the fall of 1780, while Mr. Brown was at his home in Jericho 
 with his family, which consisted of his wife, two sons and a daughter, 
 a party of Indians on their return to Canada after sacking the village 
 of Royalton, came to Mr. Brown's clearing, burned his log cabin and 
 ' barns, killed his cattle, and carried off the family as prisoners of war, 
 this being in Revolutionary times. They suffered much from fatigue 
 and hunger on their long, rough tramp to Canada, their principal food 
 being raw bear's meat. 
 
 On arriving at St. John's, they were turned over to the British au- 
 thorities, their captors receiving the bounty due them, $8.00 per head. 
 For more than three years they were kept .there at hard labor, with 
 scanty fare and great privations. They did; not hear of the peace till 
 some time after its establishment, so it was three years and eight months 
 before they returned to the settlement. 
 
 During this time, the fees for the grant of the charter remained un- 
 paid, and the Government officials not knowing of Brown's misfortunes, 
 concluded he must be dead, so another grant of the township was made 
 to Samuel William Johnson and his associates on Feb. 27, 1782. The 
 charter of the town was not obtained till Jan. 2, 1792, when it was 
 
6 HISTOEY OF THE TOWN 
 
 issued by the Governor of Vermont, bearing the name of the grantee, 
 Johnson. The name of Brownington stuck to the township till 1787, 
 for in the "Diary of Jabez Fitch" under the head "Hydepark," in Miss 
 Hemienway's "Gazetteer of Vermont," he speaks of this township al- 
 ways as Brownington, and of stopping here at McConnell's and Smith's, 
 two of the early settlers, as he went back and forth from Hydepark to 
 Cambridge, that year. 
 
 Fitch returned to Connecticut, and came back the next year, and 
 then his diary makes mention of this town as Johnson. 
 
 Previous to the survey and allotment of the town by Johnson, in 
 1788 or '89, a number of settlements were made on the borders of the 
 Lamoille river by emigrants from New Hampshire and perhaps other 
 places. The first one was made in 1784, by Mr. Samuel Eaton of Pier- 
 mont, N. H., whose name is recorded among the heroes of the Revolu- 
 tion, and he also served in the French and Indian war, during which he 
 passed through this part of the country and down the Lamoille as a 
 scout. At the commencement of the Revolution he enlisted in the 
 American army under Col. Beedle, and frequently passed through this 
 township while scouting between the Connecticut river and Lake Cham- 
 plain. Several times he camped on the same flat which he af- 
 terwards occupied as a farm, it having impressed him as a favorable site 
 for a home. It is the meadow of what has been known for many years 
 as the Holmes farm, on the Waterville road. 
 
 He removed to this spot from the Connecticiit river, with a large fam- 
 ily, carrying his whole worldly possessions on a pack-horse. The dis- 
 tance was more than sixty miles, principally through an unbroken 
 wilderness ; and for more than thirty miles he was guided only by trees 
 which he and his companions had previously blazed while on scouting 
 parties in war-time, opening a path as he passed along. 
 
 Like all the earlier settlers, he was largely dependent upon hunting 
 and fishing to support his family, until he could raise vegetables and 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 7 
 
 grain. English turnips were raised as soon as a bit of land could be 
 cleared, even planted around stumps of trees. These turnips took the 
 place of potatoes. Later, potatoes were raised, but they were scarce for 
 a long time, partly from the lack of seed. Moose and other native 
 animals ranged upon the hills and mountains and there were plenty of 
 fish in the streams. Bread, however, was a rarity when obtained, hav- 
 ing to be procured at a great distance, in flour or meal, and carried in 
 sacks, upon the shoulders of the pioneers, to their families in their rude 
 and lonely cabins. 
 
 Mr. Eaton lived to a good old age much xespected, and in his later 
 years received a pension from Government for Revolutionary services. 
 He was buried in the cemetery near Eugene Grow's, in what was then 
 the town of Sterling. In 1904 the town of Johnson voted to place a 
 monument at his grave. It is a heavy block of Vermont granite on 
 which is this inscription : 
 
 "Samuel Eaton 
 
 1 742- 1 826. 
 
 Soldier of the Revolution, 
 
 First Settler of the 
 
 Town of Johnson, 1784. 
 
 Erected by the Town of 
 
 Johnson, 1904." 
 
 Two women of the third and fourth getteration in direct descent 
 from Mr. Eaton are still living in town, Mrs. Thomas Bettis, and Mrs. 
 David Muzzy. 
 
 The year following Mr. Eaton's settlement here, a number of his 
 old neighbors in New Hampshire followed him. Among them were two 
 brothers named McConnell, one of whom located at the falls where the 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE TaWN 
 
 present mill-dam is, and erected a saw-mill ^and grist-mill. Among 
 these early settlers were the Millers, McDaniels, Mills, Simons, Smiths 
 and Greggs. The first marriage in Johnson was John Simons to Sally 
 Mills in 1791 or '92. 
 
 The first deed on record was given the ylh day of Feb. 1788, land 
 being deeded by several of the original proprietors" to Jona. Edwards 
 of New Haven, Conn., in Consideration of Ten Pounds Lawful money 
 Rec'd To our Full satisfaction, and for Divour's other Causes." 
 
 The first child born in town was a son of Mr. Aaron Smith, and was 
 named Johnson Smith, in honor of the town. The mother, when the 
 child was but a few months old, in view of approaching winter and the 
 scarcity of provisions, started with her child, accompanied by her hus- 
 band, for Chaion river, and thence, on foot and alone, traveled to Ben- 
 nington to spend the winter with friends. 
 
 The first death in town was that of John Fullington, who was the 
 first white man to settle in the town of Fletcher. It was in the autumn 
 of 1785. He came from Deerfield, N. H., cornmenced clearing a farm, 
 put up a shanty, worked one season, and, returning to Deerfield, started 
 with his wife and four little children for their new home. They had 
 one horse to ride, and one cow to drive, and only marked trees to guide 
 them on their way. iTwo men by the name of Barnett who had land in 
 Fairfax, came with them. Coming through Johnson they stopped for 
 the night at the house of Thomas McConnell, who had a patch of tur- 
 nips, and Mr. Fullington ate one raw ; a severe attack of colic followed 
 from which he died before morning. He was buried the next day in 
 a trough dug out of a bass-wood log. The grave was a few rods 
 northeast of where the Foote house now stands. A large rock near 
 by marks the spot. 
 
 The widow and children went on to ths desolate cabin home in 
 Fletcher. She lived to be ninety-five years old, and died of small-pox. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 9 
 
 The allotment of the town was made in 1788 or '89. The lots were 
 designed to contain 300 acres to each proprietor, besides an allowance 
 of five per cent, for roads. The survey, however, was very inaccurate, 
 some lots containing a much larger number of acres than others, and 
 zigzag lines were found to run from corner to* corner of lots, enlarging 
 one by diminishing another. All this caused much dispute and litiga- 
 gation among the early settlers, but in all cases the courts established 
 the lines and corners where they could be proven to have been run 
 and marked. 
 
 The settlers cleared the land, planted corn, and built log houses 
 without doors or windows, hanging quilts at the door-ways. These 
 houses were scantily furnished, as most of the settlers came from 
 long distances, and, from lack of transportation, could bring but little 
 with them. 
 
 One of those who came here previous to 1790 was a young man 
 from Boston by the name of John Wier, who had previously been a 
 sailor, but, strangely enough left that occupation to come to the wilds 
 of Northern Vermont. He arrived in hfs short jacket and buff 
 trousers, destitute of means even to procure an axe to commence 
 labor in the forest, but selecting a location in the northern part of the 
 town, he built a cabin, where he lived like a hermit until with industry 
 and economy he had paid for his land, cleared and stocked his farm. 
 In 1801 he sold it and set up a store in what afterward became the 
 village, dealing principally in groceries. He also manufactured pot 
 and pearl ashes, by which industry he gained considerable means. He 
 was a man of limited education and depended upon memory rather than 
 accounts in his mercantile transactions. Being strictly honest himself, 
 he thought other people were the same, and .thus much of his goods 
 passed into the hands of those who either coyld not, or would not pay 
 for them. His place of business was what was known later as the 
 "old red store," which stood about where the hose house now stands. 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 After his death, which occurred sometime in the '30% there was 
 discovered among some rubbish, an old stocking well filled with silver 
 coin and some forty dollars in bills, which appeared to have been 
 wrapped in paper, of which the mice had made a comfortable nest. 
 
 He was buried in the cemetery on Stearns St., and this inscription 
 was placed uf>on his tombstone : 
 
 "An honest man is the noblest Work of God." 
 
 At the first census of the town, in 1791, the population was 93. 
 The taxable property was valued at £275, equal to $1,375. 
 
 From 1790 to 1800 more settlers arrived, mostly from New Hamp- 
 shire and Massachusetts. (From New Boston and Amherst, N. H., 
 came the families of Balch, Wilson, Ellinwood, Reddington, Prime, At- 
 well and others. Mrs. Atwell came on horseback all the way, carrying 
 with her a flax-wheel. She started with a mirror also, but that was un- 
 fortunately dropped on the way, and broken. They located on what 
 has ever since been known as the AtWell farm, on the hill-road to Wa- 
 terville, and when her horse waded what is new known as the Manning 
 brook, she was the first white woman to cross it. Their first home was 
 a log cabin, replaced later by a better structure, and the present brick 
 house, built in 1828, was the fourth home which they erected. 
 
 For years they endured all sorts of privations and hardships, in 
 common with the other settlers, but reared a large family of children 
 in spite of them. It required the "three P's, Patience, Perseverance 
 and Pluck," to be a pioneer woman in those days, and Mrs. Atwell once 
 drove off with a pitchfork, in the absence of men-folks, a hungry bear 
 who was disposed to make a meal of some precious little pigs. 
 
 Wild animals were, of course, very common, and even twenty years 
 later were by no means rare. When Perkins Langdell, who came here 
 a boy of seven, in 1818, was hoeing com as a youth, he was near a 
 log fence, and, hearing a noise, looked up to see a bear standing be- 
 
Damkl iJiiiii.i. 
 
 Mils. Dami:i. liiiiH.K 
 
 Mi:h. H.wxAii HAi.rii Uai^ioi; 
 177n-lRf;7 
 
 Thomas I!ak 
 ISOO-lSi;:! 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 11 
 
 hind the fence, his fore-paws resting on it, as if debating whether it 
 were worth while to vault over and make a dviner of the boy. 
 
 The journey to this part of the country by team from southern 
 New Hampshire, from Massachusetts and Connecticut, whence most 
 of the settlers emigrated, was more of an undertaking than is a journey 
 to Alaska now. Both people and household siuS usually came by sleds, 
 the wear and tear on both loads and teams being less. They had to 
 be out several nights on the way, for roads were poor and travel very 
 slow. When Mr. Daniel Dodge moved here from New Boston, N. H., 
 at one place where he and his wife spent the night, the house was 
 burned and they suffered loss as well as the family, he losing his cap 
 and pocketbook, and she her hood. Some good Samaritan woman fur- 
 nished a hood for her to complete her journey in, but she inwardly felt 
 that it was a poor substitute for the smart hood in which she had ex- 
 pected to appear in the new country where she was going. 
 
 From Belchertown and other places in Massachusetts and Connec- 
 ticut came the Ferrys, Clarks, Wheelers and others. The first physician 
 in town was Dr. William Coit. iThe first merchant was a man by the 
 name of Crosby, who erected a small plank store. He had for sale 
 a puncheon of potato whiskey highly colored with hemlock bark and 
 burnt sugar, which he called French brandy, &nd asked a price accord- 
 ingly. Some thirsty individuals secretly contrived to bore through the 
 plank into the end of the puncheon and put in a faucet from the out- 
 side, which was hidden by a large log lying near the buildingj and there 
 they took their nightly drinks at leisure. The trick was not discovered 
 until the puncheon was nearly empty, when Mr. Crosby tried to move 
 it, and found it fastened to the wall. 
 
 The population of the town in 1800 was 255. ' 
 
 Between 1800 and 1805 more settlers carfie from New Hampshire, 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut and from other places in Vermont, in- 
 cluding the families of Griswold, Burnham, Morgan, Ober, Perkins, 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Patch, Waters and Nichols. The family of Arunah Waterman came 
 here from Norwich, Conn., with an ox team, being seventeen days on 
 the road. He was one of the original proprietors of the town of Hyde- 
 park, but shortly after arriving there he purchased the farm in John- 
 son where Jonathan McConnell had located, and built the mills already 
 referred to, about which the village has since grown up. His house 
 stood near the site of the store built by O. & A. H. Buck on the north 
 side of the Gihon, beside the bridge, now occupied by H. M. Maxfield, 
 but was farther away from the Gihon. Mr. Waterman lived there till 
 his death in 1838 in the 90th year of his age. 
 
 The first mail was carried through town by John Skeels of Peacham 
 on horseback to St. Albans and back once a week. Arunah Waterman, 
 Jr., was the first postmaster. The first settled minister was Elder Joel 
 P. Hayford, a young Baptist, and he lived in the house near the north 
 end of Pearl St. long owned by Roswell Bradley. 
 
 The earliest settlers located near the streams, clearing the meadows 
 for farms. Later comers chose land on the hills in preference, for one 
 reason, because they feared floods on the meadows, and did not realize 
 that flooding enriched the land. But a more cogent reason was .that 
 it was found that the hill-lands raised better crops of wheat, sometimes 
 as high as 36 bushels to the acre. There was no unlimited "Out West" 
 to raise wheat for New England in those days, and it behooved the 
 settlers to raise everything possible in the way of food. 
 
 The geographical center of the township as it was then bounded, 
 was where Nathan Dodge lives. That part of the town was called 
 the "Plot," in recognition of the plotting together of some of the 
 original proprietors to have their lots measured off larger than was 
 usual. The village was naturally enough called the "Flat." The men 
 of substance in the north part of the town like the Dodges, Balches and 
 others, thought that the commercial center of the town ought to coincide 
 with the geographical, and tried to have a village built there. Alexander 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 13 
 
 Gregg built a store on the flat below the farm buildings so long owned 
 by Benjamin Morgan, and now by Frank Dodge, and he traded there 
 for several years. The cellar on the site of this store, where barrels 
 of whiskey and New England rum were as common as those of mo- 
 lasses, is still plainly to be seen. 
 
 Later on, when cattle and horses became common enough so there 
 were occasional strays, the town pound was' established at this place, 
 the man occupying the house being pound-keeper. All stray animals 
 were driven there and kept till the rightful owner came and released 
 them by paying the pound fee. 
 
 Another little settlement was started farther east. When John 
 Cristy came to town from New Boston, N. H., in 1827, and bought the 
 farm where he lived the rest of his life, there was a store, potash-fac- 
 tory, blacksmith shop and chair factory located on the farm. Joshua 
 Chase was the blacksmith. Cutler Crosman, the merchant, and Matthew 
 Griswold owned and managed the chair factory. The chair-posts, rails 
 and rounds were turned by machinery, the bottoms were basket- 
 weaving. Many of the chairs are still in existence. 
 
 With so many people settling on the hills, it was only natural that 
 roads should be built over them, but hill-roads' seemed to have no terrors 
 for our forefathers. Up-hill and down-dale was all one to them. They 
 appeared to take a bee-line, as nearly as possible, for the objective point, 
 and if a steep hill stood in the way, over the hill went the road, all the 
 same. Perhaps they forgot that the bail of-a kettle is no longer when 
 lying down around the edge, than when standuig up over the center. 
 
 There are mossy side-hill pastures in some parts of the town, where 
 can still be traced the old stage-roads which Were laid out and traveled 
 in those early days. Who were the dwellerg along these roads? 
 
 In the northern part of the town, away in what we now call the 
 back pastures, berry-pickers will come upon .what was once a traveled 
 highway leading to some hollow among the hills, where a cup-like de- 
 
14 HISTORY OP THE TOWN 
 
 pression in the ground, with gnarled old apple trees around it, tells that 
 here was once a home where human hopes and human loves flourished 
 and were recognized. But perhaps no one of this generation can tell 
 whose was this home of long ago. 
 
 "The homely hearth of honest mirth; 
 
 The traces of their plough, 
 The places of their worshipping 
 
 Are all forgotten now." 
 
 Among the first saw-mills built was one on the Thomas Hooper 
 farm, lately owned by James Parker. The raising of the frame for this 
 mill was made memorable by a serious accident. A young man, twenty 
 years of age, named Farr, who had been married only two or three days, 
 fell from' the top on to the rocks below, and was so seriously injured that 
 his reasoning powers were entirely dethroned. From that time until his 
 death, at ninety years of age, he remained perfectly helpless and speech- 
 less, his faithful and devoted wife supporting and caring for him all 
 these years. 
 
 The farmers cleared the land as fast as possible, rolled the logs to- 
 gether and burned them, using the ashes for potash and pearlash, there 
 being of course no market for lumber except for their own use. Even as 
 late as the middle of the last century, acres and acres of land were 
 cleared of their noble trees in the same spendthrift fashion, leaving land 
 rocky and useless for tillage purposes, that, had the trees been left 
 standing, would be a veritable gold mine now. 
 
 The first general article of commerce was potash, or salts of lye. 
 There was a potash factory still standing, within the last half century, 
 on the meadow directly back of Dr. Minott's house on Railroad St. 
 Here ashes were brought and sold for nine pence per bushel, and made 
 into potash and j)earlash for the market. The factory was owned by 
 Moses Morse, and its products were sold in Montreal. 
 
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OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 15 
 
 Occasionally farmers burned hardwood in coal-pits, making char- 
 coal to sell to the blacksmiths. Of all the trees in the forest, the maple 
 was the most valuable to the early settlers. At a time when coal still 
 lay hidden in the earth, its wood was the best fuel for their greedy fire 
 places. They made sugar from maple sap in a crude fashion, 'cutting 
 a gash in the tree with an axe, and inserting a thin chip which conducted 
 the sap into some receptacle set on the ground junderneath. They boiled 
 the sap in large iron kettles, with a piece of salt pork hung on a hook 
 just high enough to dip into the sap if it came near boiling over. 
 
 Those early-time people found it neceSsary to make their own 
 lights. At first they dipped pieces of old cloth in grease or oil, such 
 as they had, and burned it in an old saucer ; this was called a "slutlight." 
 The mills and factories requiring a more brilliant light used refuse fats, 
 without trying out, in a shallow, iron kettle, placing quite a large piece 
 of cloth in the center of the kettle, bringing together, and tying, near the 
 top, for a wick. Whale-oil was burned in small tin lamps by those who 
 could afford it on extra occasions. 
 
 Of course tallow for candles was rare in garly days, for the settlers 
 could not spare any of their few cattle to be killed. Eleanor Dodge, 
 (afterwards Mrs. Thomas Waterman) who came here from New Bos- 
 ton, N. H., about 1800, to keep house for her brother, Elisha, before 
 his marriage, used to tell of her first winter in town, when, by close 
 economy she managed to get together enough tallow to run two candles 
 in tin candle-moulds. Then Mrs. Atwell gave her three candles, and 
 another good woman gave her two more, so she had seven, quite a good 
 winter's stock. Nobody thought of such an extravagance as lighting a 
 candle except in case of severe illness, or sonle great emergency. All 
 meals were cooked at the big fire-place, supper was eaten and dishes 
 washed by its cheerful light, and the family gathered around it for 
 their evening's work, the women with sewing, knitting or spinning, 
 while the men scraped axe-helves, tinkered "farming tools, or tapped 
 
16 HISTOEY OF THE TOWN 
 
 their cowhide boots. The children lying on the floor where a hearth- 
 rug would be now-a-days, spelled out their lessons for the next day 
 in Webster's Elementary Spelling-book, or played "fox-and-geese" on 
 a home-made board. There was corn to pop over the coals, and per- 
 haps butternuts to crack, but the traditional pitcher of cider and dish 
 of apples which would complete this picture of domestic comfort had 
 to wait till the first settlers had set out apple-trees and waited for 
 them to reach the bearing age. 
 
 The first manufacturing in town was purely domestic. Fields of 
 flax with their dainty blue flowers became common, and in the fall it 
 might have been seen cut and lying to rot the fiber' in the sun and rain, 
 then it was brought in and stored for winter's work. The wood-cut 
 for February in Thompson's Farmer's Almanac was always that of a 
 man swingling flax on a home-made break, a picture which the children 
 of this twentieth century would not understand at all. Within doors 
 the work of hetchelling, spinning and weaving the flax went busily on. 
 They made all their underwear, bed and table linen and toweling. For 
 handkerchiefs they would spin and weave a very fine piece of linen, then 
 bleach it on the grass. They also made their thread. ' 
 
 If they wished for nicer cloth than any they could make, they 
 bought it, often paying in barley, or other grain, as ready cash was 
 scarce. It took sixty- four bushels of barley to buy a yard of broadcloth, 
 and a bushel of wheat to purchase a yard of calico. They made linsey- 
 woolsey cloth for dresses, the warp being linen and the filling wool. 
 The colors were red, blue and copperas, woven in little checks. Some- 
 times they tied peas in a piece of linen, woven for dresses, dyeing 
 the goods blue, making a pretty little ring, for a figure. The Women 
 and girls braided straw and palmleaf, and sewed hats, also made husk 
 doormats. They made soft soap by leaching wood ashes and boiling 
 the lye with grease. There was no saleratus to be bought, so they 
 made pearlash for cooking purposes. Cob coals made the very best 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 17 
 
 pearlash, by soaking in water, then pouring off the water into bottles, 
 ready for use. 
 
 While flax was one of the staple products, a large quantity of sur- 
 plus seed was raised every year, and it was utilized by some one who 
 established here a mill for grinding the seed and extracting the oil. This 
 must have been quite a help to the farmers who raised the flax and thus 
 had a market for their surplus seed. We find mention made of the oil- 
 mill in the town records of 1813. 
 
 Farmers kept sheep as soon as circumstances would allow, both for 
 their meat as food, and their wool as clothing. Spinning and weaving 
 of wool were common household employments. The first carding had 
 to be done by hand, but at an early day Joseph Waterman introduced 
 a carding machine which was a great help. He afterwards sold it to 
 Dow & Gloyd of the woolen factory, and in later years William Mc- 
 Clerathan at East Johnson did the carding. All the yarn used in 
 the family foot-wear was spun at home, aftei^wards knit into stockings, 
 gloves, and mittens by the deft hands of the women and girls. They 
 were obliged to make the cloth for all theijr warm wearing apparel. 
 Yarn was spun, colored and woven for flannel dresses and other gar- 
 ments, also bed-blankets, flannel for sheets, blue and white coverlets and 
 frocking. If a nice piece of dress goods was wanted the flannel was 
 taken to the factory of DoW & Gloyd, and there pressed by machinery 
 for a small sum. Cloth for men's trousers was taken there to be fulled. 
 
 Simeon L,yman seems to have started the woolen factory industry, 
 aside from the wool-carding, as we find from the Land Records that 
 in 1816 Joseph Waterman deeded to Simeon Lyman a "Privilege 
 of Water at the lower falls on the North Branch of the River 
 Lamoille to be taken from the mill-dam or saw-mill flume sufficient to 
 carry a Fulling mill, napping and shearing machine, and machinery 
 for cutting dyewood, together with the buildings now erected for fulling 
 and cloth-dressing." 
 
18 HISTORY OF THE tTOWN 
 
 About 1835 Andrew Dow and his brOther-in-law, Gloyd, bought 
 and enlarged the woolen factory, putting in spinning machines and 
 looms as time went by. On the posfers sept out, advertising the new 
 firm and its business, it was announced that the factory was "built on 
 the Gihon that runneth westward from Eden!" See Genesis, 2nd 
 chapter, thirteenth verse. That was the way the Branch received its 
 Scriptural name. Gloyd soon retired from the firm, and in 1838 
 Stephen Dow became a partner with his brpther Andrew. Later An- 
 drew Dow retired from the firm and removed to Hinesburgh, his place 
 in the firm being taken by Isaac I,. Pearl. Stephen Dow sold out, and 
 Orange Buck became a partner with Pearl, they operating both the 
 woolen-mill and the grist-mill. Willard Hadley was miller for them, 
 and one of his characteristic sayings was that "the firm fed the hungry 
 at one end of the mill-dam, and clothed the naked at the other" ; When 
 this partnership was ended, Mr. Buck taking the grist-mill, the woolen 
 factory was operated by I. L. Pearl & Co., which firm has continued 
 for nearly two score years. 
 
 Perkinsville, now called East Johnson, owes its location to the wa- 
 ter power On the Gihon River, and received its name from a man named 
 Thomas Perkins, who built and ran a foundry for several years on the 
 site where Hayford Brothers now manufacture butter boxes and other 
 wooden ware. He started the business in the '30's. Previous to that, 
 Archibald Ferguson built a saw mill where W. H. Stearns' store-house 
 is. These industries were the nucleus around which the village of 
 Perkinsville was built, other mills being added from time to time. John 
 Stearns started the manufacture of rakes there, more than fifty years 
 ago. His son, W. H. Stearns, carries on the business in an enlarged 
 form, putting out 50,000 rakes annually. John Stearns' younger 
 brother, Otis W., commenced manufacturing- butter tubs at Perkinsville, 
 later removing the industry to the upper mill-site in Johnson village. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 19 
 
 when the firm became widely known as O. W. Stearns & Son. Their 
 sales extended to the far West. The "Son"' has been Lieut.-Governor. 
 
 Thomas Perkins' foundry was burned, ind he moved to southern 
 Vermont and started another village in the town of Weathersfield, 
 to which he also gave the name of Perkinsville. When the vil- 
 lage in Johnson had a post-office granted to it, before the days of rural 
 free delivery, the name was changed to East Johnson, to prevent con- 
 fusion of mail-matter. 
 
 There were one or more distilleries in town where potato-whiskey 
 was made, as early as 1813. 'Later on, Joseph Waterman began the 
 manufacture of potato starch where E. E. Holmes' shop now stands, 
 and did a large business for many years. Chas. Leland made starch 
 for several years at the water power site between Johnson village and 
 East Johnson. 
 
 Several industries have centered, at different times, about the upper 
 mill-dam, where the tub factory buildings are now clustered. Simpson 
 Bell had a tannery there in iSiJ- Later on, one Ryder made carriages 
 there, and A. W. Caldwell, who built the Langdell house, also built a 
 furniture shop near the aforesaid mill-dam. This shop was burned 
 in December 1838. An elderly man tells of gojng to the fire in company 
 with his father and brother, and how they stood in line with the men 
 and helped pass pails of water. The end wall of the building fell out 
 on the ice, and, boy-like, exploring among the ruins, each picked up and 
 carried home two nails, as souvenirs of a great event in their young 
 lives. 
 
 Such a commotion as it made in that pious household ! Such a lec- 
 ture on the sin of stealing as their good mother gave to those boys! 
 The nails were taken from them, each two wrapped in a separate paper 
 and marked "R's S's theft," and, "J's S's l^eft," and the boys were 
 compelled to carry them to Mr. Caldwell and confess their sin. 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Granted that nails in those days were all laboriously pounded out 
 on an anvil by hand, and that they cost fifteen cents a pound, it still 
 seems to us at the present day an aggravated case of what is known as 
 the "New England Conscience." 
 
 Marshall Hosmer commenced chair making in 1839 i"^ ^^^ ^ part 
 of the Warren house on Railroad street, an^ he and his father worked 
 at the business there for many years. There was a hat factory where 
 Geo. Conger's house now stands, where Geo. Sheldon made "fashionable 
 Hats, Brush and Plain Hats, Beaver, Otter, Neutre, Muskrat and Cony 
 Naps, Satin Beaver and Wool Hats." 
 
 This was his advertisement in the Johnson newspaper of that day. 
 Felt hats being unknown in those days, "stove-pipe" hats were the only 
 headgear worn on formal occasions, and as boys even down to ten or 
 twelve years of age wore hats of the same shape as their fathers, the 
 hat-making industry was a busy one. 
 
 Tanning leather was a profitable business and a very necessary 
 industry for the settlers. Any leather not needed for the home mar- 
 ket found ready sale elsewhere. In addition to the tanneries already 
 here, Dexter Whiting, who moved to Johnson from New Boston, N. H., 
 in 1832, built one on the farm where Geo. Whiting lives, where for many 
 years he carried on a very profitable business. The bark-mill was driven 
 by the water-power of the tiny stream which flows near the road lead- 
 ing north from the village, the mill-pond being beside the road, just 
 below the farm-buildings. The large wooden overshot wheel that ran 
 the mill was still in place there as late as the '90's. 
 
 Ready-made boots and shoes were unknown, and itinerant cobblers 
 went from house to house with their kit of tools, making foot-wear 
 for the family. This was called "whipping the cat." Women went 
 about in families as tailoresses, also, ready-made clothing not having 
 been thought of. 
 
OP JOHNSON, VERMONT 21 
 
 Butter-making was carried on in a primitive fashion. The milk 
 was set in big brown-earthen, pans, and the cream was churned in a 
 wooden dash-churn, often a tedious process. The butter was worked 
 by hand, made into balls, and bartered for 'goods at the local store. 
 Where several cows were kept, the farmers got into the way of pack- 
 ing their butter in tubs, and marketing it in the fall. Some men 
 with stout teams loaded their sleds with butter, cheese, pork, dried 
 apples, poultry, and general farm produce, as soon as sledding came in 
 the early winter, drove to Boston, and marketed their stuff. They 
 brought back supplies for their families, also freight for the mer- 
 chants. Several teams would go back and forth in company, the trip 
 each way occupying several days. 
 
 On one of these trips in the '30's, a severe snow storm set in, and 
 though the teams were expected to reach home on Saturday night, the 
 roads were so bad that they were only able to "get to Hydepark, too late, 
 and their horses too tired to go the five miles farther. So all put up 
 at the tavern, and all but one came home with their loads on Sunday 
 morning. Deacon Harris Whiting could not reconcile it with his con- 
 science to drive his load home on the Sabbath, though anxious to be 
 with his wife and little children. So he remained at the tavern, at- 
 tended the two church services customary in those days, with Sunday 
 school sandwiched between, very likely also a Sunday evening prayer 
 meeting, and at daylight on Monday morning set out for home. In 
 after years his widow used to relate this incident with pardonable pride. 
 
 As a whole, the early settlers of the town were a religious people. 
 Church services were held at private houses, slater at the schoolhouses, 
 and Churches were organized as soon as the number of attendants would 
 warrant. By the time there were two church edifices in town, in 1832, 
 every Sunday morning long strings of teams could be seen coming 
 from every direction to the house of God. A 'score of teams where now 
 there is one, but this is partly due to the great number of farms that 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 have been abandoned to pasturage and woodland, so that there is not 
 half the farming population that there was then. There were school 
 districts fifty years ago where the little school-house was full to over- 
 flowing every winter with big girls and little girls, little boys and big 
 boys. Some of the latter came to school professedly and really for the 
 sole purpose of "putting out the master," a,nd they sometimes did it, 
 too. Many of those school-houses are today abandoned for lack of 
 scholars. Few large families of children are found among the native 
 Americans of today. In 1850, when the population of the town was 
 1,381, the number of children in town of school age was 488. In 1900, 
 with a population of 1,391, there were only 286! These figures are 
 their own commentary on the "race suicide" which President Roosevelt 
 so wisely deplores, and we can only conjecture how small will be 
 the ratio of school children in another fifty years. At the same time, 
 our schools are second to none in this section, and since the town 
 system came into use, the town, as a whole, has been very liberal 
 in furnishing up-to-date buildings, and employing teachers who ad- 
 vocate up-to-date methods. The graded school building was erected 
 in 1895 at a cost of $7,500. Alterations and repairs since, bring it up 
 to nearly $10,000. 
 
 Neighborhood prayer meetings were a feature of the early days of 
 the town, and a great factor for good, in a time when regular church 
 services were unattainable. At one of these a peculiar incident oc- 
 cured. The log cabin in which the meeting was held was on the 
 farm now occupied by Wm. Cunningham, and the site of the old cellar 
 was plainly to be seen within the last half century. 
 
 Deacon Taylor and Deacon Clark, two good men whose memories 
 are still fragrant in the town, were both at the meeting. Deacon Tay- 
 lor, who was a very even-tempered man, arose and spoke upon the joys 
 of a religious life, every day the same calm peace and hope. As he sat 
 down. Deacon Clark, an impulsive man, jumped to his feet. "I like 
 
OF JOHNSON, VEEMONT 23 
 
 that," he said, "I wish I could feel so, too, but I can't. Some days I'm 
 so happy I'm clear up on the housetop," raising his arms above his head. 
 "And maybe the very next day, without any cause whatever, I'm 
 clear down cellar," bringing his weight down= solidly. He was a large, 
 heavy man, and happened to be standing on the trap-door to the cellar, 
 which gave way at this juncture and made his words come literally 
 true. 
 
 Of this same Deacon Clark, who lived where Leroy Scribner lately 
 lived, and is buried on the same farm, it is told that one Sunday morn- 
 ing, just as people were -beginning to gather (for church, he drove into 
 the village with his ox-cart piled high with bags of grain en route 
 to the grist-mill. Seeing people in their best clothes going towards 
 the church, he asked if there was a funeraL 
 
 "No, just the regular church services. What are you up to?" 
 
 "To-day isn't Sunday!" 
 
 "Of course it is." 
 
 "And I'm goin' to mill with all this grist, s'posed it was Saturday. 
 Oh dear ! I've got to hurry back home and tell wife and the girls, 
 for they're up to their elbows in the Saturday bakin', and everything." 
 And turning his team around with a great deal of "whoa! hish! haw 
 Bright!" he made his shame- faced way home as fast as slow oxen 
 could go, having to meet all his neighbors dressed in their Sunday best 
 on their way to church. 
 
 Our village has been fortunate in never having any very extensive 
 fires, especially as we have never had any ;organized fire protection 
 until within the last twelve years. 
 
 Sometime in the thirties, a barn belonging to Mr. Samuel Mer- 
 riam and standing near where Seth Hill now lives, was struck by 
 lightning and burned. Mr. Merriam had led his horse out of the barn 
 but a few minutes before. 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Not far from that time, a small building by the Branch, just above 
 the iron bridge, was burned. It had been used as a tailor's shop. The 
 burning of Mr. Caldwell's first furniture shop has been mentioned else- 
 where. 
 
 Mr. Merriam's store, on the site of B. S. Fullington's house was 
 biirned in the spring of 1849. It was only by the most strenuous ex- 
 ertions on the part of both men and women that the surrounding build- 
 ings were saved. 1 
 
 The largest and most spectacular fire the village ever witnessed 
 was that of the woolen factory in the spring of 1871. The fire-bell 
 rang continuously for an hour, calling in help for miles around, and 
 only heroic efforts on the part of stalwart men, and the near proximity 
 of the Branch, saved the Baptist Church and. other buildings from im- 
 mediate destruction. But for the fact that rain wet the roofs in the 
 path of the storm of sparks and cinders, half of the village would have 
 been in ashes, for a brisk east wind carried pieces of burning shingles 
 away beyond the village's farthest Umits. 
 
 One Sunday in the summer of '72, word tame into the Congrega- 
 tional Church that W. H. Moulton's water-tubing factory, where 
 Stearns' tubshop now is, was on fire. A young minister candidating 
 there was in the midst of an eloquent sermon, but he joined the congre- 
 gation in a grand stampede for the fire, to save what property they 
 might from the flames and protect near-by buildings. The fire was a 
 fierce one, but the minister was one of the foremost in fighting it, even 
 getting his hair on fire once. But the church service was not resumed. 
 
 Two or more dry-houses near Stearns' tub-shop have been burned, 
 but the flames have been kept from spreading-to the main building. 
 
 The burning of the old mill-house one night in the summer of 1906, 
 gave the Sterling Hose Company about their first opportunity to figfit 
 a real fire and they did it well. They had been called out to subdue 
 incipient fires many times, but this fire hacj so much the start that 
 
OP JOHNSON, VERMONT 25 
 
 their efficiency in protecting surrounding property was amply dem- 
 onstrated. 
 
 The village of Johnson was incorporated in 1894, the first meet- 
 ing being held November 5 of that year. In 1900 the population was 
 587, but is probably considerably more than that now. 
 
 The electric light plant was built and is owned and operated by the 
 village corporation, and it began running Jan. 15, 1895. The original 
 cost was $7,800. 
 
 The public water supply system was coriipleted about November 
 1st of the same year. Its cost, including the building of the hose-house, 
 cost of hose-cart and hose was about $12,000. 
 
 The Johnson Public Library was started in 1895, with a nucleus 
 of a few old books left from a former Circulating Library, and a small 
 subscription raised among the citizens. To this was added what was 
 called "$ioo worth of books," donated by the, State in accordance with 
 an act of the Legislature of 1894. From time to' time gifts of books 
 have been received from various sources, and the Oread Literary Club 
 have had several entertainments to raise funds for purchasing books. 
 
 The town has each year at the March meeting, voted $50 toward 
 the support of the library, never more. It;goes without saying that 
 this amount would not pay for the services of a librarian, let alone buy- 
 ing more books. For the last seven years theOread Literary Club have 
 taken care of the library without expense to the town. It has now 
 over a thousand volumes, but having no other available quarters than 
 Corporation Hall, the great need is for a new library building. 
 
 It is to members of the Oread Literary Club that this Town His- 
 tory is due. With thanks to those who have assisted in its preparation 
 by furnishing pictures, information, and so forth, we close this paper. 
 
 MATTIE WHITING BAKER, ) Committee 
 
 CLARA RIDDLE FARRINGTON, I of 
 ASENATH SAWYER HILL. J Preparation. 
 
CHAPTER 2. 
 
 PAPERS PUBLISHED IN JOHNSON. 
 
 The Lamoille River Express was established at Johnson, June i, 
 1838, J. W. Remington, publisher, Chas. G. "Eastman, editor. Its motto 
 was "Everything for the cause, nothing foi- men." 
 
 From a perusal of the first year's numbers we glean many facts 
 regarding the town at that date, but nothing like as many as we should 
 had it been conducted as a local paper is now. We sneer at the 
 petty gossip of country journalism, its accounts of trivial happenings 
 and unimportant incidents, but a hundred years hence such a paper will 
 be a mirror of its day. Very seldom do we find a town item' in these 
 old papers, except under the head of "Marriages" and "Deaths," and 
 are therefore surprised to read under date of May 26th, that "Oliver 
 Allen treated his boarders to home-grown lettuce." 
 
 The paper is nearly half filled with advertisements, several firms 
 in Burlington advertising groceries, patent medicines, New England 
 rum, wines, whiskey, gin and brandy, as well as farming tools, salt, 
 hardware, etc. Among the local advertisers are Samuel Merriam, 
 goods, several tailors,, among them S. N. Tracy, lawyers. Pike & Mar- 
 tin, and Salmon Wires, P. T. Sweet, stoves and hardware, Andrew and 
 Stephen Dow, wool-carding and cloth-dressing, A. W. Caldwell, fur- 
 niture, and in August Marshall Hosmer announces that he has "opened 
 a chair-factory on Johnson Flat." That was the name of the village in 
 those days, in contradistinction to the "Plot" in the north part of the 
 town. Geo. L,. Warner advertises the Johnson Book-store where are 
 kq)t schoolbooks. Bibles and hymnbooks, all kinds of blank books and 
 
OP JOHNSON, VERMONT 27 
 
 blank forms, and a long list of patent medicines. For that matter, sev- 
 eral varieties of patent medicines are advertised for sale at the news- 
 paper office, a novel way of "combining instruction and amusement." 
 
 The reading matter is largely upon the political issues of the day 
 and what was called "news" in those times, Congressional doings three 
 weeks old. State, district and county politics are well aired, and there 
 are numerous extracts from opposition journals, with Eastman's sar- 
 castic and biting comments thereon. There 'is an occasional story of 
 the sort that begin, "A maiden sat in her desolate chamber, despair was 
 written upon her lofty brow," etc. There is often a short poem, some- 
 times one of Eastman's. "Ada" is a frequent contributor, and one of 
 her poems begins, 
 
 "Oh ! I've been to the West, to the far, far West." 
 
 We naturally think of the Pacific coast, but her concluding stanza 
 tells us what the "far, far West" was then. 
 
 "Then adieu to Ohio, but give me my home 
 Where the Green Mountain summits I see." 
 
 In March, 1839, in consequence of an arramgement entered into with 
 the Democratic party of Orleans County who "contemplated establishing 
 a paper at Craftsbury, the name of the paper was changed to the "Ver- 
 mont State Paper and Lamoille and Orleans Co. Democrat." It must 
 be remembered that the Republican party of today is nearly synonymous 
 with the Democratic of that time, and our Democrats, with the old time 
 Whigs. The term "Republican Democrat" i^ used occasionally in the 
 paper. 
 
 May 28th, 1S39, Eastman makes announcement of a campaign 
 paper, the Scorpion, which he was to publish soon. "Mud-slinging" 
 in politics was not unknown then, and we can imagine what a stinging 
 paper he issued. 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 "Smilie and Bank Reform. 
 Office of the State Paper, Johnson, May, 1839. It is proposed to Issae 
 from this office, commencing about the middle of June, twelve numbers of 
 a sheet to be entirely deivoted to the politics of the State, entitled. 
 
 The Soobpion. 
 'I wish you joy of the worm.' 
 
 The Scorpion is intended to accomodate democratic town committees 
 and other individuals who may wish to circulate a cheap extra paper a 
 few months before the annual election. It will contain all the political 
 matter of the State Paper, and some original. Town committees, it is 
 expected, will order to one address the number of copies they wish. Any 
 Individual can do the same, ordering one or more copies. 
 
 Gentlemen to whom this is sent are requested to use their influence to 
 aid the undertaking. Especially do we invite all who are opposed to partial 
 legislation, and the chartering of corporations irresponsible to the people, 
 to give us their aid in the great contest into which the freemen of this 
 state are preparing to enter for the overthrow of a state dynasty that has, 
 for years, fattened upon the hearts' blood of the laboring classes. There 
 never was a time when the democracy of the state could have higher and 
 more sustaining hopes. 'Tis the Sun of Austerlitz! Forward! Let every 
 nerve be strained, every muscle braced for the struggle. Young men! 
 the staff of the Republic! gird on your armor! =and as your fathers fought 
 to be free from foreign tyranny so do you fight to be free from that great 
 political blood-sucker. Partial Legislation. The tattoo has sounded! Form! 
 To battle! Ho! To battle!" 
 
 The terms of subscription follow. 
 
 The State Paper passed into Wires & Co.'s hands, and was changed 
 to the "Lamoille Banner." After three years it expired. In 1840 Jo- 
 seph Poland started the "Lamoille Whig." After two years he changed 
 the name to the "Lamoille Standard," and a year later sold out to W. B. 
 Hyde who started a paper called the "Family Visitor," and issued 25 
 numbers when his paper came out under the name of the "Investigator." 
 There were but six numbers of that issued when it was discontinued. 
 
 From No. 17 of the "Family Visitor," published in November, 
 1843, we make a few extracts. 
 
 There is a report of a County Temperancp meeting at the Congre- 
 gational meeting house in Johnson, Joseph Poland, President. 
 
 Prayer was offered by Rev. John deed. 
 
WlM'KK VilOW FR(].M TIIK EAST IIF Til): A( \I1|;_MV 
 
 Pencilling by S. Tj. Wiswall, 1847. The Azariah Waterman honse 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 29 
 
 Among the Resolutions offered was this, "That the clergymen of 
 the different towns in the county be requested to deliver a temperance 
 lecture, or see that it is done, in every school district within their field 
 of labor." 
 
 The "Young Men's Lyceum" is announced to meet at the Academy. 
 
 Question for discussion. 
 
 Would the establishment of a tribunal for the settlement of inter- 
 national disputes be practicable ? 
 
 DISPUTANTS. 
 Affirmative. Negative. 
 
 C. E. Bowen L. T. Flint 
 
 A. Hinds W. B. Hyde 
 
 L. M. Knight H. M. Safford 
 
 Dissertation by L,. T. Flint. 
 Declamation by G. W. Hawley. 
 Wm. C. Doane, Sec. 
 
 There is a call for a Lamoille Co. Liberty Convention at Hyde- 
 park. It says : 
 
 "Come not by twos and threes, but by scores and fifties — mucb. to be done 
 the coming year in the county for the slave — will depend on the numbers and 
 action of the meeting at Hydepark. Come early, dinner and horse baiting 
 with you, prepared to stay till the evening meeting adjourns. Don't forget 
 to bring your wives, sisters and daughters with you. They are more efficient 
 laborers than men. 
 
 In behalf of the Co. ComnUttee, 
 
 A. W. CALDWELL." 
 
CHAPTER 3. 
 
 REPRESENTATIVES FROM JOHNSON IN THE STATE 
 
 LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Legislature met at Rutland 1784. , 
 
 Legislature met at Bennington 1787- 
 Legislature met at Westminster 1788. 
 Legislature met at Bennington 1789. 
 
 1789. Noah Smith of Bennington, Legislature at Bennington. 
 
 1790. Jonathan McConnell. 
 
 1 791. Jonathan McConnell, Legislature -at Bennington. 
 
 1794. John McConnell, Legislature at Rutland. 
 
 1795. John McConnell, Legislature at Rutland. 
 
 1796. John McConnell, Legislature at Rutland. 
 '1 797. John McConnell, Legislature at Windsor. 
 
 1798. Robert Balch, Legislature at Vergennes. 
 
 1799. Ijohn McConnell, Legislature at Windsor. 
 
 1800. William H. Larrabee, Legislature at Middlebury. 
 
 1 801. William H. Larrabee, Legislature at Newbury. 
 
 1802. Samuel Eaton, Jr., Legislature at Burlington. 
 
 1803. Samuel Eaton, Jr., Legislature at Westminster. 
 
 1804. George Westgate, Legislature at Rutland. 
 
 1805. George Westgate, Legislature at Danville. 
 
 1806. George Westgate, Legislature at 'Middlebury. 
 
 1807. Araunah Waterman, Legislature at Woodstock. 
 
 1808. Araunah Waterman, Legislature at Montpelier. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 31 
 
 i8o8-'ii. Araunah Waterman. 
 i8i2-'i3. David Boynton. 
 1814. No choice. 
 i8is-'2i. Daniel Dodge. 
 i822-'23. Thomas Waterman. 
 
 1824. Daniel Dodge. 
 
 1825. Thomas Waterman. 
 
 1826. Solomon Balch. 
 
 1827. David Boynton. 
 
 1828. Solomon Balch. 
 
 1829. Daniel Dodge. 
 i830-'3i. Israel O. Andrews. 
 1832. Thomas Waterman. 
 i833-'35. Moses Morse. 
 i836-'37. Levi B. Vilas. 
 i838-'39. Albert Stone. 
 
 1840. John B. Downer. 
 
 1841. Asa Andrews. 
 i842-'47. No choice. 
 1848. Jonathan C. Dodge. 
 i849-'50. No choice. 
 i85i-'s2. Stoughton S. Pike. 
 
 1853. No choice. 
 
 1854. Whitman G. Ferrin. 
 i855-'56. David G. Perry. 
 i857-'s8. Alexander Riddle. 
 1859. Samuel Merriam. 
 i86o-'6i. Samuel Morgan. 
 i862-'63. Asa Andrews. 
 i864-'65. Samuel Belding. 
 i866-'68. Robert Cristy. 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 1869. Isaac Manning. 
 
 1870. John Holmes. (Biennial Sessions established). 
 1872. Darius G. Holmes. 
 
 1874. I,.ucius H. Wheeler, 
 
 1876. Robert W. McFarland. 
 
 1878. Heman A. Waterman. 
 
 1880. Isaac A. Manning. 
 
 1882. J. A. Andrews. 
 
 1884. Sumner A. Andrews, 
 
 1886. Charles H. Stearns. 
 
 1888. I. Iv. Pearl. 
 
 1890. Sewell Newton. 
 
 1892. Norman A. Waterman. 
 
 1894. Orville H. Wilson. 
 
 1896. Enos H. Sherwin. 
 
 1898. Clarence A. Farrington. 
 
 1900. W. H. Stearns. 
 
 1902. J. A. Pearl. 
 
 1904. H. W. Maxfield. 
 
 1906. F. G. Bicknell. 
 
GHAPTEB 4. 
 
 SOLDIERS OF 1861 FROa JOHNSON. 
 
 Adams, James Hi 
 Adams, Levi B. 
 Atwell, Marshall B. 
 Austin, B. J. 
 Babcock, Marshall B. 
 Backum, John C. 
 Balch, Charles W. 
 Beard, Charles W. 
 Benton, Caleb Henry 
 Caldwell, Henry P. 
 Clark, Jehial P. 
 Clark, Jairus D. 
 Clark, Oscar 
 Clark, Samuel 
 Courser, George 
 Cross, Madison 
 Davis, Charles D. 
 Davis, Cyrus 
 Davis, Timothy 
 Dodge, Jacob H. 
 Dodge, Judson 
 Dubray, Frank 
 Farnum, Joseph 
 Farnum, Joseph, Jr. 
 Fellows, Daniel D. 
 
 Field, Joel 
 Fletcher, Daniel P. 
 Fletcher, Harvey A. 
 Fletcher, James 
 Fraizer, Edward 
 French, Charles 
 French, George Q. 
 Ffench, James 
 Fcench, Jason O. 
 Garvin, George W. 
 Gokey, Charles 
 Goosey, Alexander 
 Goosey, Ambrose 
 Goosey, David 
 Goosey, Joseph 
 Ha}l, William H. 
 Hunkins, Walter W. 
 Hawley, George W. 
 Hawley, Homer 
 Heath, Henry L. 
 Hinds, Plineas D. 
 Hodge, Freeman E. 
 Hodge, Freeman O. 
 Hodge, Lyman F. 
 Jacobs, Anthony 
 
34: 
 
 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Jacobs, Franklin 
 Laraway, John 
 Leland, Charles C. 
 Lilley, Carlos 
 Magoon, Wilder 
 Manning, Harland F. 
 Mead, George D. 
 Mead, Royal 
 Medcaiif, Wallace 
 Mills, Charles C. 
 Mills, John C. 
 Mudgett, George E. 
 Muzzey, Frank 
 Muzzey, Joseph 
 Parker, Albert O. 
 Parrant, Peter 
 Patch, Vernon 
 Perkins, Edmund 
 Perkins, Edwin 
 Perkins, Warren E. 
 Raymore, Albinus F. 
 Ritterbush, Alonzo M. 
 Robinson, Ansel H. 
 Robinson, Judson A. 
 Scott, Charles W. 
 Scott, Julian A. 
 Sheldon, Charles H. 
 Sheldon, George W. 
 Smith, Moses B. 
 Smith, Martin 
 Steady, Augustus 
 
 Stone, John B. 
 Stowell, George W. 
 Stratton, Hiram A. 
 Townsend, George R. 
 Turner, Charles 
 Williams, Charles W. 
 Wilson, Ebenezer 
 Woodward, Daniel 
 Woodward, Oscar 
 Bradley, Roswell B. 
 Carter, Edward 
 Curtis, Henry 
 Goodwin, Horace 
 Laraway, Gilbert 
 Osley, Joseph 
 Parmelee, Lewis D. 
 Stone, Edwin A. 
 Partlow, Joel H. 
 Patch, William 
 Potter, Ivoyal A. 
 Stanley, Charles S. 
 Townsend, Arthur 
 Webster, Jason C. 
 Whitefield, George 
 Andrews, Sumner A. 
 Chesmore, David A. 
 Dodge, Nathan 
 Mudgett, Henry E. 
 Mudgett, John H. 
 Parsons, Henry C. 
 Whiting, George W. 
 
OP JOHNSON, VERMONT 
 
 35 
 
 Laraway, Leander 
 Scott, Lucian 
 Eaton, Samuel 
 Hill, Chester 
 Burnett, Abram 
 Shiney, Joseph 
 Partlow, George W. 
 Burnham, Charles 
 Prince, Daniel 
 
 SOLDIERS IN THE SPANISH WAR. 
 Elton Holmes Glenn Raymond 
 
 Carter, Edward D. 
 Davis, Philo F. 
 Gokey, Frank S. 
 Baker, William 
 Johnson, Jason 
 Carpenter, Luther 
 Croker, Chancy 
 Holmes, Darius G. 
 
CHAPTER 5. 
 
 EARL?Y CHURCH HISTORY OF JOHNSON. 
 BAPTIST CHURCH. 
 
 The early settlers of this town were mostly Christian people with 
 different church preferences and we may suppose that services were 
 held occasionally by itinerant ministers before there was any church 
 organization. 
 
 The first to organize was the Baptist Church, which was estab- 
 lished Nov. 7, 1808, in the Center school house, which stood at the east 
 end of the Plot cemetery. There were fourteen charter members, 
 among which we find the names of Atwell, Burnham, Clark, Davis, 
 Ferry, Fletcher, Heath, Taylor and Wheeler. Elder Boynton was 
 their first pastor. Judging by the records of the church, he had strong 
 convictions and much keenness of perception — evidently a man of con- 
 siderable strength of character. He built the house at the north end of 
 Pearl St., where Roswell Bradley recently lived, as a residence. He 
 closed his labors as pastor in 1821, but continued a member of the 
 church and resided here until his death, except for a time when he be- 
 came pastor of the church in Coit's Gore, now known as Waterville. 
 His grave is in one of our cemeteries. Elder Perkins preached here 
 a part of the time during those years. Thirteen years after the or- 
 ganization of the church, there were forty-eight members. 
 
 As to how the preachers were compensated, the records tell us 
 that they "Voted to raise $40; $10 to be paid in money and $30 in 
 produce in the month of January." "Voted to pay $50 in corn and 
 beans and $3 in money.'' In 1818, "Voted tp raise a tax on the grand 
 
'"^'■?l%.. 
 
 ' :jj ■'- 
 
 if^i^ 
 
 
 ,f.;:. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 •f.i/l' 
 
 < ffi 
 
 K _ 
 
 P 
 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 37 
 
 list." This plan was frequently adopted and seems to have worked 
 well. It may not always have been strictly voluntary and when for 
 any reason a brother felt his burden too great, the rest volunteered 
 to help him. 
 
 The next minister was Elder Spauldidg, who was engaged to 
 preach one-half the time for $125. In July, 1826, Rev. Joel P. Hayford 
 began his pastorate and for about four yeans proved himself to be a 
 faithful minister of the gospel. His health was feeble and he died 
 in 1831. He was the first installed minister of the town, which gave 
 him certain lands. He surrendered his claim to the selectmen, they 
 to lease the same forever, the proceeds to be applied to the support 
 of the gospel for all coming time. From this source, each church 
 in Johnson receives annually the sum of $21.25. 
 
 The first building for the Baptist Church was erected in 1833 
 on the hill where Carlos Oakes now lives. "The present building was 
 erected in 1855, the old one being taken down and the timbers used 
 for the new. No mid-week prayer meeting was held, as the people 
 lived so far away ; but the people on the Plot gathered on Sunday morn- 
 ings, at the school-house, for a sun-rise prayer meeting, then went 
 home, did their necessary work, ate breakfast and went to church. 
 These meetings were a great spiritual uplift and prepared them to en- 
 joy the services of the day. 
 
 Elder Stone was pastor from 1831-1840. During this time, a 
 great excitement arose about the Millerite dofctrine, and the church was 
 crowded night after night to listen to its teachings ahd many thought 
 the end of the world near at hand. Elder IStone accepted this faith. 
 After being dismissed from this church, he preached at Eden. 
 
 The next to come was Elder Clark in 1842. He also accepted the 
 doctrine of William Miller. Great excitement prevailed and many 
 were added to the church, who soon after withdrew and the pastor was 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 dismissed ■ but the body of the church stood firm, although the next 
 pastor, Rev. R. A. Hodge, had much to do to discipHne its members. 
 
 Father Hall, of Morristown, next preached from 1847 to 1849, and 
 he was followed by Elder Cressy, who was a man of excellent char- 
 acter, but thought it very sinful for any one to laugh. His stay was 
 short. His successor, Moses H. Bixby, was a strong man and his 
 pastorate was one of marked success. The Sunday school was then 
 very large with a branch school at East Johnson, numbering together 
 185 pupils. At this time, the church membership was 116. 
 
 The next to follow as pastors were Rev- T. M. Merriman, L. B. 
 Steele, and H. D. Hodge. Then D. C. Bixby and Father Hall supplied 
 for two years ; next Jabez Ferris. Then Rev. B. F. Rattray filled the 
 office for three years. At the close of his work, the church numbered 
 143. Then Rev. J. A. Pierce followed and his genial presence and 
 strong, helpful sermons will long be remembered by those who knew 
 him. Mr. T. Crudgington was then pastor for four years, and they 
 were years of faithful toil and successful soul-winning. Mr. C. N. 
 Saunders, to whose anniversary sermon, given Nov. 5, 1893, we are 
 indebted for this church record, was a man much beloved by all who 
 knew him. Mr. McL,ellan, Mr. Boynton, Mr. L,each and Mr. Har- 
 grove followed Mr. Saunders and were all good men. Mr. Williams, 
 the present pastor, came in 1906. 
 
 This church gave one pastor to the direct work of missions and 
 five young men as ministers of the gospel. It has always contributed ' 
 liberally for the support of the church and benevolences. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 The Congregational church was organized Sept. 20, 1817. The 
 meeting was held in the hall of the hotel, then kept by Mr. Thomas 
 Waterman, with ten charter members, seven by letter and three by pro- 
 fession. Dea. Samuel Waters, who died in 1878, was the last survivor 
 
r 
 
 A 
 
 
 mP\\ 
 
 y| 
 
 Dea, Sami i-:l B, Watlhh 
 
 Sami'el Merriam 
 
 Mrs Sam i i:i. Mkrkiam 
 lS01i-lS9S 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 39 
 
 of the ten, he being a member of the church sixty-one years. Meet- 
 ings were usually held in private houses until a schoolhouse was built 
 in 1821 or 1822 on ground just in front of the Normal building, toward 
 the building of which this church paid $50 50 that it might be made 
 large enough to hold meetings in. This h®use, familiarly known as 
 the "Old Red Schoolhouse," was moved away and on the grounds a 
 second building was erected, chiefly by those identified with this church 
 and society. Meetings were held here and in the Academy Hall un- 
 til the first meetinghouse was built in 1832. This house, now known 
 as the Opera Building, cost many a hard struggle, as the society was 
 small. The pews were of plain wood, straightbacked and severe, the 
 pulpit fastened high up on the wall, and a long flight of stairs led up 
 to it from either side. The singers' gallery was over the entry and 
 high up to the ceiling, the congregation rising and turning around to 
 face the music. To those standing nearest it was a "choir invisible." 
 No instrumental music helped out in those early days, and the chorister 
 took the key from the tuning-fork and the choir chimed in. Later, 
 Samuel Waters played the violin and Deacon -Robinson the bass viol. 
 
 The first year, there was no way of warming this house and many 
 called it "God's Icehouse," and could sing "From Greenland's Icy 
 Mountains" with the spirit and the understanding. After this there 
 were stoves put up near the doors, the pipes going the whole length 
 of the church and then up into the chimney away above the preacher's 
 
 head. 
 
 Town meetings had to be held here, and by 1851 the growing 
 wants of both church and town demanded that each have a building 
 of its own, so this was sold to the town and the present church edifice 
 erected. All worked with a will for this new house. The ladies held 
 a fair in the hall of the old hotel, with bo6ths for fancy and useful 
 articles, while an oyster supper was served in the rooms below. A ring 
 cake was sold for 25c a slice, and Anna Whiting was the fortunate 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 young lady who found the ring. A fair was a new thing, and a large 
 sum of money was raised and used to purchase the carpets, lamps, etc. 
 This church in its infancy depended upon itinerant missionary 
 labor, and occasionally a neighboring pastor would supply. In 1824, 
 Mr. Rockwell, pastor of the church at Morrisville, preached here half 
 the time for four years, when he was dismissed at Morrisville and 
 spent a short time in Johnson. He was a good man and loved his 
 Master's work. 
 
 The first Sunday School work was done during his ministry and 
 then only in the summer and fall months. In 1831, Rev. Lyman Cass 
 was stationed here by the missionary society, preaching a part of the 
 time in Waterville for one year. Next came Mr. Baxter in 1832. 
 During this year there was what was known as "The Great Revival." 
 The church became interested in the Tract Society and in the 
 monthly concert of prayer for missions. One good man, living three 
 miles from the village, gave $100 to make himself a life member of 
 the Tract and Bible Society. His six sturdy children were all dressed 
 in homespun and often carried their best shoes (also home made) 
 in their hands as they walked to church, while his wife wore the same 
 wadded and quilted plaid cloak year after year. No one was worried 
 about the style in those days. 
 
 The first pastor to be installed was John Scott in 1835. His min- 
 istry continued about four years. Daniel Warren was next pastor for 
 three years. Rev. Mr. Day, an evangelist^ assisted him in a four 
 days' meeting which resulted in a general revival throughout the 
 town, continuing for some time, and many were added to the church. 
 In 1841, Ezra Jones came. June 4th, of this year, we find recorded, 
 "The church desiring to guard itself against Sabbath desecration, 
 passed the following resolutions. Resolved: That the church regard 
 traveling on the Sabbath, in ordinary cases, as a violation of God's 
 word and justly subjects the offender to the discipline of the church." 
 
OP JOHNSON, VERMONT 41 
 
 February 1849, R^v. Artimus Dean was installed pastor. His 
 ministry of two years was very successful with the young people. 
 Prayer meetings were interesting and well attended. 
 
 The present house of worship was dedicated Nov. 12, 1851, 
 and the same day James Dougherty was installed pastor, and his 
 ministry continued for sixteen years, the Ipngest in the history of 
 the church. This church shared in the awakening when John Pea- 
 cock, an evangelist, came to the Baptist church. As a result of this 
 quickening, eighteen were added to this chjurch. Father Dougherty 
 continued to live here until his death, and his body lies in the old 
 cemetery beside those of his wife and daughters. 
 
 Following Mr. Dougherty came M: B. Page, Fred Oxnard, Mr. 
 Ward and Mr. Rivers, each of short time. In 1871, Rev. G. H. 
 French began his ministry which continued for six years. He was 
 a man of exemplary piety, desirous of seeing the work of the Lord 
 prosper. 
 
 This church shared in the revival when Mr. DeWitt was here 
 in 1872 ; also in 1875 when the Gospel Workers came among us. The 
 Rev. C. H. Huntington supplied for one year. In April, 1878, Rev. 
 A. A. Smith began his pastorate which lasted for thirteen years. His 
 work was deep and lasting and his memory is sacred to all who 
 knew him. Mr. Walbridge had been pastor of the church three 
 months when suddenly called away by death. E. G. French, whose 
 pastorate closed Jan. i, 1905, had been with us nine and a half years, 
 during which time over sixty were added to its numbers. J. K. 
 Fuller, the present pastor, began his labors in 1905. 
 
 NAMES OF DEACONS. 
 Thomas Hooper, Joshua Cook, 
 
 Horace Day, Samuel Waters, 
 
 Harris Whiting, Joseph Poland, 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 David Wood, H. W. Robinson, 
 
 Almon Morris, I,- D. Parmalee, 
 
 Dexter Whiting, Fletcher Jones, in 1872, 
 
 S. H. Pearl, in 1870, Joel Allen, 
 
 James Holmes, in 1878, C. P. Jones. 
 Barnum Austin, 
 
 M. E. CHURCH. 
 
 The earliest historical records of the Johnson Methodist church 
 are not now obtainable. It is known that the town was once 
 a part of a large circuit extending from Stowe to Canada 
 line, known as "Stowe circuit" and forming a part of Troy 
 Conference. Among the itinerants who traversed this circuit, 
 preaching and founding churches, the noted names of Lorenzo 
 Dow and Wilbur Fisk are found. Occasionally one of these circuit- 
 riders would visit Johnson and ho|d a religious service in some school- 
 house or private dwelling. A little previous to 183S, Rev. Charles 
 Lovejoy held revival services here in a school house and organized 
 what was probably the first Methodist class, composed largely of 
 young people, among whom were Charles and Lucinda Dodge; the 
 latter remaining a member of this church until her death in 1900. 
 
 As the Stowe circuit became divided into smaller ones, Johnson 
 remained one of several towns to share the labors of a single pastor. 
 Once in three months the churches forming' the circuit met together 
 for a "Quarterly meeeting." When this meeting was held in John- 
 son, the Baptist society sometimes gave permission to hold the service 
 in their church on the hill. One such meeting was held in the store 
 at East Johnson in the summer it was built, and before the frame was 
 fully boarded. Other meetings were held at the same place, a little 
 later. Among the preachers who served the churches previous to 1850 
 the names of Hannibal Smith, Harvey Smith and E. B. Haff are re- 
 called. Sunday services were not held more frequently than once in 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 43 
 
 four weeks, and then often at five o'clock in the afternoon or in the 
 evening. During the years 1852 and 1853, the most frequent place of 
 meeting was in an old school house in School District No. i, though 
 some meetings were held in the town hall and in the village school 
 house which then stood near Joseph Doane's residence. During the 
 summers of these years a Sunday School 'was maintained. In the 
 spring of 1854 the Rev. Wm. Clark was sent by the Troy Con- 
 ference to preach at Johnson, Eden and North Hyde Park. He was 
 the first pastor with a family who chose to reside here. As there 
 was neither church nor parsonage he found little to encourage him, 
 but he found a home for himself and family outside of the village. 
 During the summer he preached in the vestfy of the Congregational 
 church every Sunday at five o'clock p. m. TJie remainder of the year 
 he preached in school houses. He drew a plan for a church edifice, 
 and devoted much of his time to raising money by subscription to build 
 it. The subscription list, which has been preserved, bears the names 
 of many well known men not identified with the church. Among 
 these are, Samuel Morgan, Thomas Waterman, L. Reed, Stephen 
 Dow, Benjamin Atwell, Avery Ladd, John Meigs, S. S. Flagg, A. 
 Riddle, D. S. Waterman, Jason Hunt, Simeon Hunt, George S. Mills, 
 Sylvester Rand, William Boyes and others. 
 
 Some Methodists in the east part of the .town favored locating the 
 new church at Perkinsville, but the Presiding Elder, Rev. John Frazier, 
 advised "Build it just where a pedler would stop his cart to sell goods." 
 His counsel was followed, and in December 1854 a part of Joseph Wa- 
 terman's garden was purchased as a site. John Woodruff, Jacob Hay- 
 ford and David Oakes were chosen as a building committee, but be- 
 cause of failing health the former resigned before the work was begun. 
 Samuel Morgan, then a merchant in the village, built the church by 
 contract. It was dedicated November 8, 1855, by the Presiding Elder, 
 Christopher R. Morris. 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 ®xhtx of exercises 
 
 AT THE 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE M. E. CHURCH, 
 
 IN JOHNSON, NOV. 8, 1855. 
 
 I— S. RXJST, CONDUCTOR OF CHOIR. 
 
 I. — Chant: Ps. 122. "I was glad when they said unto me," &c. 
 
 2. — Invocation, and reading the Scriptures. 
 
 3. — Singing Anthem. 
 
 4. — Prayer. 
 
 5. — Singing Hymn 964. 
 
 6. — Sermon. 
 
 7. — CHANT. 
 
 J LORD GOD of Israel, there is no Gofl like thee, 
 ^- 1 In heaven above, or on | earth be- | neath; 
 
 f Who keepest covenant and mercy witli thy servants, 
 ' ) That walk be- 1 fore thecwith | all their | heart. 
 
 f Who has kept with thy servant David, 
 "' I I That.. thou didst | promise him: 
 
 ( Thou spakest also w^ith thy mouth, 
 * 1 And hast fulfilled it with thine own 1 hand.. as it | is this | day. 
 
 5 C But will God indeed | dwelL.on the | earth? 
 
 i Behold, the Ixeaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, 
 
 6 1 How much less this | house tliat | we have | builded! 
 
 I Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servants, 
 ' 1 And to their supplication, O | Lord our | God; 
 
 J Hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, 
 8 I Which thy servant prayeth be- | fore thee | this — | day. 
 
 Q f That thine eyes may be opened toward this ^ouse | night 
 I and I day, 
 
 f Even toward the place of which thou hast said, 
 ^^ ■) I "My name | shall be | there." 
 
Mi!s, Samiki Bki.iiim: 
 Living in Sehene<tady, N. Y.. at Ihe 
 ase of y2 
 
 S.wu'KL Bi:i.i)iX(i 
 1807-1 SS7 
 
 
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 AslT' ''La 
 
 1 
 
 m^ 
 
 
 k 
 
 '-J ^ ''^^'^""' 
 
 ^ 
 
 :^ 1«* «^ 
 
 I 
 
 ^ -— -f 
 
 ■ i 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 iilHH>" ' • iV 
 
 r 
 
 ■ '^||y^,3£^ 
 
 
 Joiix Miads. M. 1). 
 1SIII;-1SG2 
 
 MiiSKs Miiiisi,; 
 
11 
 
 12 
 
 {: 
 
 OP JOHNSON, VBEMONT 45 
 
 Hearken thou to the supplication of thy servants. 
 
 And of thy people Israel, 
 
 Which they shall | make ln..th2s | place. 
 
 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, 
 
 And 1 when thou | hearest, for- | give. 
 
 8. — ^Dedicatory Prayek. 
 9. — Chant and Anthbm. 
 
 y Now therefore arise, O Lord God, Into thy "resting place, 
 ^'^ I Thou, and the | ark of thy | strength; 
 
 ,M 5 I'et thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, 
 ^ And let they | saints re- | joice In 1 goodnpss. 
 
 10. — Benediction. 
 
 The pastor of the church at that time :was W. O. Tower who 
 Hved at Hyde Park. Joel W. Eaton was sent by the Presiding Elder to 
 live in Johnson and to preach in the new chlirch every Sunday. Pre- 
 vious to the dedication the first choir was organized with Thomas 
 Stanley as leader. 
 
 Prominent men in the church at that -time, whose names have 
 not already been mentioned, were Emerson Miller who had been 
 for many years a class leader, Barney Griswold, Eliphalet Hunt, Will- 
 iam Parker and others. Soon after, the church was greatly 
 strengthened by the coming of Samuel Belding and family from Eden. 
 For" about thirty years Mr. Belding was both -steward and class leader, 
 and the helpfulness of himself and family in church music and Sunday 
 School is gratefully remembered. Since the dedication of the church 
 in 1855, regular Sunday preaching services 'and Sunday School have 
 been maintained, though with the exception of fifteen years the pastor's 
 labors have been shared with one or more other towns. 
 
 The Sunday School Superintendents ."§erving for the longest 
 periods of time were Samuel Belding, M. O.. Heath, F. A. Leland and 
 G. E. Monteith. For several years past M. G. Grady has held that 
 office. 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Among the hearty and generous supporters of the church, who 
 years since finished their labors, the names of M. O. Heath, O. M. 
 Fitch, D. B. Webster, P. W. J. Peck and David Oakes are memorable. 
 
 The lack of a parsonage was long a great embarrassment to the 
 society, but in the year 1888 Miss I^ucinda Dodge deeded her house 
 for this purpose, reserving the use of it during her life-time. This 
 property came into the possession of the church in the year 1900 and 
 extensive repairs with additions have since been made. 
 
 Since April 1884 this church and the one at Waterville have been 
 united in one pastorate. The present pastor is the Rev. C. D. Pierce. 
 
Academy Built 1830. 
 
 CHAFTEB 6. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ACADEMY. 
 
 About the year 1828 the inhabitants of the town began to feel the 
 need of something more than a common-school education for their 
 boys and girls, and the Johnson Academy came into being. Mr. John 
 Chesamore, who was then a shoemaker here, his shop being where 
 the P. O. now stands, thought he knew of a man, one Dr. Carpenter, 
 a Universalist preacher of Chelsea, who migbt be secured as teacher of 
 such an institution. He went on horseback to Chelsea, hired his man, 
 and gave up his shop for a school-room, there being then no academy 
 building. There were sixteen pupils to begin with, and benches and 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 desks were put in to accommodate them. As the school increased, 
 several people had arm chairs made, with one arm wide enough to 
 hold books and slate, for the use of their children. Some of these 
 chairs may still be found among the descendants of those old families, 
 for chairs, in those days, were made of honest, straight-grained stuff. 
 
 The Aicademy building was erected in 1830, and supplied with 
 what was, for those days, a good chemical and philosophical appara- 
 tus, all by voluntary subscription. It must be remembered that the 
 population of the town at that time was only 1079, and that the people 
 were heavily taxed all those years for the necessary improvements in 
 a comparatively new country ; all this must be borne in mind if we 
 would appreciate tlie sacrifices our ancestors made to plant this in- 
 stitution of learning in our midst. It was chartered as Johnson Acad- 
 emy, November 8, 1832, Thomas Waterman, Representative. 
 
 Dr. Carpenter was succeeded by Perry Haskell, who married, 
 while teaching here, one of Sterling's fair daughters. Miss L,ucy Vilas. 
 She did not live many years, but he attained to extreme old age, and we 
 read of his death not many years ago. 
 
 November 15, 1836, Lamoille County having been formed by 
 the Legislature, an act was passed incorporating the school as the 
 "Lamoille Co. Grammar School," and public lands were granted to- 
 wards its support. Levi B. Vilas was our representative that 
 year. The act was signed by Carlos Coolidge, Speaker of the 
 House, by D. M. Camp, President of the Senate, and Silas Jenison, 
 Governor. 
 
 E. M. Toof of St. Albans was the next principal of the school, and 
 we find this advertisement in the Vt. State Paper, published in John- 
 son, May 14, 1839. 
 
Ai'ADF.MV, \s Rkiuii/i- IX 1S47 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 49 
 
 "Lamoille County Grammar School." 
 Johnson, Vermont. 
 The principal of this institution has recently made arrangements 
 to receive into his family, in addition to his present number, several 
 boys, to whose mental and moral culture the strictest attention will be 
 paid. 
 
 The course of instruction embraces all the branches of a thorough 
 classical, mathematical and polite education. 
 
 It will be the aim of the principal to assist the pupil in forming 
 opinions and habits founded in manliness, reason and Christian 
 morality, as well as to develop and strengthen his intellectual powers. 
 
 Six hours will be spent, each day, in the public school-room, and 
 the remainder of the time, not necessary for recreation, will be de- 
 voted to private recitations, and other mental exercises. 
 
 The charge for each scholar, per year, ^yill be $150, payable half- 
 yearly, in advance. No extra charges except for clothing, books and 
 stationery, which will be furnished according to the direction of parents 
 and guardians, left discretionary with the prirfcipal. 
 
 No scholar is received for a less time 'than one year, unless by 
 special agreement. 
 
 A short vacation will be allowed the §cholars in the month of 
 August, if desired by their parents. 
 
 Application may be made to the principal by letter, or otherwise. 
 
 References, E. M. Toof, A. B., Principal; Rev. D. Warren, Rev. 
 Albert Stone, Johnson; Hon. D. P. Noyes, Morristown; Rev. J. 
 Wheeler, D. D., President of the University of Vermont, Burling- 
 ton." 
 
 Principals after this were Bl J. Tenny, William T. Herrick, C. 
 Adams, L,yman T. Flint and Simeon H. Stevens, who died suddenly, in 
 the midst of a good degree of success. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
 Jason F. Walker, a Methodist clergyman, whose wife was a lady of 
 
50 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 more than ordinary culture and refinement, and well fitted for the po- 
 sition which she assumed as proprietress of a young ladies' boarding- 
 house. A limited number of young ladies were accommodated with 
 board at the Walker house, (I. L,. Pearl's old house,) and had daily drill 
 in the proprieties of life. Such drill was invaluable to young girls, just 
 entering upon life's stage of action, but, with the proverbial school girls' 
 appetite, they were not properly appreciative of the ceremonies at- 
 tending meals, and were wont to declare that their fare consisted 
 mainly of plates and compliments, so that they were only saved from 
 starvation by the barrel of crackers behind the pantry door ! 
 
 L,. O. Stevens, who followed Mr. Walker, solicited subscriptions 
 for repairing and enlarging the Academy, in 18L4.7, twelve hundred 
 dollars being then raised and expended. 
 
 Zebina K. Pangborn was the next principal, under whom the 
 school was the largest in its history, numbering, at one time, 225 pupils^ 
 so that the vestry of the Congregational church was used for chapel 
 exercises and many recitations. There followed H. M'. Wallace, Reuben 
 C. Benton, Moses P. Parmalee, Joseph Marsh, a son of President Marsh 
 of the University of Vermont, who had charge but a short time, Sam- 
 uel H, Shonyo, who took charge in i860, continuing two years, Geo. 
 W. Squier, who had also been previously connected with the school, 
 and Miss Almira Benton who had charge during the fall term of 1863. 
 Then came S. H. Pearl, and in the summer of 1866 the building was 
 almost entirely rebuilt, and enlarged to more than double its former 
 size, finished and furnished in a most substantial manner, to meet the 
 increased wants of the school, the means furnished, as before, by the 
 voluntary subscriptions of an enterprising and generous community. 
 Calvin Whiting of the Building Committee had the laboring oar. 
 
 The school struggled along, through all these years, with the vary- 
 ing fortunes of similar institutions in the State, sometimes flourishing 
 vigorously, then declining till some new impulse gave it fresh life. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 51 
 
 It accomplished a good work in the community, fitting many for the 
 responsible position of teachers, there being a special "Teachers' Class" 
 in the spring 'and fall terms. One spring when M. P. Parmelee was 
 principal, there being no hour of the day when all who wished to 
 attend the Teachers' Class were free from -recitations so that they 
 could do so, the class met at the Academy at five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, from about the first of April until the close of the term, the 
 middle of May. 
 
 A large number of young men were prepared here for the col- 
 legiate course. The Academy had among *its teachers many grad- 
 uates from various colleges, some of whom afterwards attained to 
 honorable positions in other professions. The reputation of the 
 school was such that it was extensively patronized by students from 
 neighboring States, and from the Provinces. 
 
 In February, 1866, the Lamoille Co. grammar School, having 
 previously surrendered its charter, became a' State Normal School un- 
 der an act of a previous Legislature. It began its new career with 
 about 50 students. 
 
 Its graduates must now number nearly a thousand, and hundreds 
 of them are filling positions of responsibility and distinction. Among 
 them are the Superintendent of the Industrial School at Vergennes, 
 the Superintendent of the famous Elmira Reformatory, N. Y. ; the 
 Superintendent of the Essex Co. Truant School, Lawrence, Mass.; 
 the editor of the Engineering News, N. Y. City ; supervisor of music 
 at the State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis. ; county superintendent 
 of schools, Omaha, Nebraska; superintendent of Thompson's Island 
 School, Boston Harbor; mayor of Everett, Mass.; major of ordinance, 
 U. S. Army; teacher of Domestic Science, N. Y. City; foreman of 
 construction, Vermont Marble Co.; and every year adds to the list 
 of useful, honored graduates. 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 The Normal teachers since S. H. Pearl have been, 
 
 C. D. Mead, 
 
 H. S. Perrigo, 
 
 W. C. Crippen, 
 
 Edwiard Conant, 
 
 A. H. Campbell, 
 
 R. A. Waterbury, 
 
 W. E. Ranger, 
 
 J. L. Alger, and 
 
 Edward D. Collins, 
 whose remarks on the state of the school since he assumed charge, 
 two years ago, follow: 
 
 The most important changes made during the past two years may 
 be included under the following headings : 
 
 I. Equipment. 
 
 (a) Extension of cabinets at the Normal and Training Schools, 
 for use in keeping records of 
 
 1. Students and graduates of the Normal School. 
 
 2. The Teachers' Bureau of the Normal School. 
 
 3. Pupils' Reports at Graded Schctol. 
 
 4. Pupils' work at Graded School. 
 
 5. Minerals and Specimens at Graded School. 
 
 6. Circulating Library for pupils of Graded School. 
 
 7. Magazines and periodicals at the Normal School. 
 
 8. Cabinet for science specimens at the Normal School. 
 
 9. Normal School Libraries on card catalog system. 
 
 (b) Tiffany Industrial Cabinet, for use at both Normal and 
 Graded Schools. 
 
 (c) Chickering Concert Grand Piano 'at Normal School. 
 
 (d) Eurnace at the Normal School, doing away with ionr 
 stoves and supplying fresh heated air to the parts of the building 
 not reached by the old furnace. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VEEMONT 53 
 
 (e) The addition to the Normal School Library of about 300 
 volumes. 
 
 (f) The beginning of a small circulating library of good juvenile 
 literature at the Graded School. 
 
 II. CURRICUI,UM. 
 
 A thorough revision has been made of the courses of study. The 
 preparatory year has been dropped. The first year's work is made 
 the foundation on which the students are to begin their practice 
 teaching in the second year. The second year's work emphasizes 
 both the professional and cultural sides of the student's training 
 and is the natural outgrowth of the first year's studies. A third year 
 — the Higher Course, so-called — continues the work of each depart- 
 ment of study and gives opportunities nevfer before offered in the 
 State Normal Schools of Vermont to gain a high degree of prepara- 
 tion for teaching. Individual attention can be given to students of the 
 third year, and although it is not expected that the majority of stu- 
 dents will complete this year, it is confidently predicted that the best 
 positions in graded schools in the State will be gained by those who 
 do take it. High School graduates enter, as before, one year in ad- 
 vance of the regular students, and have some further modifications 
 of' the course to adapt it to their needs, when their preparation war- 
 rants it. 
 
 III. MiSCIXIvANEOUS. 
 
 Among the changes which have been -welcome are the repairs, 
 generously made by the trustees of the Lamoille County Grammar 
 School in laying hard wood floors and replacing dilapidated windows. 
 At the graded school, money raised by the children has been expended 
 in putting the walls in good sanitary condition and in tinting them. 
 Flowers were furnished to the children last year from the geranium 
 
54 HISTOEY OF THE TOWN 
 
 bed of the Normal School and their bright blossoms made all the 
 school rooms more cheery. Pots were purchased with a balance of 
 money remaining in Miss Palmer's hands. The slight extra expense 
 of giving the grounds of the Normal School attention through the 
 summer makes the lawn a beautifying element in the village instead 
 of an eyesore. It is to be regretted that the splendid opportunity 
 offered by nature at the graded schools cannot be improved. 
 
 The character of Normal School work has greatly changed in 
 the last few years. The growth in importance of scientific study 
 has been reflected in our courses for teachers, and the method no less 
 than the matter has been modernized. I feel that no part of a stu- 
 dent's training is more valuable than her laboratory work. The 
 School Garden has been developed, not as a fad, but as sort of an out- 
 door laboratory for botanical and nature study along the utilitarian 
 (vegetable gardening) and esthetic (floral gardening) sides. In music 
 we are attempting to make the work of the school distinctively prac- 
 tical, and we are utilizing our efforts in such ways as the mid-winter 
 and Commencement Concerts and recitals. In connection with our 
 work in English language and literature, the instructors are super- 
 vising the reading of students along historical, biographical, and liter- 
 ary lines; it will be impossible after this year for a student to com- 
 plete her work without having read a considerable amount of the beat 
 reading, most helpful in her future work. 
 
 Remaining for development are certain lines of work no less 
 desirable than those mentioned; but enough has been said to indicate 
 that notable progress has been made in the last few years in this in- 
 stitution. The evidences of public recognition of this fact come from 
 outside the State as well as from within. Teachers are accepted on 
 the credentials of the State Normal School where a short time ago 
 they were not accredited. 
 
CHAPTER 7. 
 
 "Little of all we value here, 
 Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year 
 Without feeling and looking rather queer. 
 In short, there's nothing that keeps its youth. 
 So far as I know, but a tree and truth." 
 
 — O. W. HOLMES. 
 
 ABSTRACTS FROM THE TOWn RECORDS. 
 
 The first town record book is a thin Qne of coarse paper with 
 a parchment cover, and looking much the worse for its ii8 years of 
 wear and tear. Some of the leaves have seen literal "tear," as nearly 
 half of the first three have been eaten away by mice. This ex- 
 planation of their sorry condition is not original with us, and we 
 might have thought them to have been tdrn by some person who 
 lacked proper regard for the ancient sanctities^ but midway in the book 
 we find a leaf, on which a deed had been recorded, mutilated in pre- 
 cisely the same way, and below the deed is written, 
 
 "The above Record Was Torn by the mice, And i Have Re-entered What 
 is Torn away." 
 
 So there it is, put in at the bottom of the page, in a jumble. 
 The title page sets forth in large, bold script, quite unlike any that 
 follows in the book. 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 i/oivn l^eaqer >>! or 7st 
 
 xTor the Uoivn of 
 
 M 
 
 nson 
 
 ^tate of 
 
 Vermont" 
 
 Whosoever may have been the hand that penned these words, it 
 has long since turned to dust. 
 
 From the fragments that remain of the first leaf we learn that 
 a town meeting was called March the 4th, 1789, that it met and chose 
 officers, among them Aaron Smith and others to lay out roads, and 
 adjourned to the 31st of March. 
 
 JONA. McCONNELL, 
 
 Town Clerk. 
 
 At a meeting the first day of August, "L,ieut. Thomas McCon- 
 nell, Geo. Gregg and Moses McConnell were chosen a committee to 
 hire a Surveyor and lay out a Burying yard in No. 24." (The ceme- 
 tery on Stearns St., the first one in town). 
 
 The town meetings in these earliest ye^rs all seem to be at the 
 house of Jonathan McConnell, not far from where the grist mill now 
 stands as he built the first mills at this point. At the September meet- 
 ing in 1789 we read that Noah Smith of Bennington was chosen to 
 represent the town in the General Assembly. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 67 
 
 In these days, when, as a general thiiig, the "woods are iuU" 
 of : men who are anxious to be sent to the Legislature, it seems strange 
 than an outsider should have been selected, but, as there was no 
 regular Capital of the State until 1805, the Legislature "boarded 
 around" from year to year. That year it was to meet at Benning- 
 ton, a point farther distant from Johnson In actual time and labor 
 of travel, than San Francisco is now. Amongst so few settlers, there 
 was doubtless no one who wanted to go, and Noah Smith was right 
 there on the ground; also, being one of thf original proprietors, he 
 could be depended upon to have the interests of the new town at heart. 
 
 The next two years Jonathan McConnell was sent as Represen- 
 tative. He was also chosen to attend the Convention at Bennington, 
 Jan. 6th, 1791, "to take into consideration tlje expediency of joining 
 the Federal Union." So Johnson was one of the 126 towns there rep- 
 resented. 
 
 The most of the book is given up to Surveyors' reports and 
 measurements of roads, and to land records. The consideration in the 
 recorded deeds is in "Pounds and Shillings,- lawful money." Land 
 was in some cases granted on condition of paying the taxes and living 
 on it several years. What is now Waterville was then Coit's Gore, 
 chartered in 1788 to three men, one of whom, Dr. William Coit, was 
 the first physician in Johnson. The followitlg, from him, is recorded 
 Aug. 13, 1790: 
 
 "William Coit of Colchester, having unoccupied lands in John- 
 son, being desirous of promoting the cultivation and settlement of the 
 same, will give a deed of fifty acres to each settler or occupier who 
 shall go into possession by the first day of June next, and continue 
 to occupy the same by themselves or assigns for the space of 7 years, 
 of- at least ten families who will occupy as aforesaid." 
 
 Daniel Mills paid for his land "sixty Spanish milled dollars." His 
 de.ed was entered on file July 15th, 1791. He lived somewhere in the 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 vicinity of the lower arch bridge, and in 1790 the town established 
 a ferry near there. It was : 
 
 "Voted that Mr. Daniel Mills should have the Parey opeset his house in 
 sd. Johnson so long as he gives good atendance and Have one Peney 
 % For any Person the sd. Mills careys acrost sd. Farey and one Peney % 
 For eeh Hors and Bagegedge He the sd. Mills shall sweem or Parey." 
 
 The September meeting in 1791 was called at the house of Daniel 
 Mills. 
 
 Nothing is recorded in this book later than 1792. 
 
 The McConnells were evidently prominent men in the settlement. 
 Out of the 23 deeds recorded in the book, they figured, either as buyer 
 or seller, in 16 of them. As far as known, hone of their descendants 
 have lived in town for the last thirty years or more. 
 
 English money continued to be the lawful standard in all trans- 
 actions up to 1796, and was mentioned more- or less up to 1807, when 
 an entire change was made to the "lawful currency of the U. S." 
 
 Another trace of the old-country customs is the use of the terms 
 "yeoman" and "gentleman," in the recorded deeds, to designate those 
 who were farmers or otherwise. 
 
 Military titles meant a great deal and were almost invariably 
 mentioned in connection with the owner's name. It was "Lieut. Jona. 
 McConnell," "Ensign Samuel Eaton," "Ensign Geo. Gregg," etc. 
 
 Johnson was in Chittenden County up to 1797, after that in 
 Franklin Co. till in 1836 it was one of the twelve towns taken to form 
 the new county, Lamoille. 
 
 From the close of this first book there seems to be lack of records 
 
 for two or three years, the first record in Ledger No 2 being of the 
 
 March meeting at the house of Ralph Ellinwood, (now known as the 
 
 Foote place.) 
 
 "Voted to have a Pound erected. That the sd. Pound should be placed 
 or built as near Moses McConnell's barn as can be convenient. Joshua 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 59 
 
 Sanders, Ralph EUinwood, and Lieut. Geo. Gregg chosen Com. to place a 
 Stake for the Pound." 
 
 "That all Sleds that are drawn by Cattle over two years old shall be 
 four feet wide or Pay a fine of Twenty Shillings. Lieut. Geo. Gregg and 
 Ensign John Simons a committee to inspect sleds." 
 
 "That the place of holding Town Meetings the present year shall be at 
 the House of Lt. Thomas McConnell." 
 
 DANIEL COIT, Town Clerk. 
 
 At the September meeting that year 22 yotes were cast for Gover- 
 nor. 
 
 March meeting 1795. 
 
 "Voted that Ralph EUinwood's House be the place of holding publick 
 meetings the present year." 
 
 "Voted that John Prince be a Poundkeeper the present year." 
 "Voted to raise five Pounds to defray town charges." 
 
 At a town meeting held the 22d day of April of that year, Da- 
 vid Erwin, the newly-elected Town Clerk, closes his record thus : 
 "The above is a true Record from ye originall minets." 
 There were 26 votes for Governor at thfe September meeting. 
 List of those taking the Freemen's oath': 
 
 1794 *79S 
 
 Nathan Atwell Ralph- EUinwood 
 
 Joel Eerry John Prince 
 
 Henry Eaton Jonah Whipple 
 
 Zebulon Norris Ebenezer Ferry 
 
 Robert Wilson Lufkin Heath 
 
 Nathaniel C. Sawyer William Chambers 
 
 Benjamin Sanders 
 David Foster 
 Ebenezer Brooks 
 William Heath 
 Daniel Redington 
 
60 HISTORY OP THE TOWN 
 
 At March meeting 1796 "Voted John Prince's dwelling house to 
 be the place of publict Town meetings for the year ensuing." 
 
 There were 27 votes cast for Thomas Chittenden, Governor, at 
 the September meeting of that year. 
 
 March meeting 1797. 
 
 "Voted that the Bridge over the north Branch By the mills be kept in 
 repair by the Town at Large, that the Selectmen order Each Surveyor in the 
 Town of Johnson to work on sd. Bridge an Equal proportion according to 
 the List in their Destrict till they do make it suJHciently passiable, and that 
 the Selectmen make a tax and appropriate the same for that purpose." (This 
 bridge was above where the mill-dam Is now). 
 
 "Voted that the town post should be at Mr. John Prince's for the year 
 ensuing." 
 
 At the September meeting there were 35 votes cast for Governor. 
 
 September 1798, Ezekiel Cram, David McConnell and Abijah 
 Hawley took the freeman's oath, 37 votes for Governor. 
 
 March meeting 1799, elected 13 Petit Jurors and 4 Grand Jurors, 
 the first instance recorded. '^Voted that Dr. Larrabee's house be the 
 Town post, and the place for holding meetings the ensuing year." 
 
 Thirty-nine votes for Governor in September. 
 
 March meeting 1800. 
 
 "Elected Geo. Gregg, Aaron Smith and William H. Larrabee a Commit- 
 tee to superintend the clearing and fencing the two burying grounds in John- 
 son. That the Committee aforesaid be empowered to purchase the two pieces 
 of land which are now occupied as burying grounds in sd. Johnson, to wit. 
 The one by McConnell's mills [the old village cemetery] and the other by 
 Wm. Redington's [the Plot cemetery] to contain one acre each in as square 
 a form as may be, and to clear and fence the same as they shall think most 
 convenient." 
 
 At a legally warned meeting held December 29th of that year, the 
 voters seemed to "get on their ear," as witness the following business 
 transacted : 
 
 "Resolved, That all old surveyors Bills and credit thereon, and all de- 
 mands against the town for work done on the roads upon said Bills that 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 61 
 
 have been given out since the settlement of the "Town up to the year 1800, 
 shall be considered satisfyed and forever discharged." 
 
 "Resolved, that a Vote for a town tax passed at an annual town meet- 
 ing in March 1799 for the purpose of defraying the expense of repairing the 
 mill bridge shall not be revived." 
 
 "Resolved also that a demand exhibited agaii:\Bt the town by Moses Mc- 
 Connell for the sum of $7.50, shall not be allowpd." 
 
 This was the way our forefathers took tp begin the new century 
 with a dean slate ! To that end, it was very fitting that at the March 
 meeting, i8oi, it was : 
 
 "Voted, that John Griswold, Sam G. Eaton, St., and Wm. H. Larrabee 
 be a committee to draft a subscription for the purpose of seeing what sums 
 will be subscribed to support preaching of the Gospel the present year." 
 
 At an adjourned meeting in April the question was raised, "Shall 
 the clearing and fencing of the burying grounds be hired by venduing 
 the same to the lowest bidder?" and it passed in the affirmative. Ac- 
 cordingly Mr. Robert Wilson bid them off, the one by William Red- 
 dington's "to clear and fence for fifteen dollars, and the one by the 
 Mills to clear and fence for ten dollars, and to take his pay in grain." 
 
 September i8oi, 45 votes cast for Governor. 
 
 At a legally warned meeting in April, 1802, it was on motion of 
 Capt. Robert Balch: 
 
 "Resolved, That from and after the first day .of May next untill the mid- 
 dle of October next following, the owner of every hog that shall be found 
 running at large in the road or Common shall forfeit to the person com- 
 plaining and pay a fine of 75 Cents for each hog so found, together with 
 Costs to be recovered before any Justice of the Peace as in action of Debt. 
 
 Provided, that nothing in this Act shall affect any person whose hogs 
 shall accidentally break out of his yard but all sUch as shall intentionally let 
 them run at large." 
 
 "Voted, that the Selectmen be a Committee to divide the town into 
 
 school districts." 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Took the freeman's oath: 
 
 1800 1802 
 Moses Balch Asa Waterman 
 James Heath Charles Dugar 
 Stephen D. Cheney Moses Eaton 
 
 1 80 1 Thomas Waterman 
 Geo. Westgate Samuel Waters 
 Asa Clark Reuben Morgan 
 L^evi Nichols Araunah Waterman 
 John Carter Asahel Berry 
 
 Joel Wheeler 
 
 April 8, 1802. "Resolved, That there be a committee of three appointed 
 to determine on a center of this town, and that Sam G. Baton, Jr., Joel 
 Wheeler and Geo. Gregg be that Committee." 
 
 The March meeting 1803 was called at the house lately occupied 
 by William H. Larrabee, and it was there "Voted, that Araunah Wa- 
 terman's shop be the place to hold town meetings for the year ensuing." 
 
 At an adjourned meeting in June of that year it was voted to 
 divide the town into five school districts, and the metes and bounds of 
 the same were described. One article in the warning was "To see if 
 the Town will appoint some suitable persons as grave diggers," but this 
 was passed over by vote. 
 
 At the September meeting there were about 50 votes for Governor. 
 
 On the first Monday in December, a meeting was called "To see 
 if the Town will pass a vote to have the Small pox Brought in to town 
 and Carried on by inoculation or not. ' 
 
 At the meeting it was "Voted to have the Small Pox Brought 
 into Town." But at the March meeting, 1804, it was "Voted, not to 
 have the Small pox in Town this Spring." 
 
 "Voted that Araunah Waterman's dwelling house be the place for 
 holding Town Meetings for the year ensuing." 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 63 
 
 It seems that the clearing and fencing of the burying grounds 
 which was provided for three years before had not been carried into 
 effect, so, at a Town meeting called on the 20th. of March it was voted, 
 
 "To procure three different places for burying-yards in Jotinsoii. 
 
 Voted to have one burying yard on the South- Side of the river lamoil as 
 near to San G. Baton's as will best Convene the Inhabitants of sd. Town. 
 Then voted to procure half an Acre near to Mr. Waterman's mills for a 
 burylng-yard, the same that has heretofore been occupied as such. Then 
 voted to procure one Acre of Land as near to the Center of sd. Town as 
 will best Convene the Inhabitants of sd. Town for a burylng-yard. Then 
 voted to exclude the person or persons from all expence in regard to the 
 Burying grounds who have or Shall Deed the Land Gratis for the above 
 purpose to the Town. 
 
 Then voted that the above burying yards Should be Cleared and fenced 
 as soon as may be after Deeded to the Town. 
 
 Voted to choose a Com. of three with the advice of the Inhabitants to 
 Stake out and Superintend the Clearing and fencing three Graveyards in this 
 town. 
 
 Voted John Simons, Geo. Westgate and Jonathan Burnham as a Commit- 
 tee to Carry the above into efect. 
 
 Voted the Selectmen Should take Deeds of the above Lands that are or 
 Shall be procured for Burying yards in behalf o£ the Town of Johnson." 
 
 At a town meeting called in April, it was "Voted to raise 1 14 Dol- 
 lars as a Tax to repair the Bridge near John Simons," (now the 
 lower arch bridge). 
 
 "Voted that four-flfths of the aforesaid Tax may be paid by the In- 
 habitants Lyable to pay sd. Tax in Labour, and that the selectmen as a 
 Committee be and hereby are directed to call on the several surveyors in sd. 
 Town for the Quota of men. Team and Tools that may be necessary each day 
 to Carry on the Business of repairing sd. Bridge and that the surveyors shall 
 duly Notify such a part of their destrlct as required by sd. Committee and 
 make return of the same at least 24 Hours before the time that the Labourers 
 are needed and that sd. surveyors be directed to' take what ever Number of 
 men is wanted on the List of their bill as is enroled in sd. list by sd. Com- 
 mittee, and that on the Neglect of any Person being so duly Notified he, she 
 or they shall be for ever after Liable to pay their proportion in hard money." 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 At the March meeting in 1805 it was voted to hold the Town 
 Meetings for the year at Araunah Waterman's, as they had been do- 
 ing. 
 
 The first record of "warning a person out of town" was made in 
 that year. 
 
 "Johnson, June 11, 1805. 
 
 To either Constable of Johnson in the Co. of Franklin, Greeting: 
 You are hereby required to summons Pestus Prince (Black man) now 
 residing in Johnson to depart said Town. Hereofjail not, but of this precept 
 and your doings herein due return make according to law," &c. 
 
 The Constable did his duty, and made proper return thereof, fee 
 75 cents. 
 
 At a meeting held in June to see about building a bridge over the 
 branch by the Mills, it was "voted not to rebuild the bridge in the old 
 place." (It is supposed that the first bridge was carried out by the 
 breaking away of Eden Pond in April of that year.) A committee 
 was appointed to report where was the best place to build the bridge, 
 and they reported it best to "set it below the Island that is nighest the 
 Gristmill." 
 
 "Vpted to raise a Tax of 85 Dollars payable in Grain Next Jan- 
 uary for the purpose of building the Bridge." 
 
 At a special meeting called in August they reconsidered the vote 
 taken as to the best place to build the bridge, and "voted, to build it 
 . over the Island," (practically where the twin bridges are now). 
 
 At the March meeting 1806, it was voted to hold Town Meetings 
 at Amos Dodge's for the year ensuing. The Plot was beginning to 
 have aspirations towards being a center of influence. The ratable 
 property at that time was $5,695. 
 
 At the September meeting there were 41 votes for Governor. One 
 hundred and eighty-six towns were represented in the Legislature. 
 
 March 1807 it was "voted to hold Town meetings at Araunah Wa- 
 terman's for the time being." 
 
OF JOHNSON, VEEMQNT 65 
 
 The Legislature that year assessed a tax of one cent an acre for 
 the purpose of building a State's Prison. 
 
 At the March meeting, 1809, it was "voted to raise a tax to supply 
 the town with ammunition as the law directs." 
 
 "Voted to have the town meetings at the school-house in the Cen- 
 ter of the Town." [The school-house by the Plot cemetery] . 
 
 March meeting, 1810, "voted to build a pound, and to set it on the 
 plot near to the corner of the roads near Aaron Smith's, and voted 
 to raise a tax of $40 to defray the expense of building it." 
 
 "Voted to hold the town meetings at Araunah Waterman's the 
 next year." 
 
 "June 11th, 1811. This may certify that the' following persons are law- 
 fully equipped for military duty: 
 
 Thomas Waterman Sam C. Cook 
 
 Daniel Griswold Isaac Griswold 
 
 Daniel Dodge Asa Waterman 
 
 Elisha Dodge, Jr. William Dodge 
 
 Josiah Jones Azariah Waterman." 
 
 March meeting of 1812, "voted to hold the town meetings for the 
 ensuing year at Amos Dodge's." 
 
 It must be remembered that war with -England was declared in 
 June of that year. At a special meeting called July 20th, the town 
 "Voted to raise a tax sufficient to raise the wages of each man who is or 
 may be detached from this town previous to Oct. next and who shall be 
 called into actual service, so that no man shall "receive a less sum than ten 
 dollars per month with what shall be allowed by the Gov't, of the U. S. 
 provided he shall serve his time to the satisfaction of the commanding of- 
 ficer." "Voted to make up the detached soldier wages in money or grain 
 to be made upon the Grand List of 1811." 
 
 "Voted to raise one hundred dollars to purchase fire-arms for the use 
 of the town." 
 
 - At the September meeting of that year it was "voted to support 
 Levi Clark, Amos Dodge, Araunah Waterman, John Simons, Sam'l 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 Boyes, Jonathan Burnam and Samuel Miller as a Committee of Safety 
 for the town of Johnson." 
 
 This Committee were : 
 
 "To use their endeavors to detect spies or curtail secret conspiracy to 
 hold correspondence with each other and with slnjilar Committees in Neigh- 
 boring Towns and States, and in every way to aid or assist in supporting the 
 laws of the United States, and to take any measures that shall be deemed 
 necessary when met to carry the above into effect." 
 
 There were 74 votes cast for Governor. 
 
 March 4th, 1813, the records show that there were in the Center 
 School District, (now known as No. 9) 76 children over 4 and under 
 18 years of age. The whole number in the town was 235. 
 
 "Johnson, June 1813. 
 
 This may certify that the following persons were duly equipped accord- 
 ing to law at our annual June muster: 
 
 Thos. Waterman Josiah= Morgan, Jr. 
 
 Daniel Dodge Joseph Foster 
 
 Josiah Jones "William Boyes 
 
 Asa Waterman Sam'l Dodge 
 
 Levi Nichols, Jr. Ralph Hill 
 
 John Griswold, Jr. John H. Burnam 
 
 Azariah Waterman Thomas Waterman, Captain." 
 
 The town meetings of that year were called at Thomas Water- 
 man's dwelling house. The September meeting was adjourned from 
 there to the chamber of John Wier's store. Vote for Governor, 83. 
 
 The meeting for September 1814 was called at Capt. Waterman's 
 Inn (the old hotel). 
 
 The battle of Plattsburg occurred September 1 1 of that year, and 
 Capt. Waterman and his company were there. 
 
 Meetings continued to be held at the Hotel and a special vote was 
 taken, March 181 5, that they should be held there the ensuing year. 
 The same vote was taken for two years following. The "Flat" was 
 plainly dominating the "Plot" by this time, and no more town meet- 
 ings were held up there. 
 
Hotel Ijuilt by Thus. Walci'iiian in IM:;. ami opfi'aied by him and by 
 Dr. Meigs for r)\er 411 years. 
 
 Tin: Oi.ii Mriaii.vM HursE o.\ R,\ii.E<i,\ii St. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 67 
 
 The March meeting of 1818 was adjourned to Joseph Water- 
 man's house. At that time there were 70 children in the Center School 
 District, and 36 at what is now East Johnson. 
 
 In November 1819, "voted to rebuild the' bridge across the branch 
 and voted a tax of i cent 5 mills on the Doljar to defray the expense 
 of said Bridge, to be paid in grain delivered at the grist mill by the 
 1st of February." 
 
 Money was scarce in 1820. "Voted to pay the school tax in grain, 
 also a 3 per cent, tax for building and repairing bridges, in stock the 
 first day of October or in grain the ist of January." 
 
 Appraised value of property in 1821, $1,847.30. 
 
 "St. Albans, Sept. 19th, 1821. 
 
 Agreeable to an act of the Legislature of Vt. in 1820, the Listers in the 
 Co. of Franklin met, and in averaging the several Towns in said Co. have 
 deducted from the Land in the Town of Johnson 25 per cent on the Dollar, 
 which brings the land in the town of Johnson to the average price of four 
 dollars & 94 cents per acre." 
 
 There were 321 scholars in town in i8i2i. 
 
 March meeting 1822 met at Thomas Waterman's and adjourned 
 to. the school-house (the red school-house at the head of the street). 
 
 The first reference to care of special town paupers is found in the 
 record of an adjourned meeting of April 5th, 1823, when it was 
 
 "Voted that John Putney, a town pauper be put up at vendue to the 
 lowest bidder to be kept for the term of one year, (if he should live during 
 said term) to be well fed, clothed & attended. Whereupon the said Putney 
 was bid off by Benjamin Patch at ninety cents per week, payable in grainj 
 The Town to be accountable for the Doctor's bills, and necessary Liquors 
 in case of extraordinary sickness, in which case the said Patch is to notify 
 the overseers of the Poor before making any expense to the town." 
 
 The March meeting of 1824 was called "at the School House near 
 Azariah Waterman's." 
 
 At an adjourned meeting the same moftth it was "Voted to ap- 
 propriate one hundred and fifty dollars of the Town's Public Money 
 
68 HISTORY OP THE TOWN 
 
 for the purpose of hiring preaching in the sai'd Town for the ensuing 
 year." 
 
 In 1826 the town "voted that Horses, Sheep and Swine be re- 
 strained from running at large on the Highways and Commons in the 
 town of Johnson." 
 
 At the March meeting in 1827 it was 
 
 "On motion, voted to settle Elder Joel P. Hayford as their first settled 
 minister, and should he be settled it is expressly understood that the Land 
 in said Town granted to the first settled minister, which may fall to him 
 in consequence of such settlement, with the rents which may already have 
 accrued on such lands, shall be, by the said Joel P. Hayford deeded and re- 
 leased to the Town with the following conditions, that it shall be forever 
 held sacred for the support of the Gospel in said Town, to be divided among 
 the several societies which are or may be in said Town, acording to their 
 number, except fifty Dollars, which he is to convey to the Baptist Society." 
 "On motion, voted that the selectmen be authorized and requested to 
 secure bonds of Elder Joel P. Hayford, previous to his settlement in said 
 town, conditioned that the said Hayford relinquish to the said Town the lands 
 and avails thereof, agreeable to the vote of said Town." 
 
 For several years the main business at town-meeting seemed to be 
 building and repairing bridges and highways, and altering, by enlarging 
 or diminishing, the size of school districts, to suit the convenience or 
 whim of persons interested. 
 
 March 1st, 1831, the town-meeting was called "at the school- 
 house near the Academy," that building having been erected the year 
 before. 
 
 March 13, 1832, made choice of John W. Fowler, sexton for 
 the graveyard at the village." Cornelius Lynde, Jr., was elected Town 
 Clerk in 1833, Daniel Dodge having served in that capacity for nine 
 years. 
 
 In 1834 the number of scholars in town was 434. 
 
 To show the conservative spirit of those.times, in November 1835, 
 a meeting of the Freemen of the town was called "for the purpose of 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 69 
 
 electing a Delegate to represent the town in a Convention at Mont- 
 pelier to consider the amendments to the Constitution proposed by the 
 Council of Censors." The meeting thus warned voted to adopt the 
 following: "Resolved, That we, as a Town, instruct our Delegate to 
 oppose all the proposed amendments to the Constitution." 
 At March meeting in 1838 it was voted 
 
 "On motion, that the public ministerial money which has now ac- 
 cumulated, together with the notes which are now in the hands of the select- 
 men, and which were given for Rents of Ministerial Land, shall be divided 
 on or about the first day of May next, among the several religious societies 
 in this town in proportion to their numbers, to be ascertained by each per- 
 son's writing the name of the Society he wishes. to receive his share of said 
 money and notes, on his list, when he delivers it to the Listers on the sec- 
 ond day of April next." 
 
 This is the first record of dividing the -ministerial money, and it 
 was taken for granted that every man with a list had a church prefer- 
 ence. 
 
 March 1839, Dexter Whiting was chosefl'Town Clerk. Number of 
 scholars in town, 494. 
 
 In 1840 the town did a little temperance missionary work by 
 voting "to defray the collection of a fine of seven dollars due the town 
 
 from — ■ so long as he shall delay to drink 
 
 ardent spirits, and no longer." 
 
 S. S. Pike was elected Town Clerk in 1841, an office which he held 
 until his death in 1877. 
 
 Number of scholars in 1841, 511. 
 
 In 1842, at the Freemen's meeting in September, after five un- 
 successful ballots for Representative, the vote was unanimous for ad- 
 journment. 
 
 Again, in 1843, after two ballots the meeting adjourned. 
 
 And in 1844, after three ballots. 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 January 2, 1845, ^ special town meeting was called "at the school- 
 house opposite the Academy," where the Town meetings had been held 
 for so many years, at i o'clock p. m. The meeting was opened, and 
 voted to adjourn to S. Wires' store, probably because the old school- 
 house could not be properly warmed, it having already been abandoned 
 for school purposes. 
 
 At the September meeting after the fifth ballot for Town Rep- 
 resentative resulting in no choice, the meeting adjourned. 
 
 In January 1846, a special town meeting was called at the office 
 of S. S. Pike, and the March meeting was held at the Congregational 
 meeting-house. 
 
 At that meeting it was "voted, that the selectmen be a committee 
 to procure the use of one of the meeting-houses in Johnson in which 
 to hold town and Freemen's meetings for the ensuing year, to make 
 such bargain with either one of the Societies having the control of 
 said Houses, as they think best for the interests of the town." 
 
 Town meetings continued to be held in the Congregational church 
 until, the present church being built in 185 Ij, the town the next year 
 bought the old one for a town house. 
 
 The first town meeting called to "vote upon the question of Li- 
 cense or no-Iyicense, in accordance with an Act of the Legislature ap- 
 proved November 3, 1846," was in March 1847. 
 
 The result was "No License 56, License 49." 
 
 At the September meeting that year it is recorded that "At three 
 o'clock the votes for Town Representative were duly taken, sorted and 
 counted, and no choice made, when the meeting adjourned so far as 
 respects the choice of a Town Representative." 
 
 In 1848 they succeeded in electing Jonathan C. Dodge, after six 
 years of no representation. 
 
 In 1849 after three ballots there was no*choice of Representative, 
 and, on motion, the meeting adjourned. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 71 
 
 At March meeting 1850 the voting in relation to L,icense was Li- 
 cense 98, No License 15. 
 
 At the September meeting five ballots were taken for Town Rep- 
 resentative without a choice, and the meeting adjourned. 
 
 September 1851, S. S. Pike was selected' on the first ballot, and 
 re-elected in 1852. 
 
 In 1853, after three ballots they made no choice. In 1854 W. G. 
 Ferrin was elected on the second ballot. 
 
 In 1855 at the annual March meeting it was "Voted that the 
 Town purchase for the use of the Town 40 copies of Waring's 
 Elements of Agriculture." 
 
 In January 1856, the town "Voted to accept the part of the town 
 of Sterling which the Legislature had granted.to it at its last session.'' 
 March 5, 1861. "Voted that the selectmen be^ instructed to engage some 
 person at a price that would be considered reasonable to ring the church 
 bell three times each week-day, and at usual times on the Sabbath, and on 
 all public occasions (not including menageries and showmen) and to ring 
 and toll the bell on all occasions of deaths and funerals for the year ensuing, 
 free of expense to Individuals and at the expense of the said town." 
 
 Sept. 16, 1862. "Voted that the selectmen be .directed to borrow the sum 
 of four hundred and fifty dollars, or such sum as' may be necessary, and pay 
 the same to the soldiers, fifty dollars each, who enlisted from Johnson under 
 the last call of the President for troops. PayabW when mustered in United 
 States service." 
 
 December 19, 1863. "Voted that the selectmfen be instructed to borrow 
 a sum not exceeding Three Thousand Dollars, for the purpose of paying 
 three hundred dollars each to volunteers that may hereafter enlist for the 
 war under the recent call of the President of the United States, including 
 the one that it is understood has enlisted, payment to be made to such en- 
 listed men when mustered into the service of the United States." 
 
 March 24, 1865. "Voted that in case it becomes necessary to furnish 
 more men to carry on the war, that the selectflien be authorized to hire 
 
72 HISTOKY OF THE TOWN 
 
 them at their discretion, and borrow money on the credit of the town to pay 
 the same." 
 
 February 15, 1868. "Voted, by ballot, to accept of the act of the Legisla- 
 ture of this State entitled 'An Act to enable the towns therein named to aid 
 in the construction of the Lamoille Valley Railroad.' Approved November 
 12, 1867." 
 
 "Voted to recommend and nominate Robert C. Cristy, Isaac A. Manning 
 and Atwood Andrews to be Commissioners as named in the 3d section of 
 said Act." 
 
 "Voted that the town take stock in said Railroad to the amount of Fifty 
 Thousand Dollars and issue bonds for that amount." 
 
 March 3, 1885. "The following preamble and resolution were introduced 
 by H. A. Waterman, Esq. : 
 
 Whereas Dexter Whiting, Esq., in accordance with his generous nature, 
 has seen fit to purchase and present to the Town of Johnson a valuable and 
 elegant Town Clock, which he has caused to be'erected for the benefit and 
 pleasure of its citizens and the public in general. 
 
 Therefore, Resolved, That we, the citizens of said Town in Town Meet- 
 ing assembled, return to Mr. Whiting a vote of thanks to express our heart- 
 felt gratitude for his munificence." 
 
 "Voted to adopt the foregoing preamble and resolutions." 
 
 In 1893, in accordance with a law passed by the Legislature of 
 1892 providing for the Town System of Schools, the Selectmen ap- 
 praised all the school houses, sites and property. 
 
 Johnson Public Library Trustees were first elected in 1895, since 
 which time fifty dollars has been annually voted towards its main- 
 tenance. 
 
 Road mileage in town, not including pent roads, May 1900, 71 
 miles. 
 
CHAPTER 8. 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OP JOHNSON VILLAGE AS IT WAS IN 
 THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST^ CENTURY*. 
 
 The population of the town of Johnson was in point of fact, 19 
 more, according to the census in 1840 than in 1900, so constant has 
 been the emigration of our brightest and best into other parts of the 
 country, notably within the last half century. 
 
 But there are certainly not more than tijvo-thirds as many sets of 
 farm buildings in town as there were 60 years ago, so many farms 
 liave been practically abandoned for tillage and are being allowed to 
 revert to wilderness, which, for profit, ought never to have been cleared 
 from them. 
 
 The village, however, is more than twice as large as in 1840. The 
 count of the corporation in 1900 was 5S7, a-fd it is much larger now. 
 I propose to give you my earliest recollectibns of the village, in the 
 ■early '40's. 
 
 Beginning with the Normal building,„''part of it, the original 
 Academy, stood some twenty feet nearer the street, a square, two- 
 story building surmounted by a cupola, in which hung the bell. The 
 meadow between that and the cemetery wals a swamp, wherein blue 
 flags ran riot in their season, and multitudes of frogs made the spring 
 ■evenings loud and melodious. There were only four dwellings on 
 Stearns St., the Azariah Waterman house on the corner, where Frank 
 Holmes now lives, and then it was all one green field, with a grassy 
 
 ♦Revised from a paper read before the Oreail Literary Club of Johnson, 
 by Mrs. Mattie W. Baker, in March. 1905. 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 path by its fence for a sidewalk, to where Mr. Boyles lives, then known 
 as the Marshall Hosmer house. Then came the Caldwell house, where 
 Mr. Odell lives, and the Leslie house opposite where Justus Dodge 
 lived, and operated a tannery situated near where the tub-shop stands. 
 
 Above there, to Perkinsville, now East Johnson, was a quiet, 
 country road, no noisy mills to drown the bird-songs, no bridges 
 spanned the Gihon, and the only house on the way was a small one 
 where Silas Griswold lives. 
 
 Returning to our starting point, we notice by the way that there 
 were no houses on Gulf St. A little brook with high, mossy banks 
 flowed at its side, where school children loitering on their homeward 
 way in the golden summer afternoons used to stop and drag their 
 dinner baskets in the deepest places, and were sometimes lucky 
 enough to catch a minnow, causing great excitement. 
 
 At the farther end of the level you opened a gate to go up the 
 road on Burnham hill, or kept straight on towards Hydepark, go- 
 ing up through the gulf thickly wooded on both sides clear to its upper 
 end, in front of Morris Hill's, then known as the Day place; an ideal 
 road on hot, summer days, but a pokey enough one on dark nights. 
 
 Between the Academy and the rise of land where Pearl's factory 
 buildings are grouped, was more frog-pond^ and that was all. The 
 factory, a red painted building nearly in the same place as the present 
 one, was burned in 1870. At its eastern end was a saw-mill, owned 
 by Joseph Waterman, and the mill-yard, always more or less occupied 
 by logs, extended to the street, except that a tiny dwelling-house stood 
 where the wool-house now stands. An old two-story building, known 
 as "the old red store" where John Wier fomKrly traded, stood where 
 the blacksmith shop and hose-house now are. My earliest recollec- 
 tions are of a printing office in its second story. 
 
 In a yard occupying the corner where the Baptist church stands, 
 was a one-story wooden house, the original Joseph Waterman house. 
 
ViKW FK(),\r TiiK AcAiiKMY 1 _\ 1S47. Pencilling by S. ^.. "Wiswall. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMjDNT 75 
 
 moved across the street from where B. A. Hunt's brick house stands, 
 and occupied by the Waterman family while that house was being 
 built, in 1838. In the fall of '55, to make way for the Baptist church 
 which was to be built there the next year, this old house again took 
 to the road, this time being drawn up on Stearns street, where it now 
 forms part of the tub-factory store-house. 
 
 Returning to the head of the street, the first building, opposite the 
 Aicademy and standing close up to the rock where T. J. Baker has 
 started a little park, was the "old red school-house," probably the first 
 framed one in town, and serving as school-house, town house and 
 church for many years. It had become too old for use, and in the 
 winter of '44 and '45 the village school for scholars living on this side 
 of the Branch was held in the eastern part of Mr. Scott's house, then 
 the Caldwell furniture shop. It was also held there in the following 
 summer, while the school-house on Railroad St. next Mrs. Pierce's, 
 was being built. That in turn was duly abandoned, and finally, drawn 
 up on Main St., where it serves as Mr. Scott's blacksmith shop. 
 
 What is now the M. E. parsonage was then a plain, two-story 
 building without porches, occupied by James Clark, who had a harness 
 shop in the chamber. An old, one-story, unpainted house stood where 
 Mr. Patten lives, and had been occupied by S. N. Tracy, the tailor. 
 What is now the Opera House was then the Congregational church 
 built in 1832. There was nothing between that and the Caldwell 
 shop, now Mr. Scott's house. Joseph Poland, who was editing a pa- 
 per here, lived where George Baker lives. My memory of him is of 
 how impressive his bald head looked when he stood up before us as 
 our Sunday School superintendent. He afterwards went to Mont- 
 pelier, where he edited a paper for many -years. 
 
 After the Poland house was a fine, large garden, where Dr. Pren- 
 tiss' house stands, belonging to the Dr. Waite house, then owned 
 by S. S. Pike. The Peck house was built by Judson Rowell, and oc- 
 
76 HISTORY OP THE TOWN 
 
 cupied by him as a store, with dwelHng abovd, till he failed in business 
 and moved away. The Riddle store was built by J. M. Hotchkiss, 
 and he, too, failed in trade. The business passed into other hands, 
 but we believe the building has always been occupied as a store. That 
 and the Peck building were exactly alike on the front, so that transient 
 occupants sometimes inadvertently entered the wrong building. 
 
 Where C. P. Jones' store stands was a wide, open space, con- 
 venient to the Hotel ; at the back was the Hotel barn, with open shed 
 towards the street. The back part of the present Hotel was then the 
 Main building, built and occupied as a Hotel at the time of the war 
 of 1812. The battle of Plattsburg was September 11, 1814, and 
 Thomas Waterman, proprietor of the Hotel, was there as Captain. 
 Many of the town's able-bodied men were there, and the cannonading 
 that day could be plainly heard here, filling the hearts of their friends 
 with sore anxiety. About that time a squad of British officers rode 
 through the village, and stopping at the Hotel, ordered dinner. The 
 whole establishment hastened to do the bidding of the unwelcome 
 guests, setting before them the best they could compass in the way 
 of food and drink, and only smiling indulgently when, at the close 
 of the meal, the half-drunken men jovially smashed a few glasses. 
 Without as much as thanks for their entertainment they rode off, 
 leaving the town to feel thankful that they had fared no worse at 
 the hands of their braggart visitors. 
 
 Beyond the Hotel, to the corner, and down Railroad St. to the 
 Warren house, was the Hotel orchard and garden, enclosed by a board 
 fence. One small chestnut tree which grew in it was a great wonder 
 to our childish eyes, it being the only one we had ever seen. 
 
 The Warren house was the old Hosmer house, and in the L, 
 part Marshall Hosmer and his father made chairs for many years. 
 The tenement part of Mrs. Morgan's house stood where it does now, 
 then came the Hickey house, occupied by Nathan Jones, blacksmith. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 77 
 
 and no more buildings on that side of the street, to the Waterman 
 brick house. Across the bridge was the Hunt house, now occupied 
 by Geo. Goozey, and nothing else over there. No railroad then 
 to disturb the quiet of this valley, nor of any other hereabouts, for 
 that matter. 
 
 The present arch bridge was built in 1839 to replace one carried 
 out by ice and high water in February of .'that year. Mr. Samuel 
 Merriam was driving across it at the time, land only by whipping up 
 his horse did he barely escape being carried away with the bridge. 
 The "Lamoille Visitor" of that week, our tqwn paper, in speaking of 
 the heavy damages wrought by the flood elsewhere, for it was very 
 widespread, said, "We were fortunate in only losing three bridges — 
 all we had!" 
 
 The old Merriam house where Mr. Thqmas lives, and the Doane 
 house, now owned by Mrs. Pierce, were the only ones on that side 
 of the street, till the yellow school-house was built on the level 
 between the Pierce and Minott houses. From^ the school-house to the 
 Moses Morse store, on the corner now occupied by Nye, was only the 
 blacksmith shop. The store there at that time was the one now oc- 
 cupied by Nellie Hunt, moved across the street to make way for the 
 present large one. 
 
 What is now the town clerk's office was a tin-shop operated by 
 Paul T. Sweet and years later by Alexander Riddle. Where the Post- 
 Office is, was a building which had been occupied variously as a shoe- 
 shop and a furniture shop, not to mention that the Academy in its in- 
 cipient stage, was located there. The Austin house was the Levi Reed 
 house, and back in the yard beyond was an old, red house, one of the 
 oldest on this side of the Branch, with nothing between that and the 
 Allen hotel-stand, next the bridge, except :Patch's grocery building, 
 built by Samuel Morgan for a hat-shop below and dwelling above. 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE TOWN 
 
 A wooden bridge spanned the Branch, =in place of the present 
 iron one, and below the bridge, about opposite Mr. Conger's was a 
 small tenement house, built in the bank, its upper story opening on the 
 street, its lower one, at the back, on the meadow. At each spring 
 freshet more or less water came into the lower floor, so that the oc- 
 cupants had to move up stairs. Then every Ipy and girl in the village, 
 no matter how good their home, envied tKe children in that house 
 who could sail in wash-tubs in their kitchen. Such a swarm of small 
 boys as used to hang around that house in time of spring rains, and 
 ice going out of the Branch. 
 
 There were only four houses below the turn where the point of 
 rock makes out into the road. The L,ease house, now the Baptist 
 parsonage, was the only one on that side of the street; there was a 
 small, old house which Mr. Rogers owns, the EHwood house, half the 
 size it is now, occupied by P. T. Sweet, and the Vernon Patch house 
 where Chas. Scott lived. 
 
 Retracing our steps, the Chamberlain and Hebb houses were 
 much as now, the latter being the Chesamore place, but where Mr. 
 Conger's is was a small ruined building bearing an old sign, "Hait 
 factory," where Morgan and Sheldon once operated the hat-making 
 industry. The two-story dwelling just above the bridge was then 
 on the other side of the Branch, Chesamore's shoe-shop. It was moved 
 across, after a small store and tailor's shop standing on the east side, 
 was burned. The house Mr. Farrell lives in was occupied by the 
 Ormsbees, and the Holmes house, a small, one-story building then, 
 was the Lynde house. Mrs. Maria Davis' house was occupied by Mr. 
 Beardsley. Previously Mr. Sheldon lived there, and made hats in 
 the lower front room. Mrs. Andrews's house was the Moses Morse 
 place, one of the "stately mansions" of the village. Where the Ful- 
 lington house stands was the store occupied by Merriam & Lynde. It 
 was burned in 1849, ^^^ ^'■- Merriam, some years afterward, built the 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 79 
 
 brick house. Before that he lived in what is now Edmund Perkins' 
 house on Railroad St. It stood where the Stevens house is. The 
 Boyles store was the Post Office for several years, with J. B. Dow- 
 ner as postmaster. S. S. Pike, who was town clerk for a great many 
 years, had his office in that building also. 
 
 The two cottages in the rear of the store .were one dwelling, stand- 
 ing where the McFarland house stands, and occupied by Salmon 
 Wires. All between that and the Hunt house, then Mr. Joseph Wa- 
 terman's, was one big garden and orchard vtfith a high picket fence 
 through which we could see the rows of fine vegetables, the fruit and 
 flowers, a grape-vine running luxuriantly over the rock, and a well- 
 curb with the traditional "old oaken bucket." The Waterman starch- 
 factory, a low one-story building, is part of the E. E. Holmes shop, 
 and across the street, about where the end of the Baptist church sheds 
 is, was an old house used as a tenement, twb stories in front, sloping 
 to one at the rear. 
 
 The bridges over the Gihon were open ones in those days. We 
 are told that the first bridge over it, here in thf village, was built above 
 the mill-dam, about where the creamery stands. That bridge, we 
 gather from the records, was carried off by the breaking away of Eden 
 Pond, in April 1805. Thomas H. Parker and Jeduthem Stone of 
 Eden had erected mills at the outlet of the pond and their dam being 
 insecure, it broke away, carrying off their mills, and working destruc- 
 tion as the water passed down the valleys. It is said that it carried 
 off acres of heavy timber, and even huge roqks were torn from their 
 beds. Sixteen feet of water rolled nearly perpendicular. 
 
 A man on a fleet horse warned the few dwellers in this village of 
 what was coming, so they had a little time to prepare for it. Araunah 
 Waterman's house stood near where the widow Heath's house now 
 stands, their barns being the other side of the branch, and they had a 
 foot-bridge across. It was towards night, and the big boys, Thomas, 
 
80 HISTOEY OF THE t6wN 
 
 Joseph and Azariah, seized the milk pails, ran across the bridge, milked 
 the cows and turned them off on to the hills, then hurried back, 
 pulling up the planks of their bridge to save them from being swept 
 away. Meanwhile the others had gathered what things they could 
 well carry with them, and they all took to the hills. The flood came 
 and washed out part of their cellar wall, carrying off the pork-barrel 
 and general cellar stores, and leaving the house tipped down at one 
 corner. 
 
 People all along the stream suffered more or less loss, and they 
 brought a suit against Parker and Stone for damages. The suit ran 
 for a number of years, as such things are prone to do, and at length 
 the judge told the Johnson people that they had not brought the suit 
 against the right party. It was the work of the Supreme Being. Each- 
 one paid his own costs, and the case ended. 
 
 Pearl St. was the one first built up, and the road then followed 
 the windings of the Gihon, and came out below Mr. Hebb's. Candor 
 compels me to state, that there being no Pearls in town in the early 
 '40's, that street had not its present aristocratic title, but was known 
 as Pollywog street, from the frog-pond near the grist-mill. 
 
 The shed part of I. L. Pearl's house stood where his house now 
 stands, was occupied by various principals of the Academy, in turn, and 
 was considered. a good house in those times. Between that and the 
 branch was waste land with some old apple-trees scattered about, and 
 the river-bank bordered with all sorts of wild stuff that grows in 
 neglected spots, cicuta being prominent. The old well belonging ta 
 the Araunah Waterman house was in use for many years after the 
 house was torn down, and furnished water for that part of the 
 street. 
 
 When O. & A. H. Buck were building the store now occupied 
 by Harry Maxfield, in digging out earth to. lay the foundation walls^ 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 81 
 
 the workmen accidentally loosened stones in one side of the well, so 
 that the water ran out, and the well collapse'd. 
 
 The old house owned by Almon Whiting was the only other 
 building on that side of the street, till you went up the hill, and away 
 along the road to the top of the hill below Geo. Whiting's house. There 
 stood the mill where Dexter Whiting ground bark for his tannery, 
 situated at the head of the little meadow below the road. Quite a pond 
 in the basin at the top of the hill furnished the power for running the 
 bark-mill. The Polly wog street school-house stood just beyond Geo. 
 Whiting's house, and above that were only three dwellings, the Ellin- 
 wood house, recently occupied by Jason French, the Fowler place, 
 lately known as the Barton house, and two" small, old houses on the 
 Chase place, where Mr. Sherwin's big, square house stands. 
 
 Near where Carlos Oakes lives was the Baptist church ; some of 
 its timbers were used in building the preseni one. At the foot of the 
 hill were the house lately purchased by Herbert Scott, and the Rush- 
 ford house, then occupied by Andrew Dow, with gardens in the rear, 
 but all the hills and meadows beyond, where the Graded School build- 
 ing and Mr. Waters' house stands. School, St. itself and all, were 
 included in the Geo. W. Hill farm, until 1870, when another bridge 
 was built over the Gihon near the site of the present electric power 
 plant and School St. was opened leading t6 it. Mr. Hill lived in a 
 low, rambling, old-fashioned house, about where Blarrows' store stands. 
 It was the earliest hotel in the village, and -near it was the Common, 
 where June training and other outdoor public functions were held. 
 
 In 1812, while the youth of the town >ere having a Fourth of 
 July jollification on this Common, the cannon" they were firing exploded, 
 and one young man was literally blown to. pieces, so that his brains 
 were scattered over the low roof of the Hotel. He was buried in the 
 cemetery on Stearns St., and you can read this inscription on his tomb- 
 stone : 
 
83 HISTORY OF THE TQ^N 
 
 "In memory of Stepheii 
 
 B. Huntington Son of 
 
 Christopher and Eunice 
 
 Huntington Who Dt 
 
 parted This Life 
 
 July the 4 A D 181S 
 
 "n the 20th year oi 
 
 bis Agb 
 
 iTouth don't forgit As you 
 
 Pass by you'l Turn to 
 
 lust As Well As I." 
 
 The Farnham house was originally the old Hotel barn, moved, 
 and made over into a dwelling house. About where Mr. Ira Jones' 
 house stands was a small building used as a cabinet shop by Dea. Robin- 
 son. The Laraway house was occupied by the widow Sheldon, af- 
 ter the death of her husband, the hatter. Their younger son, Charles 
 H. is well and favorably remembered by the older inhabitants of the 
 town, and we were as proud to hear of his election and re-election to 
 the office of Governor of South Dakota, some twelve or more years 
 since, as we were sad, a few years afterward, to hear of his death. 
 
 The mill-house, burned in the summer of 1906, was probably 
 one of the oldest houses in the village, occupied then by Blake, the 
 miller. The grist-mill was a small affair, for no Western wheat or 
 corn was brought here then. It simply did custom-work, grinding 
 the farmers' grain, and taking out the toll allowed by law, one-six- 
 teenth part, to pay for grinding. From this practice arose the saying 
 common in those times, that "you could never tell upon whose grain 
 the miller's pig was fattened," and another, which has passed into a 
 proverb, that "the dust from an honest miller's hat will cure sore 
 eyes." It was scandalously asserted that a miller's right hand grew 
 into a peculiar bent shape, from scooping too low in the grain. 
 
OF JOHNSON, VERMONT 83 
 
 There was a miller in charge at one time who had a long, lanky 
 son as his assistant, one of that sort of boys who do a great deal 
 of "heavy standing around." Farmers were wont to feel, in those 
 days, that their grain was, somehow, subjected to excessive toll, and 
 some said it was this way: 
 
 The miller would come along to a row of bags of grain waiting 
 ■ to be ground, and would call out to his soa: 
 
 "Hiram ! have you tolled this grain ?" 
 
 Without waiting for a reply, he would go on, "Of course you 
 hain't, you lazy whelp! You never do nothin'!" and would proceed 
 to take out the toll himself, but later developments would indicate that 
 Hiram, had attended to his work better than his father gave him credit 
 for. 
 
 Sidewalks, as such, were practically unknown here, three score 
 years ago. In summer we wended our way^along the grassy roadside 
 paths, but with winter snows teams and pedestrians alike kept to the 
 highway. Most houses of any pretension yvhatever had their yards 
 fenced in, a necessary precaution against hasty raids by the many 
 village cows that were driven through the streets night and morning, 
 all summer, to say nothing of the big droves Of hundreds of cattle which 
 were often driven through here on their way to the city markets. The 
 door-yard fences were more or less pretentious, according to the taste 
 and purse of the owner, and all had gates which were said to sag badly 
 on the hinges where the marriageable daughters of the house were 
 numerous. 
 
 We have no reason to expect that Johnson will become a 
 metropolis, but if it may never be much larger than now, it may cer- 
 tainly be better. It remains for every man,%oman and child to show 
 their civic pride by helping in every way possible to make the town 
 a better place to live in, a cleaner, more pleasant, more wholesome 
 place, better for its dwellers physically, morally and intellectually.