Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1910-03-26
WOODSTOCK NEWS
Four Revere Bells in Wood
stock Church Towers

lhe interesting IacI IndJ III IouI
4! church towers in this village are
" bells bearing the name of Revere,
the hero of famous midnight ride,
4 has Just been brought to notice here.
n 1t will be remembered by some peo-
q ple that Mr., Paul Revere's ride was
y celebrated in verse by poet named
\ Longfellow. This Paul Revere was
Y coppersmith in Boston, Revo-
4 lutionary patriot, member of the
n Boston tea party, and after the war,
which he, helped to precipitate, he
v made church bells and cannon. One
q of the bells has been ringing to
worship in Woodstock for 90 years.
Some time ago Mr.. Arthur Fl.
n Nichols of Boston, who is preparing
n an article on the Revere bells, wrote
h TO Rev. H, L. Garfield asking for
3 information about two which he
traced to Woodstock through an old
stock book This said that in 1918
Z bell weighing 68fPo6nds Vas sod
4 to the town of Woodstock, and in
\ 1928 as1second bell weighing $40
pounds; -Gt61eT.a4e.)
This information interested Mr..
Al Garfield and Others and started a
H tour of inspection of three or four
q church towers. On the bell in the
n Universalist church was found the
Il inscription Revere, Boston" the
4 weight marked in blue chalk, 1927
n pounds.
The bells ON the Congre gational
n and Christian churches, it was also
n found, bore Revere's name.
In a second communication Mr..
" Nichols said that the bell of 1918 in
the Congregational church was iden-
N titled beyond doubt; of the Univer-
a salist church bell he was in some
n doubt, because it bore no date, and
" the weight did not correspond with
n his records; he thought it may have
been cast by an older son of Revere,
who was obliged to leave the firm,
and he did work for himself from
y 1903 till some time in the thirties.
y His bells were inscribed Revere,
Boston," or Revere & Co."
ut appears to have been the GUS
tom at the foundery at Canton" I"
says Mr.. Nichols, when the bell
was weighed, resting mouth upward,
\ to write in blue chalk the weight on
n the inner waist" This chalk mark
is found upon all the Revere bells
here.
More about these bells is told in
an interesting article written in
1878 for the Ottauquechee Post by
+ the late Robert A. Perkins, who
copies the following memorandum
from the Congregational church
records made by Norman Williams.
in June, 1918. Bell was pur-
chased by subscription and placed
in the tower of the Congregational
Church. Willis Hall, Esq, was the
agent to purchase the Bell. To
select this bell he took with him to
Revere's Foundery Elnathan Duren,
who then resided in Boston, and
Norman Williams of Woodstock,
who was then in Boston. The
bell selected was of the key of G, and
of fine tone, as all men who hear it
testify. 1t was warranted to last
one year without breaking provided
it was not turned over The bell
was so hung that it could not turn
over. The following is copy of the
bill of purchase.
Boston. June 2, 1918.
,nn Bot of j. W. Revere,
tongue "a
TIL 45c S3I9 9E
Paid by cash $lOS 90
Ds'ct ON do. LOS
Note Tor balance zlO 81 S3l9 70. :"
The inscription on the bell reads;
Revere & Son, Boston, 1878"
The second church bell brought
into town was the one now hanging
in the Episcopal church, which was
rung at the first service held in the
new building, Christmas, 1927
Gen. Lyman Mower was the pur
chaser. and it was paid for by sub
scriptions of members of the church
Its weight is given by Mr.. Perkins
as $50 pounds, but The Age is tolc
that the figures on the bell are 800
The inscription is Revere, Boston.
The bell of the Christian church
with clock, was placed in the tows