St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-12-27
For the CaledoDian.
BITS OF OUR TOWN HISTORY.

Huxham Paddock and others
1t was stated i'm the CaledOnian of
October IS that the late Chauncy
Spaulding had the first pleasure wagon
= in that section. There are some facts
in regard to the first wagons at that
place, and also relative to many other
interesting matters and things there
in early times which some people at
the present time may he glad to learn.
Joseph and Phebe Fairbanks and
two of their sons, (Erastus being al
ready at st. JOhnsbury) removed from
Brimfield, Mass, to st. JOhnsbury in
May 1915. A this time they brought
n dark green cOlOred one horse pleas
IRE wagon, having one board seat at
tached to wooden springs. running the
whole length of the wagon box, with
no iron nor steel springs. That wagon
was made by Thaddeus Fairbanks at
Brimfeld, after he returned to that
place from BelchertOwn where he had
learned his trade. That wagon was
sold to Ephraim Paddock, who, after a
little more than a year sold it to Mar
shall Jones who lived about two miles
west of the Plain. Beyond this have
no knowledge respecting the wagon.
Soon after the arrival of Joseph
Fairbanks at st. Johnsbury he bought
a few acres of land of Press West, who
claimed the same by virtue of tax
title. Subsequently the heirs of the
Arnold estate made Intellectual efforts
to regain possession of their lost land.
In the spring of 1915 Mr.. Fairbanks
began the improvement of the water
power, and the erection of mills on the
land he had bought of MIR. West. At
that time Thaddeus was some past 10
years old, having been born in 1896,
and Joseph u. WAS over nine years old,
having been born November %, 1906.
The Fairbanks saw mill was in opera
ton early in the next fall, and the
grIst mill was III operation by the mid
die of the next winter. | had no bust
ness relations with the Fairbanks's in
1873, but | was engaged at house join
er work on the Plain and at Passump
sic village. In the spring of 1916 | be-
came permanently engaged with Thad-
deus. Our first work that spring was
the erection of building for Il black
smiths shop and trip hammer After
that we finished the outside of the
grist mill building and then finished
the inside of the second story of the
same building and put in the machin
cry and other fixtures for making wag
Ons. We repaired an old set of buggy
wheels for Mr.. Hovey of Waterford and
also an old set of buggy wheels for Mr..
HOsmer of st. JOhnsbury. | do not
know whether Mr.. Hosmer had the
other parts of wagon then, or pre-
viously in use or not, or whether he
had obtained those old wheels at some
other place. Nothing but the wheels
were brought to the shop. In the
spring OF 1917 we brought out and fin
ished few pleasure wagons on which
we had been employed during the win
ter. Those were the first wagons of
any kind that were ever made in st.
JOhnsbury.
But We must still remember tue
wagon that was made at Brimfield and
brought to that place two years before,
and supposed to- lje the first one in
that town. In 1917 we built IL two
story dwelling house on the south side
of the main road and moved into it in
the fall, and there, in that house,
Joseph and Phebe Fairbanks lived all
the rest of their lives. Before the close
of 1918 that place had saw mill, in
which was buzz saw for cutting slabs
into fire wood length, the only buzz
saw in that part of the world, a grist
mill, with n good smut mill, the only
one in that region. wagon shop with
improved machinery, IL bIacksmith's
shop with trip hammer and iron foun-
derry belonging to HuxIam Paddock, ii
fulling- mill, with cloth dressing works,
by Dyer Percival, a pottery for making
brown ware by William Hutchinson,
and four dwelling houses. In the
spring of 1919 obtained leave of alb
sence for two years, and was employed
i'll the erection of those buildings, in
Guiding the brick house for Ephraim
Paddock. was the first and last up
on the ground, and entirely alone much
of the time.
Paddock village in 1910 had no place
of business nor public works, except
an old grist mill. where | then had
grists ground. That mill stopped do
ing business about the time when the
Fairbanks mill was started, and about
the same time a building was built
close to the grist mill in which Il card
ing machine was put. That carding
machine was operated but short
time and James Ramsey and family
lived in the building; the old hut that
the miller once occupied had decaycd.
There being no other dwelling place
there james went into the carding ma
chine building.
In 1920 James Ramsey and Allen
Kent built saw mill at the north end
of the dam opposite the grist mill. Two
or three years after Hiram Jones
bought the said mill and soon after
built another large high building adj
joining the mill for wood working
shop. In 1928 Huxham Paddock start
ed his iron foundery few yards down
stream from the Jones buildings, and
subsequently other mechanical bust
ness was started there.
On the east side of the river and not
far north from that village, there was
a small tract of land which was known
as the school lot, belonging to the
town, the annual rent for which was
always paid in wheat for the benefit of
the common schools of that town. A
very respectable man by the name of
Graves lived on that school lot for
many years, and who did many
days works for me with his cart and
oxen. That Mr.. Graves was none 9TH
er than the father of the somewhat dis
tinguished Rev. DIR. Samuel Graves,
who was n professor in the Kalamazoo
college several years, pastor of a church
at Grand Rapids, and now president of
a college at Atlanta, Ga. We were
glad to see him once more.
HENRY LITTLE.
Kalamazoo, Dec. |, 'SS.
a Gigantic Evil.
CoHgre1ationdlist.