An American Family History

excerpts from The History of Windsor County, Vermont by Lewis C. Aldrich and Frank R
Transcribed by Tammy Clark
"History of the Town of Cavendish"
The Original Proprietors...a charter was obtained by the grantees of the New Hampshire charter, from the province of New York, June 16, 1772. Following are the names of the grantees:

The First Settlers
....The first settlers of Cavendish were mostly from Massachusetts, and in
1771 Noadiah Russell and Thomas Gilbert joined Captain Coffin, sharing with him the hardships and privations attendant on frontier life. The grinding of a grist of corn involved a journey of sixty miles in those days.

The first deed, recorded March 21, 178 1, was from Jesse Reed, of Lunenburgh, Mass., one of the original patentees, to John Coffin. Ebenezer and John Stone and John Russell settled in the town in 1781.

The following is a complete list of the freemen residing in the town September 3, 1782:

Among those that came later and were prominently identified with town affairs were Isaac and Ebenezer Parker,
Samuel White, who came from Massachusetts in 1785;
Timothy Fullam, John and David Peck, Samuel Adams, from Westford, Mass., in 1787;
Timothy Proctor in 1788;
Dr. Asaph Fletcher, from Westford, Mass., in 1787;
James Smith, from Peterboro, N. H., in 1790....

The first recorded warrant for a meeting of which we have any knowledge was issued February 28, 1782, signed by John Coffin, selectman.

The book of land records contains also the name of John Russell, as town clerk, May 26, 1781. This is further confirmed by the fact that John Coffin represented the town in the Legislature in March, 1778.

At a town meeting held at the house of Noadiah Russell, March 13, 1782,
Salmon Dutton was chosen moderator and the following were elected to fill the various offices:
Josiah Fletcher, town clerk;
Salmon Dutton,
Captain Ephraim Foster, Josiah Fletcher, selectmen;
Salmon Dutton, treasurer;
Thomas Baldwin, collector;
Noadiah Russell, constable;
Jesse Spaulding, David Wetherbee, Isaac Baldwin, listers;
Captain Ephraim Foster, leather sealer;
Joseph Rice, grand juryman;
John Stone, Shadrick Dodge, tithingmen;
Ebenezer Hardy, John Stone and Isaac Baldwin, haywards;
James Hall, sealer of weights and measures;
Reuben Gilbert, pound-keeper;
Jesse Spaulding, Ebenezer Hardy, Captain John Coffin, highway surveyors;
John Stone, deerkeeper;
David Wetherbee, Thomas Baldwin, Jesse Spaulding, fence viewers.

Selectmen... Salmon Dutton, 1783-85;
Josiah Fletcher, 1783;
John Russell, 1783-89;
Jesse Spaulding, 1784-85;
Captain Leonard Proctor, 1784-88;
Abel Roby, 1784;
Benjamin Lynde, 1786;
Isaac Baldwin, 1786;
Lieutenant Samuel White, 1787, 1792-95, 1798-1803, and 1805-06;
Asa Wheeler, 1787, 1791-93, 1799, 1800, 1803;
Abner Jackman, 1788-91;
Captain John Coffin, 1788 ;
Noadiah Russell, 1789
Jeremiah Hildreth, 1790;
Captain Aaron Parker, 1790-91;
Randall Lovell, 1792-97, 1804;
James Smith, 1794- 1804;
David Searles, 1796, 1807;
Leonard Proctor, Jr., 1797-98;
William Spaulding, 1801-03;
Thaddeus Smith, 1803;
Salmon Dutton, Jr., 1804-05;
Abel Baldwin, 1805-06;
Edmund Ingals, 1806-07, 1817;
Jesse Adams, 1807-10;
Jabez Proctor, 1808-12;
John Parker, 1808-09;
Uriel C. Hatch, 1810-16

Town treasurers....
Salmon Dutton, 1783-93, 1795-96, 1800-01
Asa Wheeler,
1797-99;
Junia Parker, 1802-08;
John Proctor, 1809-18;
Daniel Mason, 1819-21

....The first birth in the town, according to the records, was John, son of John and Sarah Gilbert, born July 9, 1781. The first death, John, son of John and Lucretia Russell, May 17, 1785. The first marriage, Michael Coffin to Sarah , April 14, 1778. The second marriage, John Russell and Lucretia Preston, May 10, 1778, in the presence of Captain John Coffin and Thomas Baldwin.

....Beginning as early as 1782 the usual distracting efforts to fix the center of the town as a site for a church were made, which continued until 1800-01. Numerous lots were offered, but no satisfactory committee could be secured, and finally in 1801 it was agreed that Jabez Sargeant, of Chester, Squire Stoughton, of Weathersfield, and Squire Bigelow, of Reading, should constitute a committee to locate the center of the town. This was accomplished October 20, 1801.

In the latter part of 1792 the town hired Rev. Abel Wood to preach six months, he to receive twenty shillings a day. A general assessment was levied to pay the salary, and Isaac Parker was appointed collector. The following were exempted from the assessment, for the reason that they were not members of the religious sect to which Mr. Wood belonged:
Salmon Dutton,
Thomas Baldwin,
John Coffin,
Isaac Baldwin,
Jonathan Atherton,
Eliphalet Kimball,
Captain William Chaplin,
Abner Preston, and
Abel Baldwin.

The momentous question of the church site having been settled, it was voted to build a house 45 x 55 feet and to complete it by June 20, 1802. The building committee were Abel Baldwin, Jonathan Atherton and Samuel White.

It was voted to purchase the chosen site of Jedediah Tuttle, the price to be thirty dollars an acre. It was also voted that each person or denomination shall have a right to occupy the house for religious worship in proportion as they stand on each grand list. A tax of four cents on the dollar was voted to build the church. The following, who were of different sentiments from those who voted for the tax, are recorded as dissenting from the action of the town:
Salmon Dutton,
Amos Pierce,
Israel Dwinnell,
Salmon Dutton, Jr.,
Clark Aldridge,
Samuel Wyman,
Joshua Tilden,
Asaph Fletcher, Jr.,
James Hall,
John Swift,
Joseph Page, and
William Swift.

....The First Universalist Society of Cavendish. - Among the early settlers of Cavendish were a number of members of the Universalist church. The first to preach this doctrine in the town were Michael, a son of Captain John Coffin, and William Farwell. Salmon Button, Captain Leonard Proctor, and James Smith were of this faith. From 1803 to 1809 Father Ballou, of Barnard, preached in the town.

....The First Baptist Church The town records state that on December 20, 1799, the Rev. Aaron Leland, of Chester, certified that the following persons were members of the Baptist church:
Jesse Spaulding,
Asaph Fletcher,
Robert Davis,
Garrabel Gerrald,
Obadiah White,
Samuel White,
Noadiah Russell,
Benjamin Lynde,
John Russell,
Eliphalet Chapman,
Stephen Roberts,
Frazier Eaton,
Levi Manning,
John Peck,
Reuben Chapman,
Perley Fassetts,
Joseph Wilkins,
Joseph Spaulding and
John Spaulding.

A society was organized by Rev. Aaron Leland, in 1803, with forty-six members, and they worshipped in the Union church located in the center of the town.

....Town House. - The early town meetings between 1782 and 1802 were held at the dwelling houses of Noadiah Russell, William Spaulding, James Hall, Samuel Adams, Timothy Proctor and Samuel White. From 1802 to 1804 the center school-house was used and in the latter year they began to hold meetings in the meeting-house which had been erected in the center of the town.

...At a town meeting held in 1787 the sum of twelve pounds was appropriated for educational purposes. The following year the town was divided into three school districts and the trustees elected. Lieutenant Benjamin Lynde was chosen to have charge of the east district, Lieutenant Samuel White for Black River district, and Captain Aaron Parker for the north district. In 1793 a new district, known as the Twenty Mile district, was created, and in the same year the Black River district was made into two districts. Asaph Fletcher, James Smith and John Wheelock were appointed to re-district the town in 1803.

Physicians of Cavendish. - The first physician in Cavendish was Asaph Fletcher, who became a resident on May 17, 1787. He settled near what is now Proctorsville, and the house he first occupied is still standing on the farm now owned by his grandson, Henry A. Fletcher. The next persons to practice medicine in town were Elijah R. Witt and Isaiah Parker, the former continuing until 1831, and the latter as late as 1836.


Old Families

Adams, Benjamin, was born October 17, 1752, and came from Ashby, Mass., to Cavendish in 1791. He married Mary Stone and had the following family: Benjamin, who died in Ohio; Patty (deceased), married Jonathan Chapman; Polly (deceased), married Jonathan Chapman; Samuel; Betsey (deceased), married Josiah French; Daniel, died in Chester; Joseph, died in Cavendish. Benjamin died April 9, 1830. .

Atherton, Jonathan, son of Jonathan, was born in Cavendish, October 14, 1787, and married January 9, 1817, Roxana Ives, only daughter of Elihu and Phebe (Hall) Ives, of Ludlow, Vt. Their children are, Ellen R., wife of Edwin Clement, of Cavendish; Solon Ives, Joseph V., Everett H., and Henry B., a lawyer of Nashua, N. H. Jonathan died May 17, 1875.

Proctor, Timothy, was born in Littleton, Mass., July 29, 1762, and came to Cavendish in 1788, where he died July 21, 1834. He married Sally White, of Acton, Mass.

They had seven children:
Timothy, died at Stowe, Vt.; Sally (deceased), married Bliss Russell;
Daniel W., died at Massena, N. Y.;
Susannah (deceased), married Martin Crowley;
Amasa, died in Cavendish, and left no issue;
Miriam, died young, and
Stillman.

Russell, Noadiah, was born at Middletown, Conn., in 1745, and married Miss Weston. They had the following children: Isaac, died in Iowa ; Nathan died on the route across the plains to California in 1850 ; Stephen, died in Iowa; Nathaniel; Polly (deceased), married Stephen Weston ; Lydia (deceased), married Lyman Bates ; and Lois. Noadiah was the second settler in town, and died May 14, 1833.

Spaulding, William, was born at Chelmsford, Mass., September 11, 1737, and came from Westford, Mass., to Cavendish in 1783. He married Esther Dutton and had the following family: John, William, Mary, Esther, Asa, Joseph. Zedekiah, Betsey, and Zacheus

Spaulding, Zedekiah, son of William, was born at Westford, Mass., in 1775, and died March 25, 1847. He married Grace Wood, and their children were Aaron Wheeler, died in Cavendish; Salmon, died in Bloomfield, N. Y.; Sally, married Charles Ives, died in Ludlow; and Allen, died in Cavendish, August 14, 1885.

Wheeler, Daniel, was born in Jaffrey, N. H., January 12, 1788, and was the son of John and Susanna (Spaulding) Wheeler. His father was born December 27, 1756; was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and died April 16, 1791. Daniel first came to live in Cavendish in 1804, remaining until 1809, when he returned to his native town, but became a resident of Cavendish again in 1819. He married Mary Powers, of Jaffrey, N. H., and had three children, Mary L., Daniel Hosmer, and Peter Powers. He died April 16, 1870.