First Settlers of Berlin

ASA ANDREWS, third son of Elijah Andrews, and who occupied the same farm as his father, died Sept. 14, 1876, aged 91. For about 20 years he kept 40 cows or more, and marketed his butter and cheese in Newburyport, Mass., where he went with his own team five or six times a year, until a few of the last years of his labor, he sent his produce by rail. He represented the town in the Legislature in 1847, '48.

ELISHA ANDREWS, Second son of Elisha, Jr., of Eastbury, Conn., moved to Sandgate, Vt., about 1783, or '85. He built a hut of poles with but a hand sled to get the materials together with ; roofed his little residence with boughs; when it rained he and his wife covered the children with blankets; but after a short time he removed to Manchester into better quarters, and from there to Berlin, about 1796. He was among the first settlers here, and located in the woods near the west end of the pond. He put up a log house into which he used to draw with a horse logs for the back log of his fire, 8 feet in length. He cleared the land, cultivated the soil, reared a large family, and died June 19, 1826, aged 67.

JOSEPH ARBUCKLE was born near Glasgow, Scotland, and came to America with Gen. Burgoyne's army as a soldier, and was with the army when it surrendered to Gen. Gates in 1777 ; after which he came to Berlin, and settled on a farm on the banks of the Winooski river, below the mouth of Dog river. He died about 1841, aged 84 years.

JOSHUA BAILEY, a native of Newbury, Mass., came from Newbury, Vt., in 1790, and settled on the farm afterwards the home of his son. Cyrus Bailey.   He died in 1804, aged 53.

MAJOR JOSIAH BENJAMIN, son of William Benjamin, was born in Ashburnham, Mass., June, 1769; married Lucy Banning of Conn., Oct. 10, 1791; came to Berlin in 1793. After occupying and clearing up several farms in 1800, he finally settled on the farm on Stevens Branch, now occupied by his son Josiah Benjamin, where he died June, 1836, aged 67. His title was earned in the State militia at a time when it meant something.

JACOB BLACK, a native of Holden, Mass., came about the same time as Flagg, and settled on a lot adjoining him. Mr. Black and Mr. Flagg appear to have been born the same year and lived to about the same age. They probably enlisted at about the same time in the service of the country, and were in nearly the same battles, beginning with that of Bunker Hill, They were both in the battle at Monmouth Court House under Washington, 3 years later. Mr. Black, in addition to clearing and cultivating his farm, worked for his neighbors as occasion required as a carpenter and joiner. About 1818, Mr. Black removed to Marshfield, where he died in 1838, age 84.

SILAS BLACK, son of Jacob, born in Holden, was 12 years old when his father came to Berlin. When of age he settled on a farm adjoining his father. Tending saw-mill when a young man, seated on a log to keep it in place, while the saw was cutting through it, the wind blowing his frock before the saw, the saw descending took in both frock and leg, indicting a deep gash below the knee, and a second stroke above the ankle joint, jerked out nearly all the sinews in this part of the leg, severed by the first cut of the saw. Again Mr.  Black was assisting in taking down a barn frame, a heavy timber fell upon one of his legs near his body, crushing it to a mass of jelly, and breaking the bone badly, after which he always limped in his walk.  He died in 1867, aged 90.

DEA. JONATHAN BOSWORTH, son of Nathaniel Bosworth, born in Lebanon, N. H., in 1787, followed the business of his father, and came with him to Berlin. After working a few years at custom work, he commenced the manufacture of edged-tools, particularly scythes and axes, having a good water-power, with trip hammers and other machinery. But this branch of the business not proving successful, in about 1830 he added such other machinery as was deemed necessary, and commenced the manufacture of cast steel and steel-plated hoes. Each of his four sons worked in the shop, and in turn became partners in the business, and carried it on to success.  Since 1870. the business has been discontinued. Mr. Bosworth was many years a member of the Congregational church and one of its deacons until within a few years of his death and its attending feebleness, active duties were left to younger hands.  Died April, 1878, aged 91 years.

NATHANIEL BOSWORTH, born in Rhode Island in 1753, when about 21, enlisted and served in the Revolutionary war 4 or 5 years. At one time he was a prisoner in the hands of the British, and confined in a prison ship on the Delaware river, and escaped as follows : One night he contrived to get down into the water by the side of the ship unobserved, and attaching one end of a string to his knapsack, took the other in his mouth and swam off; the knapsack floating behind served to keep back the waves which would other wise have broken over his head, and as he became exhausted might have overcome him. By swimming, near as he could judge, about 3 miles, he landed and escaped. In 1780, when Royalton was burned, Mr. Bosworth was stationed at Corinth, Vt. After a short residence in Lebanon, N. H.. and Chelsea, Vt., he came to Berlin in 1806, and settled at Berlin Corner. He was a blacksmith, which business he followed here. He died in 1844, age, 91 years.

HON. SALVIN COLLINS, born in Southboro, Mar. 6, 1768, when about twenty-three, came to Berlin, and purchased a farm adjoining Zachariah Perrin and Jabez Ellis, to this day known as the old Collins farm. He married Rebecca Wilder, of Lancaster, Mass., and had 5 children. His eldest daughter married Hon. John Spaulding, of Montpelier.  After 14 or 15 years, Mr. Collins sold his farm to Zachariah Perrin, and moved to the "Corners," then containing a store, tavern and several mechanics shops. In 1805 and '6 he was representative of the town; in 1811, assistant Judge of the new Co. of Jefferson, and took up his residence at Montpelier village. In 1812 he received a second election as County Judge, and in 1815, was elected Judge of Probate of Washington Co., to which office he received five successive elections, a greater number then ever was received in this district by any man except Judge Loomis.  For the last twenty years of his life, at least, he was constantly in the commission of the office of justice of the peace, and for a greater portion ot the time did a large share of the justice business of the village.  He was one of the earliest and most exemplary members of the Congregational church of Berlin, and on removing to Montpelier, united himself with the Congregational church of this place, of which in a few years he was chosen a deacon, and as such officiated for the remainder of his life. His first wife dying in 1816, he married Mrs. Lucy Clark, who survived him about 8 years. Unobtrusive, unassuming, quiet, social and intelligent, few men were better calculated to make friends than Judge Collins, and few men ever had more of them. His abiding integrity was never doubted ; while the offices to which he was time and again elected show in what estimation his intellectual powers, though un-aided by any but the commonest of education, were held by the public. He died Nov. 9, 1831, age 63; an extensive circle of relatives and the public as mourners.-

From D. P. Thompson.

DEA. FENNO COMINGS, (son of Col. Benjamin and Mary Cooper Comings,) was born in Cornish, N. H., Mar. 21, 1787; married Rebecca Smart, Nov. 22, 1810. (daughter of Caleb and Catharine Black Smart; born in Croydon, N. H., July 26, 1788). He settled here in 1815, as a tanner and currier, which business he carried on until his death. He was a man doing what he found to do with his might; a member and officer of the Congregational church-a lover of order and peace. He died, Jan. 24, 1830, his death leaving a void not often felt, and being regarded as an irreparable loss to the church and community. His widow married Rev. Jonathan Kinney, in Jan. 1833, who died, May 7, 1838. She died in Berlin, Oct. 10, 1865.

SAFFORD CUMMINGS came here when 7 years of age, from Ward, (now Auburn,) Mass.; remained till he was 12; walked back to his native town; stayed a number of years and returned to Berlin on foot. About this time, he married Mary Stickney. He died in 1867, age 87 years.

THE DEWEY'S. Simeon, William, Israel and Henry, brothers (all of them having the prefix of uncle, by the early settlers and their descendants generally, the two first however, being sometimes called Capt. Sim and Capt. Bill, and the third Leftenant Dewey in consequence of honors in the Vermont militia) were among the early settlers.  They were descendants from Thomas Dewey who was an early settler from Massachusetts Colony and came to Windsor, Ct., from Mass. in 1639 with Mr. Huit.

ISRAEL DEWEY, born in Hanover, N. H., Jan. 26, 1777, settled in 1801, on the upper farm on Dog river, and removed from thence to the east part of the town about 1805, and from thence to Lunenburgh, Vt in 1851, where he died July 21, 1862, aged 85 years. He was a member of the Legislature of Vt. 1820, '21 and '26; postmaster in Berlin from 1825 to 1850, and employed perhaps more than any other man, with one exception (Hon. Abel Knapp) in town offices, as a magistrate, and in the settlement of estates. He was always ready to give his time and pecuniary aid, beyond his real abilities, for the improvement of our common schools ; the welfare of the Congregational church with which he united in 1819, and other measures for the good of the community. After his removal to the east part of the town, he kept a tavern several years, and from that business and the custom of the times, acquired the practice of the daily use of ardent spirits, which was growing to be an excessive one, when in 1830, he relinquished it entirely and was ever after a consistent and ardent supporter of the temperance reform. He was married first to Betsey Baldwin. Mar. 1801, born Dec.  2, 1776, died Oct. 27, 1807: second to Nancy Hovey,  Mar. 1809; born in Hanover, N. H., Dec. 24, 1786; died in Lunenburgh, Aug. 7, 1859.

SIMEON DEWEY was born in Colchester, Ct., Aug. 20, 1770, married Prudence Yemans, Feb. 27, 1794, (born in Tolland, Ct., Mar. 29, 1772, died in Berlin, Apr. 1, 1844,) and settled the same year on Dog river. He removed to Montpelier in 1825.  where he was deputy jailer 8 years, returning to his farm in Berlin in 1833, where he remained until the death of his wife. He died in Montpelier, January 11, 1863, aged 92.

WILLIAM DEWEY, born in Hanover, N.  H., Jan. 26, 1772. He settled in Berlin in 1795, on the farm below his brother Simeon's; married Abigail Flagg, 22 Apr. 1804, (born July 19, 1783, died July 28, 1826). He died Sept. 7, 1840: he was a successful farmer and useful citizen. 

JABEZ ELLIS came from Gilead, Ct., in the spring of 1789, and located in the east part of the town. He returned for a wife the December following; married Hannah Mack, of Hebron, Ct., whom he brought on with a stock of provisions upon an ox sled, coming up the west side of the mountains to Essex, and up the Winooski to Montpelier. He also brought on some tea for sale to the settlers. By industry and perseverance he accumulated a handsome property, and gave liberally for the support of the institutions of religion. He represented the town in the Legislature of Vermont in 1815 and '17, and died in 1852, aged 88.

WILLIAM FLAGG came from Holden, Mass., in 1789, and settled on a farm on the west side of the pond. He died in 1838, at 84 years of age. Mr. Flagg enlisted as a soldier at the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, was in the Battle of Bunker Hill and of Monmouth.

JACOB FOWLER was the first settler who resided here permanently, or left descendants in town. He was a hunter, and had often been through the town on Winooski river and its branches during, and perhaps previous to, the Revolutionary War. At the time of the burning of Royalton in 1780, when the Indians went down the Winooski, he was up Waterbury river.  On returning to the mouth of the river, he came on the trail, and followed it back to Berlin Pond. Finding indications of encampments at the mouth of Dog river, and on the west side of Berlin Pond, near the neck, he supposed they had been to Newbury or Corinth until he arrived at this place, when the trail bearing to the south, he concluded they had come from another direction.    He has sometimes been accused, but probably unjustly, of having been a Tory. It is said that he was enlisted in the garrison stationed at Corinth during the latter part of the Revolutionary War, and was employed by Gen. Wait, the commander, as an Indian scout. It is related of him, by the late Hon. D. P. Thompson:

I used to think," said the hunter, that had as much wit as any wild varmint that was ever scared up in our woods. But a sly old moose once completely baffled me in trying to get a shot at him. This animal's usual range was on Irish hill, in the vicinity of Berlin Pond. This I discovered by finding one day, as I was coming along the margin of the pond, a path leading down to the water, which I knew, by the tracks of great size, and of different degrees of freshness, was made by a large moose that must have come down daily to drink. On making this discovery I resolved to have him. But after trying on three different days to get a shot at him, I utterly failed; for either by the keenness of his sight, or smell, or hearing:, he always took the alarm, and made it without allowing me more than a mere glimpse of him. As I was turning away from the last attempt, it occurred to me there might be other ways to choke a dog than by giving him bread and butter, so I laid a plan my moose would not be looking for. The next day I shouldered a bear trap I possessed, weighing nearly forty pounds, with the iron teeth more than an inch long, went up to the pond, and set it at the water's edge in the path where he came down to drink, chained it securely to a sapling, and went home. The next day I went there again, and as I drew near my trap, I saw a monstrous moose stand over the spot where I had set it. He had got one fore-foot into it, and those murderous interlocking teeth had clenched his fetlock and held him like a vice. The next moment I put a bullet through his heart, and brought him to the ground, when cutting out his tongue, lips, and the best part of a round, I went home not a little proud of the exploit of outwitting him at last.  It is said that Fowler spent the last years of his life in Canada, and died there at an advanced age.

MRS. PHEBE HAZZARD, died in Berlin, Oct. 14, 1878, aged 102 years, 6 months. Born in Mendon, Mass., April, 1777; married Kidder Gallup, 1798, who died 3 years after. In 1802 she came to Craftsbury; in 1816 married Thomas Hazzard in Hardwick; came to Berlin in 1830, where she lived the remainder of her life. She had two children by each husband. She and her husbands were colored people.

CAPT. JAMES HOBART came to Berlin in 1787, from Newbury, Vt., settling at the mouth of Jones' Brook. He had formerly lived in Plymouth, N. H., where his son (Rev.) James was born, said to have been the first male child born in that town. Although religiously inclined, careful and particular as the head of a family, he never made a public profession of religion until at about the age of 91 years he joined the 1st Cong, church of Berlin. About 100 years before his birth one of his ancestors, Rev. Peter Hobart, a Congregational minister, came to this country from England, and was a minister in Hingham, Mass., a great many years. Capt. Hobart spent about 10 years of the last of his life with his son Rev. J., working at the cooper's trade and cutting his own firewood. He died in 1834, aged 95 years.

ELEAZER HUBBARD, a native of Connecticut, age about sixty, came from Glastenbury, Ct., with an ox team, bringing mill-stones and irons, and purchased the lot of land in which is Benjamin's Falls, on Pond brook, at the head of which in 1790 or '91 he erected the first saw and grist-mills in town. The mills were occupied a number of years after his death in 1819, at the age of 89 years, but nothing now remains of them but the foundation walls and one granite mill-stone.

COL. JAMES JOHNSON, a native of Mass., came here in 1794, and settled on Dog river. He. lived on his farm till his death ; accumulated a handsome property and never had a lawsuit.  He served one year as captain in the war of 1812; the time being mostly spent upon our northern frontier. The title of Colonel was honorably earned in the service of the State.   Died in 1861, age, 88.

MAJOR SAMUEL JONES settled at the mouth of Jones brook, which took his name, upon a farm James Hobart had lived on 10 years. He was an energetic man, accumulated a good property and raised a large family. He died in 1859, age 86.

ABEL KNAPP, ESQ., and wife were among the early settlers; resided nearly two generations upon the farm at the cross roads at the centre. He was town clerk except one year of Dr.  Gershom Heaton's service, from 1795 to 1845-49 years, and was justice of the peace 50 years; judge of probate of his county 1813, '14; member of the constitutional convention of 1836; town treasurer several years: town representative 14 years, 1809-1823. He was also a surveyor; kept his survey notes, and helped settle many a dispute about surveys. He was a native of Rehoboth, Mass.; married Miriam Hawks of Charlemont, Mass.; children 5 sons, 4 daughters. His monument bears this memorial of a good man:

" His record is on high."-From C. L. Knapp, Lowell, Mass.

CHAUNCEY L. KNAPP, son of Abel Knapp, Esq., was born in Berlin, Feb. 26, 1809; at the age of 14 years commenced an apprenticeship of  7 years in E. P. Walton's printing office in Montpelier; was reporter for the Legislature in 1833; for some years a co-proprietor and editor of the Voice of Freedom and the State Journal at Montpelier; elected Secretary of State in 1836-7-8 and 9; removing to Massachusetts was elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Senate in 1851, and representative to the 34th, re-elected to the 35th Congress of the United States ; was a member of the committee on territories, and is now one of the proprietors of the American Citizens Lowell, Mass.

HON JOSEPH C. KNAPP, son of Ebenezer Knapp, was born in Berlin, Vt., 27, June, 1813; now residing in Keosaugua, Iowa, was one of the early settlers of that section of country, having left his native town and State when a young man.   Has been United States District attorney, Judge of the Supreme Court and democratic candidate for governor in 1871, and it is said by one who has opportunities of knowing that, " He stands at the head of the bar in this (Van Buren) county, and is regarded by many as being the leading lawyer of Southern Iowa."

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