HEZEKIAH SILLOWAY came to Berlin from Corinth in 1788, and settled on the "Shepard farm" at the mouth of Dog river, where he resided about twenty years, when he sold the farm to Mr. Shepard, and removed to Montpelier, where he lived till his death, at the age of 90 years. He had been a Revolutionary soldier.

JOHN TAPLIN, ESQ.   who though by common usage entitled to the military appellation of Major and the civil one of Honorable, was yet generally known by the unpretending designation of Esquire Taplin. was horn in Marlboro, Mass., 1748. In about 1764, he removed with his father, Colonel John Taplin, to Newbury, Vt., and soon after to Corinth, of which town his father was one of the original proprietors.  His father, one of the most noted men or his times, had been a colonel in the British army under Gen. Amherst, and actively engaged with Rogers, Putnam, Stark and other distinguished American officers in reducing the fortresses on Lake Champlain and fighting their red allies, then prowling through the entire wilder-ness territory of Vermont. And young Taplin, after receiving a fair common-school education for his years, was, from the age of 12 to 15 out with his father, in this French and Indian war, being generally stationed at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Soon after his removal to Vermont, Colonel Taplin was appointed under the jurisdiction of New York, chief Judge of the court of what was then called Gloucester County, but afterwards Orange County:   And young Taplin then designated as John Taplin, Junior, was, though then but barely 21, appointed high sheriff of the same court and county. Kingsland, now Washington, was at first fixed upon as the shire town of this new county, and the new court was once actually opened there, though the town was then wholly an unbroken wilderness.   We have already, while treating of the New York grants in this section, alluded to the singular opening of a court in the woods in this place: but as the record of this curious transaction, which has but recently come to light, cannot fail to be regarded as an interesting antiquarian document, we will copy it entire.

"Kingsland Gloucester County, Province of New York, May 29, 1770, Court met for the first time, and ordinance and laws being read.  John Taplin, Samuel Sleeper, Thomas were Judges being appointed by the Government of New York, were present and the Courts opened as is usual in other Courts.  Justices of the Quoram were also present, James Pennock, Abner Fowler, John Peters, John Taplin, Jr. Sherriff.

" N. B. these Courts were the Courts of Quarterly sessions and the Court of common Plea for Said County.

" Court adjourned to the last Tuesday in August next to be held in said Kingsland.  "Opened accordingly, and appointed four Constables, Simeon Stevens for Newbury, Jesse McFarland for Moretown, Abner Howard for Thetford, and Samuel Pennock for Strafford, and adjourned to the last Tuesday of Nov. "Nov. 27.  Court opened at Kingsland. Called over the docket of 8 cases only, put over and dismissed them, and appointed Ebenezer Green constable for Thetford, and Samuel Pennock, Ebenezer Martin and Ebenezer Green and Samuel Allen Surveyors for the County, and adjourned to February next last Tuesday.

February 25, 1771:  Set out from Moretown for Kingsland, traveled until night there being no road, and the snow very deep, we traveled on snow shoes, on the 26^th we traveled some ways, and held a Council when it was concluded it was best to open the court as we saw no line it was not whether in Kingsland or not .  But we concluded we were far in the woods we did not expect to see any house unless we marched three miles within Kingsland and no one lived there when the court was ordered to be opened on the spot.  Present were John Taplin, Judge, John Peters of the Quorum, John Taplin Jr. Sheriff.  All causes continued or adjourned over to next term of the Court, if one, adjourned over until the last Tuesday in May next at which time it was opened and after disposing of one case of bastardy, adjourned to August next.

John Peters Clerk

Thus ends this curious specimen of judicial records. It will be seen at the first court nothing is hinted about the court being held in the woods and snows. It was probably held at the nearest house in Corinth, and, by a judicial fiction, treated I as a court at Kingsland. But it does; not appear that the court was ever called at Kingsland after the so-called August Term, 1771, having the next term met at Newbury, where it continued to hold sessions till the breaking out of the Revolution. The court did not, however, give up the idea of making Kingsland the seat of justice, for they ordered their young Sheriff, John Taplin, Jr., to build a log jail there, which he promptly executed, and made return to the court accordingly, though it is believed that the jail, as such, was never occupied. This singularly originated log-jail was situated a mile or two S. E. of the present village of Washington, near the sources of the brook which, running northerly into Stevens Branch, thence forward, took the name of Jail Branch.  On the opening of the Revolution, Colonel Taplin declining to take sides against the King who had distinguished him, retired during the war into Canada, leaving our John Taplin, Jr., on the paternal property in Corinth, where he resided until many years after Vermont had become a State, and was so much esteemed by his fellow-townsmen as to have received from them at least two elections as their representative in the legislature. In the summer of 1787 he removed to Berlin, having purchased that excellent farm on the lower part of Dog River, since known as the old John Hayden place, and became the first representative of Berlin, and for several years the first officiating justice of the peace in all this vicinity.

At the age of twenty he married Miss Catharine Lovell, daughter of Colonel Nehemiah Lovell, of Newbury, who was grandson of the celebrated hero of the Lovell Pond Indian battle. His first wife dying in 1794, he married the following year Miss Lydia Gove, of Portsmouth.  By his first wife he had 12 children, by his last, 9-twenty-one in all, and what is still more remarkable, they all except one, which was accidentally scalded, causing death in infancy, lived to marry and settle down in life as the heads of families, furnishing an instance of family fruitfulness and health that perhaps never had a parallel in the State. Mr. Taplin's practical knowledge of men and the ordinary affairs of life was, from his varied opportunities for observation, quite extensive, and his natural intellectual capacities were at least of a highly respectable order. But probably what are called the sentiments or moral affections should be considered as constituting the predominant traits of his character. At all events, kindness to all, an active benevolence and charity to the poor and distressed, were very conspicuous elements of his nature, and his house and hands were ever alike open to relieve the wants of those who might solicit his hospitalities or more substantial assistance.  As is too often the case, the sharp, selfish world failed not to take advantage. The free horse was at length almost ridden to death.  At the age of fifty he found himself badly involved in pecuniary embarrassments, growing out of his general system of benevolence in a good degree, though mainly out of his acts of accommodation in becoming bondsman for others. These so sadly reduced his property as to compel him to part with his valuable old homestead for one less costly, and which last he was also induced after a time, from growing infirmities, to resign, and reside with one of his sons in the village. The last years of his life were thus clouded, but he was held in the estimation of all as one of the most amiable and best of men and Christians, and as one of the most useful citizens. He died in Montpelier, Nov.  1835, aged 87, his memory being warmly cherished by all who remember his tall, comely person, the mild dignity of his deportment, and never varying amenity of manners toward all classes of people.

CAPT. DANIEL TAYLOR came to Berlin in March, 1793; married Miss Ruhamah Ellis, sister of Jabez Ellis.  He was a soldier of the Revolution, and for a time a prisoner in the hands of the British. For some time after he commenced on his farm, at the center of the town, he kept a tavern, and small stock of goods and groceries for sale. He was a man of energy and decision. When the call came for men to go to Plattsburg to beat back the British army, then advancing up the Lake, Mr. Taylor mounted his horse at dusk, and taking his trusty firelock in his hand, rode to Burlington during the night, and in the morning crossed over the Lake to Plattsburg, and was with the detachment sent up the river to prevent the enemy from crossing. He died in 1831, aged 74.

ABRAHAM TOWNSEND, a native of Westboro, Mass. A soldier in the revolutionary army;   was in the battle of Bunker Hill; came here about 1800, was a farmer; died in 1825, aged 84.

JOEL WARREN, born in Northboro, Mass., Nov. 1772, came in 1796, and purchased a lot of land a little west of the center of the town; worked one year, and put up a log house, into which he moved the next year with his wife; was a prosperous farmer, raised a moderately large family of children, and accumulated a handsome fortune; represented the town in the Legislature in 1819; died in April, 1849, aged 77 years.