The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-08-02
,rl,in nloce. (They believed it was near.

II
turned upon the approach of the cold win
ter blasts of November. They came again
tho following spring with their families, the
party increased by James Patterson, Sam
uel Thompson, John Cox, aod Captain Ed.
Aiken, cousin to the deacon. The storms
| of that November did not drive them away
| Strange, indeed, 1t seems, when we con-
slider their scanly supplies, their limited
MEANS their bar to social life, the great
amount Of muscular toll required of them,
that they should cling to this abode rather
than return to the land from whence they
came.
Most historians say that the town of
Kent was settled in 1T74. 1t is so said be-
cause the earlier settlers acquired no title
to the land which they occupied, having
sequestered it, while the settlers of 1774,
acquired a good title from Col. Rogers,
and he from the New York legislature un-
der the king. ! believe this version of our
history to be incorrect, because those who
| came here FIVE years before, and their FAM
| lilies four years before, from the same local.
| lily, the same class of people, and their rights
to the land occupied by them were ever re-
cognized without prejudice; hence their &C.
Element was never broken, never disturbed
Their title to the soil subsequently ma.ured
beyond question or doubt. The plan of the
town, as exhibited to-day In its irregular
lots, indicates that those bounds and mon
uments of boundaries established by the
earliest settlers, without and before a sur
vey, were never changed or destroyed by
subsequent deeds or grants Then / say
that the settlement of Londonderry dates
back to the time when the forests of Kent
welcomed the pioneers and their families
in ITO.
Glazier, Helleck, Eddy, Allen, McCor-
mack, Mack, and others were added to the
settlement in 1775. The people of the
former century had great development of
muscular power. The men gave their
energies to clearing land and tilling the
soil, which, being new, produced an abun-
dance of wheat, rye, corn and potatoes.
The women toiled upon the little wheel,
turned by the foot, and by their great in
dustry manufactured, linen, sheetings and
coarser cloths, which were exchanged for
such articles as could not be made or raised
at home.
Their inconvenience for obtaining build
ing material, and their limited means, for
babe them the comfortable dwellings of the
present generation. Their abode, at first,
was the log cabin, one story high, with
kitchen, and sometimes bed room and
pantry. A stone chimney in, the centre,
with its large fireplace, diffused light and
heat to the occupants Of these humble
homes; vet around the old fireplace the
family crcled and took their comfort of
life.
In the long winter evenings the younger
er members of the family were seated
around the table, and by the light of tai
low candle, busted themselves with books
and states, while the sound of the spinning
wheel told the tale of industry as practced
| -. a.. e., II hoo hna lu OF
that If there is peace in the world, heart
that is humble might lcok for 1t here.
Education received their early attention.
Three or four families would unite in hir
ing a teacher, who taught in rotation, from
house to house, usually a month in each
family. DR.. Ls2elle taught the first school,
in the houses of Daniel Cochran, Joseph
Oughterson and Hugh Montgomery. Quite
early, however, a district was formed, and
n school-house erected, in what is now the
Faulkner neighborhood. This house was
burned in 1914 At n still later period the
town was regularly divided into school dis
tricts, which have been changing ever since
with the drift of population and the lines
of highways.
/ haye said that the earlier settlers adj
hernd To The IresbyleIlan .hui.L 'rha
church was conducted aud supported by
! the town, and all votes and resolves con-
corning it were passed upon at a regularly
, warned town meeting. Permit me to read
a sketch of some of these meetings, the re-
cord of which was furnished me by Esquire
Wait. Article second of warning for a
town meeting for the election of officers,
under date Kent, February 81, 1777, reads
thus
ITO see whether the town will agree to
build place tor public worship in said
! toun and yyhpra IL will stand "
! At the town meeting following, on the
? 1lth day Of March, 1777, we find this rec
Z ord
, "Voted, on the second article, to build a
, house for public worshp-chose a com
mttee of three on the place where it shall
stand--chose Edward Aiken, David Coch-
ran and VIM. Mack committee.
Article third of the warning for town
meeting to elect officers under date of Feb.
%, 1873, reads:
''To see what money the town will agree
+ to raise for preaching the ensuing year.
! AT the meeting thus warned the town
voted to raise Fifty pounds. to be expended
for preaching the gospel the present year.
, Again, at an adjourned town meeting
! held April II, 1880, the town "voted TO
! raise fourteen pounds and eight shilings
as good as money passed in the year 17l4.
to be expended in preaching the gospel.
: March 10, 1881, the town "voted to raise
sixty dollars in hard money for preaching.
to be laid on the polls and estates in town. y
In various warnings an article is inserted
"to see If the town will agree upon some
, place for public worship" under which, at
the meetings, the town would designate,
, by vote, some persons dwelling house TO
be the place for their assembling TO worship
; God. In these humble abodes their devo'
, tional exercises were conducted with as
much piety as those in our modern cathe-
drals. Their first design for the erection
/, of church building was thwarted by the
! revolutionary war.
2 In September, October and November,
3 1881, the town held various meetings in
regard to building a meeting house, the
! result of which was ''vote to build a
house 3Sx30 feet, one story high, boarded,
shingled and clap boarded with sawed
/ clap-boards. a floor laid and one door on
) hinges, to be paid for by the inhabitants OF
the town by poll and estate, according to
valuation, to be located a short distance
west of the dwelling Of James Patterson"
) This project was also destroyed by subse-
Quent, agitation, and finally a division Of
the town.
The original church members of the
town Of Kent, in forms and ceremonies,
) we're followers Of John Knox, who had
learned from Calvin in Geneva, the form
of ecclesiastical government known as
Presbyterian. The Scotch Kirk was the
: true child of the reformation, being sronl :
r ly opposed to the church of England, which
was viewed by them as not having come
out from the denominations of Babylon the
! Great, but only as having shaken off few
of the grosser corrnp,ions of ancient Rome.
Neither did the followers of Knox fully
| sympathze with the Furtans, for they
(ihe Puritans) believed In lf-government,
, and that each congregation should be regu-
, lated by its owns laws; hence the more
modern name Of Congregationsllsts. The
PresbYterians recognized the authority Of