Arlington Vermont Biographies
Arlington Vermont Biographies of early settlers, copied from the Vermont Historical Gazetteer, by Abby Maria Hemenway.
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HAWLEY FAMILY
Samuel Hawley, Sen. came from England in 1666, and settled in Stafford Ct. He had two sons, (daughters unknown,) Samuel and Ephraim.** Ephraim left ten sons and two daughters. Of these, Abel, Gideon, Jehiel, Josiah and perhaps others came to Arlington in 1764, taking their parents with them.
Abel married first a person whose name is unknown. Their children were Peter, Mary (who married Eliakim Stoddard,) James, Agur and Abel. Abel married Mary Folsom, he was a loyalist and died in Canada. His farm in Sunderland, 300 acres, was confiscated and his wife and children forcibly turned into the street. Abel Sen's. second wife was Bethiah Curtis. Their children were Sarah, Esther, Prudence and Clara. Abel Hawley Sen. and his wife Bethiah, were held in high regard for their devoted piety. It was remarked that he was the only person who could safely reprove Col. Ethan Allen's impiety. Once when Allen had been thus reproved, he replied "whether I am right or not uncle Abel, one thing is certain that you are exactly."
Josiah married Hannah, eldest sister of Col. Seth Warner. Their children were Amos, Gideon, Lemuel, Rhoda and Silence.
Jehiel Hawley who may be regarded as the founder of the town, married first — Dunning, second, Abra Hubbel. Their children were Andrew, Curtis, Abijah, Jeptha, Mary, Ruth, and Anna. Jehiel Hawley was a man of great conscientionsness and fervent piety. — Had he not been tainted with devotion to his king, he would have been ranked among the honored in our history.
Andrew Hawley and Ann Hard left children, viz: Eli, Philo, Zadok, Adoniaram, Jehiel, Sarah Ann, Polly, Andrew and Lucy. Eli, married widow McGeer, whose maiden name was Mary Jeffers. He and Daniel Crofut of this town were employed by the British as Spies from the beginning of the war until peace was concluded. After Congress refused the application of Vermont to be admitted to the, Union as a State it is said that they were emloyed by Gov. Chittenden also.* Polly married Giles, son of Gov. Chittenden.
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* If a definite account of these churches are prepared for our work hereafter, we shall be happy to give them place in the supplementary number. — Ed.
[** We much regret the want of space obliges us to suppress in part the systematic and interesting geneological tables of this family, (and others) especially as the historian has been at commendable pains in his research on this point, correcting in some instances the valuable tables in Cothrens History of ancient Woodbury, (to which ho acknowledges indebtedness,) by information obtained from living members of the family. — Ed.]
BAKER FAMILY
John Baker, born Dec. 24, 1681, came to Woodbury Ct. from New London, and died in 1750. His children were John, Ephraim, Mary, Remember, Sarah, Elijah and Elisha. Mary married Joseph Allen, March 11, 1736-7, father of Col. Ethan Allen. Remember married Tamar Warner, aunt of Col. Seth Warner. He was killed by accident and left two or three children. Mindwell who married Peleg Stene of Lenox Mass. and afterwards removed to Arlington; and Remember. There was, it is believed another sister, Desire, of whom we have no certain information.
The second Remember married April 3, 1760, Desire Hurlbert, daughter of Consider Hurlbert and Patience Hawley. At the age of 18, he served in an expedition against Canada. He came to Arlington, in 1764, was much respected and very serviceable to the settlement. His arrest by John Munro, Esq. of Shaftsbury and subsequent rescue are well known. In the commencement of the revolution he entered the army again. In Montgomery's operations against St. John's, Canada, he was sent forward to reconnoitre the position of the enemy. When within a few miles of St. John's, he secreted his boat with the intention of marching through the woods. He had scarcely left the boat when a party of Indians took possession of it. He called upon them to return it. Hard words passed when one of the Indians fired and shot him through the head. The Indians, who appeared to have had an old grudge against him then cut off his head and put it on a pole. The Americans gave them a guinea to take it down that they might bury it. Thus died Capt. Remember Baker, at the early age of 35.
He left one son Ozi, who married Lucy, daughter of Capt. James Hard, and left Electa, who died single at White Creek, N. Y., very much respected; Nancy who married Yates, a successful teacher at the South Lorane, who married — Barnes; — Remember — a lawyer in the State of New York, and Luther. By a second wife Hetty Darling,** he left a daughter Rhoda. Ozi Baker was Town Clerk, for some years. He was a man of promising abilities and very useful as a surveyor of lands. Unfortunately however, falling into irregular habits he soon dissipated an ample inheritance, went into the army, served in the last war and died in the service in circumstance of extreme destitution.
The other Baker families of Arlington are descendants of the second John Baker mentioned.
ELIAKIM STODDARD, ESQ.
Eliakim Stoddard, born Dec. 11, 1749, was the son of Eliakim Stoddard, and Mary Curtis, and the grandson of the Rev. Anthony Stoddard, settled minister in Woodbury, Ct. Having become attached to the Church of England, he left Connecticut at the early age of 16, and accompanied the Hawleys to their new home in the wilderness. He was perhaps the best educated of the early settlers and a great share of the Justices' business in town was done by him. In the building of the first church edifice and the settlement of a minister his labors were indefatigable. He married Mary, daughter of Abel Hawley. They left no children. For some reason Esq. Stoddard became dissatisfied and went to Canada. Some years after, he returned to Arlington, broken down by a paralytic affection, aged 52 years.
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*David Crofut returned to Arlington soon after the peace; and Eli Hawley somewhat later. They were accustomed to relate many a tale of hardships endured on the mountains. and hairbreadth escape from pursuers. Crofut was once saved by a woman who opened a trap door in the room where she was spinning for his descent. Then carelessly covering it with a rug, she placed her wheel upon it and continued her work. His pursuers soon arrived, but deceived by her answer and the general appearance of things went away without a search. He was afterward captured by a party of soldiers who delivered him over to their commander at Bennington, who in the night released him to the great disgust of his captors.
Eli Hawley on his way from New York to Canada with important dispatches once met Col. Brownson in the vicinity of Lanesboro, Mass. His life did not seem very secure just then; but the friendly greeting "How do yon do Zadok," dispelled his alarm. Zadok was the name of a brother who much resembled him.
He often pointed out the "Raven Rock" as the place where he had an interview by night with Gov. Chittenden. Hawley fairly believed to the day of his death that the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, were determined that Vermont should be a British Province rather than a part of New York, in case Congress should compel the alternative. His belief probably shows how completely all the agents of the British were deceived.
** His marriage was in this wise. Ozi was under certain legal restraint for the non-fulfilment of certain legal obligation when he dispatched the following laconic letter:
"Hetty come to Ozi." Ozi could not go to Hetty, so Hetty went to Ozi, and became at once Hetty Baker.
HARD FAMILY
According to a tradition, carefully transmitted there was in London at the time of the great plague, a family by the name of 'Hard.' All perished but James, a lad 14 years of age, who was by the public authorities apprenticed to the celebrated Capt. Kidd, whom he served in various capacities for seven years. (This was before Kidd became a pirate.) Being then free; James Hard came to Strafford Conn., then to Newtown, where he married a woman by the name of Tomlinson and died at the age of 107 years.
From the above circumstance, the Hards were, for several generations called "Kiddy."
James Hard left two sons, Joseph and James — and several daughters — James the younger, was an opulent farmer of Newtown, Me. married Hannah Kimberley. They had 11 children, Zadok the youngest came to Arlington in 1768. Ann who married Andrew Hawley, came perhaps, a year or two earlier. Capt. James, the oldest, married Hester Booth and came a few years later. Capt. James Hard was a devoted loyalist.
Zadok Hard, Esq., brother of Capt. James, was a loyalist in principle, but actively employed on his farm, gave very little occasion for complaint. It was said that he secreted and fed the loyalists who fled to him for shelter. For this, and perhaps other kindred offences, he was several times arrested and heavily fined. He seems to have had a habit of assisting the needy, as many well authenticated anecdotes show.
On a certain occasion, a negro who had run away from his master, fled to the house of Zadok Hard for protection, and was not betrayed. On another occasion, twenty-five famished American soldiers, were fed at Esq. Hard's house, on Mrs. Hards express invitation. It is certain that no needy person ever left the house unrelieved. He married first, Chloe Nobles of Brookfield, Conn. Their children were Hannah, Lemira, Belus, Chloe, Lucy, Noble, Polly, Zadok, Jesse, Sylvanus, and Sarah.
CANFIELD FAMILY
Nathan Canfield, Esq., married first, Lois, eldest daughter of Capt. James Hard, and moved to Arlington about 1768. Their children were Enos, Parthena, Orilla and Anna. By a second wife Betsey Burton, his children were Albert, Nathan, Cyrus, Samuel, Anson, Orlando, Galen and Betsy.
In the troubles of the times, Esq. Canfield, a man of great sagacity and prudence retained in a great degree the confidence of both parties. His connections, and his sympathies were probably in favor of the loyalists. Yet to the end he enjoyed the friendship of Allen, Warner, Baker and the other leaders. On one occasion when a man from Sunderland raised his gun to shoot him Col. Allen rushed between them for his protection. He was sometimes arrested and fined, but succeeded in preserving himself from material harm. He represented the town in 1786. He died April 16, 1809, in his 70th year.
Israel Canfield, who is supposed to have been a cousin of Nathan, married Mary Sacket, and came to Arlington from Conn., about the same time. Their children were Sacket, John, Nathaniel and Anson Bassett.
Israel Canfield was in the American service, but his wife was a most active loyalist. It is said that important messages between the British in Canada and their friends in this region passed through her hands. "Aunt Ann" Hawley, the bolder of the two, carried food to her son Eli, while to Molly Sacket, as she was called, a more quiet woman, was entrusted the duty of transmitting his messages. She died June 18, 1817, in her 75th year. Her husband followed March 20, 1817, aged 97. Professing religion at the advanced age of 83, he was nevertheless regarded as an exemplary christian. His strictness in observing the Sabbath, and other religious duty, was specially marked.
GRAY FAMILY
John Gray was a captain in the English naval service. He came to Kent, Conn., not far from 1760, and followed the Hawleys with whom he had become acquainted, to Arlington, about 1768. He married first a woman of whom we have no certain knowledge, who left one son, John; second, Mary Morgan; their children were Mary, Caleb, Dominicus, Jordan, David, Thomas and Sarah. Capt. Gray was a churchman, his politics not known. He died Nov. 28, 1806, in his 80th year, Two of the sons of Dominicus became ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The Rev. Jordon Gray was minister of St. Matthew Church, Sandgate, and afterward had charge of one or two parishes, in the north part of the state. The Rev. Nelson Gray was eight years rector of Christ church, Georgetown, D. C.
Col. Ethan Allen, lived in Arlington the greater part of three or four successive years. The town was represented by him in 1778, in connection with Thomas Chittenden and John Fassett, Jr, Notices of his life will undoubtly be found in the sketches from other towns; yet inasmuch as his first wife, Mary Brown, son is less known, and her, remains and those of her two children lie in the church yard of this town, it may be proper to add a few notices of her family.
BROWNSON FAMILY
Richard Brownson, an original settler of Farmington, Conn., had sons among whom was Cornelius, born 1648, and died in 1732. His children were Cornelius, Elisabeth, Abraham, Stephen, Timothy, John and Amos. Cornelius, Jr., who lived in Southbury, married Abigail Jackson of Lebanon. They left ten children, eight of whom early made a profession of religion and united with the Congregational church. Mary Brownson, their other child, was married to Col. Ethan Allen, June 23, 1762, by the Rev. Daniel Brinsmade of Judea Parish, Woodbury, for which service Allen paid the fee of four shillings, from which we may infer that the future hero of Vermont was not in very opulent circumstances. Their children were Joseph E. Lorraine, Lucy, Mary Ann and Parmelia. — Joseph E., died when 11 years old, and was buried in the Arlington churchyard. While Col. Allen was a captive in England, with a spirit chafed by the insults of his country's enemies, his desolate wife was enabled to recall the instructions of her youth, made a profession of religion and had her children baptised. She died in Sunderland about 1784, of consumption, and was buried in Arlington. No stone was ever erected to her memory and the fact of her burial here rests upon the remembered statement of Dr. Ebenezer Hitchcock of Sunderland, who assisted in carrying the body to the church yard, a distance of three miles.*
It was of Lorraine that the following anecdote appeared in the public papers. Being sick and likely to die, her mother being gone before her, she anxiously inquired of her father "Whose faith shall I embrace, yours or that of my mother's." The trembling father walked the room in great agitation, and then replied, "That of your another." The story has been denied by some of the Allen family, but the Brownson family, some of whom were with the dying girl, affirm that it is substantially true. There is nothing at all improbable in the story, and yet perhaps more has been mode of the anecdote than the facts would warrant.
Lorriane had much of her fathers disposition and shared in his skepticism. She sometimes even made sport of dying. One day she asked Col. Matthew Lyon who was very fond of her, if he had any messages to send to his friends in the old country, for she expected to go, by the way of Cork. She said many strange things during her last sickness, and the question put to her father and his answer probably indicate a somewhat similar state of mind in both.
Lucy, who married — Hitchcock, was a pious woman. Of Parmelia, the writer has no information. The Brownsons of Sunderland and Arlington, are descended from Timothy, a brother of Cornelius, Jr., and came from Salisbury, Conn.