Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-01-31
The Early Settlers of Morgan.


said that they were remarkable men
but our thought has stopped there.
We have looked back upon them SIM
ply as Individuals bearing distinc-
tive features of personality, and as
exhibiting some peculiar traits of char
acter, but we have very little traced
their influence in the organization OF
civil society, or on the morals and re-
ligiOn of their respective towns and
on their descendants. W c have
thought less of how much, and in how
Tany ways, they stamped their pecu-
liar characteristics upon the society
and the towns where they lived. But
it is not more true that their blood
entered into the veins Of their chill
dren, and is now dif'used in the veins
of their descendants who constitute
the present population, than that their
moral and mental habits, and the i'm
pulses that mould society have de-
scended from them to the present day,
and largely make our communities
what they are. Branches have been
grated in by blood and otherwise, to
modify the fruit from the old stock !;
but up through that old stock the sap
must come, and the quality of the fruit,
and the shape of the tree, its strength,
hardness, and capability to battle
with the cold, the storm, the tempest,
and to draw life from the hard soil,
are all given from the old roots.
We cannot do ourselves a better
service than to recall the names, the
characters and the influence of these
men, and note how they have left
their work upon us and that which
belongs to us. We cannot find a bet
ter study for our own improvement,
our mental and social discipline. We
cannot find lessons richer in instruc-
ton, nor more powerful in incentives
to urge us to take on their virtues, or
to put far away their vices.
We need not recall these founders
of our farms and our society, only to
eulogise them. We do not propose
to do this. We propose to exhibit
them Just as they appeared to our
child's eye; to throw their influence
on us who have come after them, Just
as it appears now to our more sober
and matured thinking. For some
thing we shall say, children and grand
children will feel a grateful pride, and
a noble impulse to virtuous life. And
for some things they may feel regret
and sorrow, possibly pain. But We
do not write simply to please, but to
instruct, as well, and to call out a
sense of responsibility to God, and to
men around us, and to those who
come after us, for it is one of the most
truthful of truths, that, mo man liveth
to himself"
Very few of the early residents of
Orleans County were men whose in
fluence was known outside of their
own county, or town. But in every
town there are one, two, or three, men
vino shape all around them. Ind
rery often these men were men Of great
Individuality and force Of character.
Their coming into this new country.
and encountering so many stern hard
ships, illustrates and proves this
They usually remained in the town,
and on the farm first pitched upon,
until they died. And so by necessity
as well as interest, fashioned all
them according to their own
minds.
Those who knew anything about
the town of Morgan from its first set
Element to 1880, will recall four of the
class we have referred to, from whom
! great deal in that town has grown.
rs the tree from the root-Ira Leav-
ems, Christopher Bartlett, Nathan Will
COX, and lothian Cummings. They
we're all farmers, and industrious la
)orers, and each had a comfortable
1roperty-that is, his farm and per-
'onal property, without much if any
iebt. Mr.. Leavens was a man who
lved for himself and his family. He
lad little respect for religion. and
roubled himself but little about the
morals, or religious principles of the
own. He accumulated more prop
'rty than either of the others. aud of
ener secured his election, as repre-
to the legislature, or to Off I
ial positions in the town. He was a
nan of some education, and of active .
mind, and had the reputation of hon.
rable moral character. Whether he
7as accustomed to lay plans to secure :
is own election, we cannot say. but ,
e commonly had others who worked r
,r him with great zeal, and not al =
'ays was he free from suspicion of ,
raft. His influence in matters of 9
'orldly wisdom, political manage E
ent, and in aversion, if not opposi- !
on to Evangelical religion, was
Irge, though usually exerted in very f