WALKER, Jacob, the first settler of Morrlstown: In 1789 Jacob Walker, a young surveyor, who was living in the home of his brother, William, in Bennington, was employed by Joseph Hinsdale in behalf of the proprietors of Morristown to run the lines of the second division' of the allotment of land. Jacob Walker, twenty-four years of age and unusually well educated, was in every way fitted for the task which he performed during the summer months of that year. He received a certain amount of land for his services which he shared with his brother, William, who came to help him. There are many things connected with the history of our town, of which we may well be proud. First and foremost, is the fact that the first settlement was made by a young man whose character was crystal clear, his faith in God steady as the stars, and total abstinence a part of his religion. Steady, true, and brave he came into the wilderness in early June, 1790. Each Saturday night found him at the McDaniels home not far from Hyde Park Street, where he remained over the Sabbath, returning each Monday with food supplies. Before the cold weather set in, Jacob Walker returned to the home of his brother in Bennington to formulate plans for the following spring. In January, 1791, he journeyed to Fairfax, Vermont, and on the thirteenth day of that month Phillipa Story became his bride. Jacob Walker and his wife did not come alone into the wilderness. William Walker, his wife, and two children, with two hired men, came with them. They brought a few common tools and for live stock had a cow, a dog, and a cat. Thus it was that the log house became a real home in the heart of the forest. Soon potatoes, corn, and a few vegetables were planted and the clearing of the land went forward. That was the summer of 1791. Before severe weather came, they dug a deep hole in the ground and buried the vegetables, then set forth on their journey to Fairfax and Bennington, where they spent the winter. But the winter of 1792 Jacob Walker, with his wife and children, remained in town. Mr. Walker built a second cabin in 1801. It was much larger than the first and built a short distance from it in an easterly direction. He built a third house in 1820, where he lived twenty-three years, or until his death in 1843. It is now known as the brick house on the LaPorte Road.
OLDS, Comfort, the first of the settlers to winter in town, was born in Brookfield, Mass., on July 29, 1760. Caught by the pioneering spirit, he and his wife and two children left there in March, 1791, and came by ox team to settle on a lot previously bought on the LaPorte Road, afterward called the George Poor farm. After a laborious journey of about 200 miles he arrived to find that there was little prospect of the building of a road near his purchase, so he exchanged it for a lot on the height of land between Hyde Park and Stowe, the farm occupied in 1935 by Mark Kellogg. He shared the log cabin of the Walkers until his own could be built. At this time his nearest neighbor to the south was Joshua Hill of Water-bury, fourteen miles distant. In 1794, Oliver Luce settled in Stowe about three miles away. To the north was only two miles to neighbors. The following incidents taken from Heminway's "Gazeteer" give an idea of the daily life of these pioneers: Soon after coming to Morristown, it became necessary for Mr. Olds to go to Cambridge to get his grist ground. He set out with his ox team expecting to return by the middle of the week. A severe snowstorm began and, knowing he had left wood enough to last only a short time, he set out for home on foot. Late Wednesday night he arrived to find that Mrs. Olds had burned all the fuel and, alone with her two little ones, was awaiting the consequences of the storm. After replenishing his woodpile, Mr. Olds returned to Cambridge for his grist. He also had the misfortune to lose his only cow soon after settling here, so started to go to his brother's in Randolph, Vt., to secure another. He went by marked trees through Stowe and Waterbury and then crossed the Hogback Mountains, keeping on the north side of the river, since there were no bridges in Middlesex and Waterbury. He obtained a cow which wore a bell and on his way back called on his neighbor, Mr. Hill. On reaching home he put his purchase in a yard made by felling trees, but Bossy evidently did not like such primitive quarters and a few mornings later he awoke to find her gone. He followed her until he reached the home of Mr. Hill, who, having heard a cow bell the night before and remembering Mr. Olds and his purchase, got up and secured her. When the town was organized, Mr. Olds was elected Town Clerk, which office he held for six years. He also filled other positions of trust and responsibility. He was a strong church man, serving as class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church for more than thirty years. He died April 22, 1839. A distant neighbor of Mr. Olds was George Kenfield, who, in 1793, settled on a farm a short distance west of Morristown Corners occupied in 1935 by Jesse Briggs. Here the following June was born a son, Asaph, the first male child born in town. A son of Asaph was Frank Kenfield, for years one of the leading men of the town who died in 1914.
BORARDMAN FAMILY, The first family to settle in Cadys Falls and the fourth to winter in town were the Boardmans, who came here from Canaan, Conn. The head of the family, Ozias, had married Lydia Hinsdale, sister of Joseph Hinsdale, who was one of the most active of the proprietors of the new township. It was perhaps through him that Mr. Boardman was led to purchase land intending to move here with his family, which consisted of his wife and four sons. Mr. Boardman died before the change was made, but his son, Ozias, came in 1793 at the age of nineteen to examine the land his father had bought. He remained during the summer, working for Aaron Hurd, and the March following he returned with his brother, William, making the trip with an ox team by way of Lake Champlain and the Lamoille Valley. They settled on lots sixty-three and sixty-four and the next spring the two other brothers, Elisha and Alfred, came with their mother. From that time on the Boardmans were intimately associated with the development of the town. When the sons were married, they asked their mother to choose with whom she would live. She replied: Elisha has too much public business and cannot well attend to his home affairs. William is a good son, but careless and will leave the bars down, exposing the crops, but Ozias always puts up the bars. So it seems probable that she went to dwell with Ozias. The eldest son, Elisha (1773-1826), built the first tavern in town, which also served as a town house for years, was the second Town Clerk from 1802-1812, was the first Town Representative, being elected four years in succession, from 1804 to 1808, and was Captain of the first Militia. His eldest son, Milton Hervey (1799-1834), married Sophia Haskins and later Alice Gates; and Milton's oldest son, Hervey C. (1824-1898), was a farmer and lumberman who for years ran the mill still known as the Boardman mill He was the father of Maria Boardman Tinker, who died in 1933, and Milton H., who still resides here, although his son, Winfield H., and daughter, L. Alberta Ballard (Mrs. Percy), live elsewhere. The second son of Elisha, Alfred C. (1801-1871), married Mary Holcomb and was Town Clerk from 1842-1871. He was one of the men injured in the raising of the Universalist Church, his leg being so shattered that it had to be amputated. The first of the family to come here, Ozias (1774-1843), married Lydia Whitney and all of their children except the eldest son, Almond, went West. Almond (1807-1891) married Jemima Goodell and remained on the home place. Of his five children only two grew to maturity here, Cornelia, who married Leander Small, an attorney at Hyde Park, and Ellen, who married Albert L. Noyes of that town. The third son of Ozias, Sr., William B., married Anna Town of Stowe and had eight children. His oldest daughter, Lydia, married Hiram Earle, whose father came from England and settled on the farm occupied in 1935 by Joseph E. White. This family is now represented by Hiram Earle's two grand-daughters, Mrs. Alice George and Mrs. W. F. Churchill, and by a great-granddaughter, Mrs. C. B. Spaulding. William's youngest son, Charles Wright, married Huldah Cole and spent most of his life here. His grandchildren, Mrs. George Wells and Mrs. Roger Newton and Leslie Boardman, are residents of the town. The fourth son of Ozias, Alfred, married Lydia Little and left a son, William A., and a daughter, Diantha.
GOODELL, Nathaniel and Cyril came from Amherst, Mass. Nathaniel built a temporary cabin of logs which he occupied three years while he was getting out lumber for the large two story dwelling which he erected on the hill which overlooks the "Sally Joy" place. After its completion he returned to Massachusetts in 1798 for his bride, Miss Warren. Tradition says she was a niece of Gen. Joseph Warren of Revolutionary fame. "To this home Nathaniel, when he had reached middle life, brought a second mother for his boys and girls. Her name was Mary Thompson, daughter of Col. Loring and Mary (Whitten) Thompson, of Cornish, N. H., and a direct descendant of Lieut. John and Mary (Cook) Thompson. John came in the third ship to America and Mary's father was Francis Cook who came in the Mayflower. From this home, with only the education gained in the little red schoolhouse, two of Nathaniel Goodell's sons migrated to Massachusetts. The younger one settled in Boston, took up the trade of a cabinet maker and read law evenings and was later admitted to the Bar and became a successful lawyer. The other built the great dam seen as one enters the City of Lawrence, Mass.
COOKE, Samuel, Among the most prominent of the early settlers was Samuel Cooke, who was born in Hadley, Mass., in 1755. He served in the Revolution, being with Arnold in his unfortunate expedition against Quebec where he contracted smallpox. In 1786 he moved to Worthington, Mass., where, like so many other of his neighbors, he became interested in the new township of Morristown, Vt. He bought a lot just south of the Four Corners and began to clear it in 1794, and the year following built a block house. For some reason he did not move his family to their new home until 1805, but from that time on he filled various positions of trust and responsibility. Before leaving Worthington he had served six successive years as Selectman and he was Moderator of the first recorded town meeting in Morristown. He was Town Representative from 1809 to 1814, Justice of the Peace and Assistant Judge while the town was still a part of Orleans County. He died in 1834, leaving a family of seven children. His oldest son, Dennison, married Margaret Matthews and was Town Clerk for a quarter of a century. Another son, Chester, settled on the Plains, married Lucy Shaw, and had six children, one of whom married Salmon Niles, whose son, Albert A., held many public offices.
DUNHAM, Micaijah, Another of the prominent men of the first decades of the town's life was Micaijah Dunham, a native of Southampton, Mass., who possessed more education and more means than did many of the pioneers. He surveyed one section of the town and settled in the eastern part on the farm occupied in 1935 by Owen Douglass. Their large house built by Mr. Dunham is said to have been the first two story house in town. He married Dorothy Pratt, but died in 1812 at the age of forty-seven. His descendants who have remained here were in the line of his daughter, Maria, who married Amasa Spaulding, and lived on her father's place. Her grandson, Calvin Spiller, is a resident of Morrisville.
SHAW FAMILY Another name frequently found in the history of Morristown is that of Shaw. The first of that line to settle here was Crispus, who was born in Nova Scotia in 1763, but when a boy moved to Shutesbury, Mass., and, although young, served in the Revolution. In 1798 he moved here when there were but twelve families in town and remained until his death, in 1845. He was twice married, first to Anna Burke, and later, in 1840, to Fanny Liscomb. Most of his children spent their lives here. Crispus, Jr., settled in Elmore and with his descendants was a leading citizen there. Benoni married Betsey-Whitney and their children who grew to maturity here were Benoni, Jr., who married Hannah Travis, and was a mill man in what is still known as Shaw Hollow near the Red Bridge. A second son, Boardman, lived near the Sterling line and was the father of Leslie M. Shaw and also of Dutha, the father of Mrs. Walter Isham. A third son of Benoni, Darwin, married Mary Reed and they were the parents of Carlos Shaw, the father of Ned Shaw, still a resident here, and of Almary, now Mrs. Joseph Bannister and the mother of Mrs. Frank Allen. Darwin Shaw was also the father of a daughter, Marion, who married Jackson Chaffee, the father of Mrs. Frank Strong and Mrs. William Welch. A fourth son of Benoni was Rockwell, who lived in the southwestern part of the town and had one daughter, Delia, who married Levi Gile and only recently moved to Stowe. A daughter of Benoni, Betsey, is represented by Mrs. Wayne Durett. Crispus Shaw had three daughters whose lives were spent in town. Martha married Baruch Darling and their sons, Alden and Chester, were for many years proprietors of the excellent farm in Mud City, occupied in 1935 by Ernest Inkle. They left no descendants. Another daughter of Crispus was Sally, who first married Jared Spaulding, father of Alonzo Spaulding, and late in life she married Jedediah Bingham. A third daughter, Lucy, married Chester Cooke and her descendants are given in connection with the Cooke family.
SHAW, Ebenezer, Another Shaw influential in local affairs was Ebenezer, who was born in Middlebury, Mass., in 1773, and died in 1866. As a young man he came to Vermont, where, at Woodstock, he learned the tanner's and shoe-maker's trade and was the first tanner in Morristown, coming here about 1800. He is said to have been the first Universalist here and was for years one of the pillars of that church. His first wife was Polly Whitney, daughter of Eliphalet Whitney, who was also the father-in-law of three other early settlers, Benoni Shaw, Seth Haskins and Ozias Boardman. Young Shaw and his bride settled on land given him by his father-in-law and kept in his family until after the death of his grandson, Charles. It is occupied in 1935 by W. G. Lepper and Son. His wife, Polly, died in 1835, and the year following he married Abigail Sherwin. His son, Edwin H., born in 1818, married Pelina Gay and their son, Charles, remained on the home place until his death, in 1913. His widow, Helen Bliss Shaw, was a resident of Morristown until her removal to Burlington, in 1932, but they left no descendants.
BRIGHAM FAMILY Another family identified with the town since its early days are the Brighams. Lieut. Abner Brigham came to Vermont from Grafton, Mass., where his ancestors settled at an early date. He was a Revolutionary soldier, being one of them who went with Arnold in his attack upon Quebec. He died at Hartland, Vt., in 1791, leaving a widow and several children. About 1800 Mrs. Brigham and several of the children came to Morristown and from that date until the present (1935) the farm just north of the Tenney Bridge has been occupied by a Brigham, the present owner being Melville, the fifth generation to live there.
Seventeen years after their coming here the family was smitten by a disease much more prevalent then than now, typhoid fever. In July a son, Enoch, twenty-eight years of age, who two years previous had married Lucy Bingham, died from that disease. The following September, the oldest son, Abner, who had married Anna Safford, died of the same scourge and within three weeks a grand-son and a granddaughter were laid away, victims of the same plague. Abner Brigham at the time of his death was Captain of the local militia and was buried with military honors in September, 1817.
Another son of Lieutenant Abner was Elisha (1791-1831), who married Fanny M. Cooke, daughter of Samuel Cooke, and to them were born four children, three daughters and a son, Elisha (1823-1906), who throughout his life was one of the town's leading citizens. He held many town offices and his judgment was respected by everyone. He was deeply interested in local history and many of the facts in this volume were obtained from his research. He married Mary Adela Cole, in 1848, and left two sons, Charles and Albert. The former married Clara Eaton and to them were born two children, Gertrude F., who married Charles Ross, now deceased, and is a Methodist minister in Pennsylvania, and Melville, who married Bernice Guyette and has three daughters, Lucy, Eunice, and Emma. Albert Brigham married Rose Messer and lives in Morrisville.
MATTHEWS, James was living in town when the second census of 1800 was taken, on the road leading to Tyndall Hill on the farm long known as the Hill place. He married Clarissa Ketchum and had a family of eight children. He died in 1868. His son, Leonard, born in 1826, carried the mail between the Corners and Morrisville for many years, dying in 1900. Another son, Addison, who was unmarried, for many years owned the farm on the brow of the hill west of the Corners, occupied in 1935 by Harry Fisk. His later years were spent with his brother, Leonard, at the Corners.
COLE FAMILY Another name familiar to anyone acquainted with the history of the town is that of Cole. Three brothers, John, Asa, and Ebenezer, sought their fortunes in the new township just previous to or in the early years of the nineteenth century. The oldest, John (1752-1842), was a Revolutionary soldier, noted for his huge stature and great strength. Those of his descendants most closely connected with the town came in the line of his son, Harvey, who first married Lydia Pottle, by whom he had three sons, Horace, Hiram, and Heman, and a daughter, Huldah. Horace married Caroline Wilkins and died in 1863 while serving in the Civil War, leaving two daughters, Lizzie and Laura. The former married Henry Fisher and has two sons, Claude, who has been a clerk in the local post office for several years, and Harold of Palo Alto, Calif. Heman left no sons to carry on the family name, but two daughters, Alice, deceased, and Emma, who married Lysander Barrows of Stowe. The daughter, Huldah, married C. Wright Boardman, and her descendants are given in connection with that family. John Cole's second wife was Mary Springer, by whom he had three sons, John, Levi, and Daniel. The last named married Amelia Reed and had four children, Effie, Eulalia, Etta, and Alberto. The son lives on his father's farm in what is still known as the Cole Hill District.
Ebenezer and Asa moved here in 1801 from Cornish, N. H. Ebenezer (1766-1849) married Ruth Pierce and so far as is ascertainable is represented in town now by a great-grandson, Arthur Douglass. His daughter, Sally, married Jonathan Douglass who, with his, son, Albert, lived for years on the farm occupied in 1935 by Henry Ross. Of Albert's children, one son, Arthur, resides at the Corners. Lucy, another daughter of Ebenezer, married Warren Goodell, but their four children, Emmaline, who married Elias Merritt; Lucy, who married Sewell Baker, and the two sons, Bliss and George, have no direct descendants here.
Asa (1772-1852) settled in the northern part of the town by the Hyde Park line on land which remained in his family for a century and a portion of which is still owned by a descendant, Melville Brigham. One of his sons, Daniel (1800-1868), married Lucy Burke. Not all of Daniel's children grew to maturity, but one of them, Charles, married Laura Clark and had two sons, Henry and George, who still reside here. The latter married Winnifred Foss and has been a R. F. D. mail carrier for years. A second son of Asa's was Morris Cole (1801-1890), who married Mary Chaplin and was the father of Albert Cole, a respected citizen of Morristown throughout his life, and of Mary Adela, who married Elisha Brigham in 1848, and her descendants are given in connection with the Brigham family.
GATES FAMILY A name prominently connected with the early development of Cadys Falls and a familiar one in the history of the town is that of Gates. This family originated in Essex, England, and in the tenth generation came to Bingham, Mass., in 1638. Later they migrated to Preston, Conn., where was born Nathan Gates (1754-1838), the one who came to Morristown. He served as private in the Sixth Connecticut Regiment at the siege of Boston in 1775 and gained the rank of Lieutenant. In 1777 he married Tamerson Kimball. They lived in Plainfield, N. H., for a time, coming from there to Morristown in 1801. Lieutenant Gates was the father of eleven children and the ones most closely identified with the town through their descendants were Nathan, Jr., Daniel, Lovell and Elizabeth.
Nathan, Jr. (1778-1858), soon after coming to Morristown, married Martha, daughter of Abner and Mary Brigham, and had six children. The oldest was Nathan Brigham Gates, who had one son and three daughters, of whom only two lived to maturity. The son, Benjamin N. (1830-1893), married Delia Whittier and had one son, Calvin Leo, who married Abbie L. Bullard. C. L. Gates was a well known business man, one of the few Democrats whom the town has sent to represent it at Montpelier. He was Postmaster during the Wilson Administration, and his daughter, Mary, the only one of his three children to reside in Morristown, has been clerk in the post office for several years.
Nathan B. Gates' youngest daughter, Alice, married Horace Day and they had one son, Clarence, whose family have been residents here much of the time. The second son of Nathan Gates, Jr., was Daniel F. (1804-1859), who married Lavinia Jordon. One of his daughters, Ellen, was the first wife of Henry D. Bryant, who was prominent in the local business world of the 80's and 90's. A son, Amasa 0., was for years the leading druggist in town.
The fourth son of Nathan, Jr., was George Washington (1810-1890), who married Betsey Smith and their grandson, Ernest W., was in business in town for many years and Postmaster from 1924 to 1933. The fifth son of Nathan, Jr., was Sylvester L. (1809-1897), a life-long resident of the town, who married as his first wife Lydia Ferrin, daughter of John and Hannah Ferrin. To them were born two daughters, one of whom, Mary, married William Cheney, and to them were born a daughter, Winnifred, and a son, Thomas C. The third son of Lieutenant Nathan was Daniel Gates (1781-1869), who married Sally Spaulding, Of their twelve children, descendants of two have spent their lives here. Susan A. married Truman C. Ryder, father of Elmer Ryder and grandfather of Harold and Bessie Ryder. Sanford (1824-1856) married Diantha Town and their daughter, Sanfordora, married George E. Town. Their four children, Grace (Mrs. Fred Wilson), Gerald, Winifred, and Lila, live in the eastern part of the town. The fourth son of Lieutenant Nathan was Lovell (1784-1865), who married Hannah Coates. Their oldest son, Irvine, married Hancy L. Pike of Sterling. Of their children the oldest, Celeste, married Eli B. Gile and left no descendants, while their three sons, Elmer, Carroll, and Bert, were well known here in their day. The other son of Lovell was Orsemus, who lived in Cadys Falls until his death, in 1909. His only child, a daughter, Benelia, married A. J. Sherwood, a prosperous farmer in the western part of the town. Lovell's daughter, Harriet Carola, married Danforth Eaton, a long time resident of Morristown.
The sixth child of Lieutenant Nathan, was Elizabeth (1787-1866), who married David Reed. Her great-grand-daughter, Ida A. Lilley, married William H. Towne and their great-grandson carries on the line of Lieutenant Nathan to the eighth generation.
JOE AND MOLLY
Jacob Walker is always referred to as the first settler of Morristown, but years before his coming and before the charter was granted, Indian Joe and Molly had explored this region and found it good, Joe was born in Nova Scotia, but his tribe was practically annihilated by the English at the siege of Louisburg and he was brought up by the St. Francis Indians and served with Capt. John Vincent's Indian Company in 1777-1778. This early experience of his probably accounted for his hatred of the English and led him to serve as scout for the colonists during the Revolution. Thus he became familiar with Northern Vermont and about 1780 selected the Lamoille Valley for his fishing and hunting ground and for a time established his wigwam on Butternut Island on the bank of this river a short distance below Morrisville. It was during his stay here that he and Molly visited General Washington at his headquarters on the Hudson, where they were received with respect and given many presents in return for Joe's services to the patriot cause.
The pioneers of this and other towns were indebted to him for many kindnesses, and many stories are current of his helpful acts and also of his quick wit. Miss Lou Rand related hearing her grandmother tell of the many ways in which he befriended Jacob Walker. Once when a panther menaced the Walker home, the Indian warned the occupants, and himself shot the beast. Again the first winter this family spent in town, when their supply of food was almost exhausted, Joe shot a moose and shared the meat with his white friends before he took any to his own wig-wam. It is told that he and Molly were once starting on a season's hunting and trapping and called at Esquire Taylor's tavern in Wolcott. He asked for a glass of rum, for which he was charged six cents. When he returned in the spring, he stopped for another glass and laid down six cents as before, but Taylor demanded ten, saying it cost as much to winter a barrel of rum as a horse. Joe drew himself up, looked at the esquire a moment, and said: "Ugh, it don't take so much hay, but heap more water."
Many years before his death it seems he was beginning to lose his skill as a hunter, for, on November 7, 1792, the State Legislature in response to a petition, appointed John McDaniel of Hyde Park his guardian and authorized McDaniel to purchase such supplies as were necessary not to exceed three pounds per year. Later the state granted him a pension of seventy dollars annually. Joe's troubles increased as the Saffords built a dam across the river, and their mill began to pour forth sawdust which interfered with his fishing. Then, too, neighbors were encroaching too closely on every side. So he left the valley to spend the remainder of his days in Newbury, Vt., where he died in 1819. He is buried in the Ox Bow Cemetery there, and the marble slab marking his grave bears the simple inscription, "Joe, the Friendly Indian." At the session of the Legislature of 1886 an attempt was made to secure funds to erect a monument to him, but it was not successful. Many years later it was proposed to name a portion of the new cement highway after him, but that was not done.
Morristown has preserved his name and that of his wife in the two bodies of water lying between the Randolph and LaPorte Roads and similar memorials occur in the towns of Cabot and Danville. As the State of Washington honors Chief Tacoma, and Massachusetts perpetuates the name of Massasoit, so the Lamoille Valley may well keep alive the memory of Joe and Molly.
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