Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-02-10
HISTORICAL.
The DOOlittle Family of Towns
bend.

1t often happens that the descendants of
pioneer families migrate from the old
homes which were planted in the wilder
ness, so that when the history of their
town is written no representative of the
name is left to call attention to those who
once may have been important factors in
the body polite; such is notably the fact
concerning the Doolittles of Townshend.
No descendants, near or remote, remain
there to represent them, for which reason
it may be of interest to place on record
some facts concerning the family which
has furnished sons for nearly every state in
the Union.
In 1777, about a dozen years after the
first settlement of Townshend, AMI Doc
little came from Massachusetts, and located
in the south part of the town on the Dor
der line north of Newfane, on the hill
about a mile west of the river. He was
son of the celebrated Rev. Benjamin Doc
little of Mortified, and a great grandson
of the worthy emigrant, Abraham Doolit-
tie, who was one of the early settlers of
New Haven in 1910. At the time of his
coming the town was sparsely settled, and
the lands which he bought were covered
with prmeval forest, to which the bears
and wolves lay claim as well as the incom-
ing settler. His nearest neighbors were
those who had located on the river sections,
some distance away through the painless
woods.
He was then 40 years of age, with fam
lily of nine children, the eldest of whom
was but II years of age; but he had
stout heart and soon had snug log house
erected for their protection. Then the
clearing around it constantly enlarged, and
limited crops began to be raised, but the
opening years in the wilderness proved a
hard struggle, and life was anything but
holiday One method he took to add to
his meagre income was the burning of the
huge forest logs for the ashes which they
produced, converting the product into pot
ash, for which he found a ready sale. In
the course of few years he had cleared
the farm and erected more comfortable
buildings, since owned by the Burnaps and
Bixbys. The bears and wolves, which
were once his annoying foes, began to re-
tire, and the sun was allowed to smile on
waving fields of grain and grass in the
large opening made in the once unbroken
forest, while some of the comforts of life
began to be enjoyed by the hardy pioneer.
As each of his three sons came to mans
estate he was given a farm of virgin for
est land adjoining the home farm, and
they in turn began to hew their fortunes
out of the untamed wilds. ANIL, the eld-
est son, cleared farm adjoining his faith
ers on the east. He married Esther Bar
Der of Townshend. He was a man Of
marked ability and took an active part in
the civil and political affairs of the town.
He was justice of the peace, selectman,
deputy sheriff, representative for 1S16-17
and 81, and held other official positions
many years. He was also high in the or
der of Free Masonry. In 1924 he remov-
ed, with his brother, Origen, to Winches-
ter, n. H., where they bought farm of
300 acres, just east of the village, and
where he lived during the remainder of his
life. He had no children but adopted a
nephew, Hiram, son of Joseph and Sybel
(Barber) Shepard, who took the name of
Doolittle and became his heir at law. Am
ri, junior, died Jan. 20, 1868, at the ad-
vanced age of 81 years and 10 months.
His descendants by his adopted son still
live on the old homestead in Winchester.
Origen, the second son, also received a
tract of forest land from his father and
cleared for himself home near by. In
time bn bppamp a Uall- farp,ar nd
as before stated, removed to Winchester in
1924, where he remained until 1854, when
he removed to La Morelle, ILL.,, where he
died in 1856. He has numerous descend
ants in the western states. His daughter
Caroline married Loring Pickering, now
an Octogenarian and a millionaire newspa-
per man of San Francisco. She was a
lady of rare refinement and engaging man.
ners, and contributed largely to the rising
success of her husband.
AMI Doolittle, senior, also removed late
in life to live in Winchester, where he died
in 1880 at the age of 49, His wife also
died there at the remarkable age of 10;
years.
Roswell, the third and youngest son, re
ceived at the age of p years his allotment
of forest land just south of the origina
homestead. He spent 10 years in singl,
blessedness, In which time he cleared quit
portion of his farm and built substan
tial frame house. In 1906, at the age o
81, he found bride in Brattleboro in tn,
person of Miss Charissa Burt, a descendan
of the first Henry Burt of Springfield
Mass. She was young lady admired TO
her beauty and sweetness of manners, char
acteristics which she preserved until tn
close of life. The welded couple drove t.
their new home on the day of marriage, Il
the music of the old-time sleigh bells
through the depths of a January snow
The last house which they passed befor
seaching their own residence was built o
and was occupied by a colored family
every pane of the solitary window wa
ened by an ebony face eager to catch
ppse of the bride, much to her amuse
nent. A cosy home awaited the newly
wed girl of the village, set in the mds
of a circla of mania baacb and bamlocl