Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1896-10-08

MI ahtOAE OAAAC ing HIlu.
! "The early bounds of the county and
its earliest court history have been
sketched by GovernoRFarnham. The
eastern part of Vermont was settled
pretty much after the course of the
shad that used TO u up the Connect
cut. Our population came up along the
lines of that river and its tributaries
from Connecticut and the western
part of Massachusetts. Newbury was
the first town in Orange county TO
be settled. Possibly Jacob Bayley,
who was for years the most promi-
nent citizen of Orange county, was in
Newbury as early as l76l, and il Is
safe to say that he was settled there
in l764. The first settlement in
Thetford began in the last named
year, l764, and from that time on un-
til the Revolution, through it, and af-
ter, people kept coming to that part
of the county in considerable num-
beers so that when Chelsea became the
shire town in 1896 the county num-
bered several thousand inhabitants.
The western part of the county was
later in its settlement and Randolph
was an almost unbroken wilderness
when, in the adjoining county of
Windsor in October 1850, the burn
ing of Royalton by the Indians took
place. | know this very well from
family tradition, as my great-great-
grandfather, Lieut.. James Blodgett.
and my great-grandfather, Henry
Blodgett, his son, were among the
early settlers OF Randolph and had
been clearing land for their future
home and had gone back to Hanover,
n. H., where the family then was the
day before Royalton was burned and
so escaped the captivity that fell upon
Zadock Steele. The first marriage in
Randolph was that of this Henry
Blodgett with Abigail Parmly, De
cember 2, l7S4; the ceremony having
been performed by James Blodgett
the day after, as Lyme Hinckley
would have said, 'he had arrived at the
dignity of "A justice of the peace Ny
grandfather, Alfred Blodgett, was the
first child born Of this marriage, and
as none Of the family have ever been
noted for reticence, traditions of the
western part of the county have been
with me from childhood.
Most of the early settlers of the
county served in the Revolution, some
of them being residents in il at that
time and still more of them settling
in il soon after they had served from
lower New England. In the war Of
1872 the same spirit survived and
many entered the service, and at the
time of the battle Of Plattsburg a full
company from Randolph, and possibly
Others from other parts of the county,
fastened to the scene Of the invasion.
/ see in the audience Major Richard
Smith and it calls TO mind how the
year | came from Wisconsin to fit
for college, | saw on the fourth of
July, 1860, at East Randolph the
'Tunbridge Light Infantry coming
over the hill under the command Of
this same man, then a captain, and Of
course felt that the country was safe
for some time longer. There were
very few of the men who came over
from Tunbridge that day who did not
soon see service in the war that began
the next year. And am reminded
by seeing Col. Farnham here on the
and by living a neighbor TO
General Stephen Thomas, a long
time resident and some time Judge of
county, that its sons in great
served in the war of the Re-
bellion, and the bar Of the county
gave its full share of those who served.
Coming over from Montpelier this
morning my wife asked how soon we
would get to Chelsea Green and |
found that when she was a girl in
Randolph that was the common name
this county seat. She then told
of an incident of which | was remind
ed just now when Governor Farnham
read OF this entry in a cause, Taken
back from we jury by agreement of
parties Many years ago a good and
good looking woman married a good
and good looking nan and they lived
happily together some time but not
after. They came to have child
rem and he came to have the rum hab-
it and thereby to waste his substance.
The wife pleaded and the husband
promised to reform, but the promises
not fulfilled, and after long en-
DURANGO the good woman being there
greatly %pursuaded by her brothers,
brought a petition for divorce. When
the time came for the trial she came
here and her brothers and her
witnesses came with her. When it
about time TO come over to the
court house her brothers looked for
her and she was not to be found. In
and earnest search was made
and the premises viewed, and the
wife and husband were found walk
ng arm in arm on Chelsea Green.
And that was the last of that divorce
suit; Judge Rowell even never killed
me o effectually from the bench.
The parties found their way back
'ver the hills and lived together happi-
y thereafter. Colonel Watson suggests
o me that they were more fortunate in