St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-04-10
HISTORY in PEACHAM.
w. I'll. Lynds Writes of Interesting
Occurrences in That Town.

Occurrences in That Town.
The following letter written by
William H. Lynds for a Massachus-
! etts paper will have considerable in
terest locally
Peacham, VT, was chartered
December 81, 1853, by Gov. Benning
Wentworth, then colonial governor
as one of the New Hampshire grants,
vermont did not become a state I'M
til 1879. The town was named for
family who were the nearest neigh
bors of the Wentworth family in the
north of England by the name of
Peacham. Jonathan Elkins was the
first settler, in 1875, his home being
the first framed house in town and
\ is still standing, two-story, and in
good condition now. The first town
meeting of the proprietors was held
in Hadley, Mass, in 1854, as most of
them lived in Hadley and vicinity.
Col. Thomas Johnson, of Newbury,
VT, who had engaged to erect mills
in Peacham, one a grist mill, arrived
at Jonathan Elkins with the mill
stones on the evening of March z,
1881 About one o'clock the next
morning a party of British soldiers
came upon them from Canada The
officer in command was named Pat
terson, two soldiers by the name of
Cross and Smith and one by the name
of Davis, and they made prisoners
of Col. Johnson, Jacob Page and two
Elkins boys, Col. Jonathan, then a
youth, and younger brother They
allowed the young boy, who was in
/ poor health to return home. The
rest were carried to st. Johns, Can
ada. Mr.. Page was taken with Col.
Johnson to Montreal and young Ell
kins to Quebec, and they were i'm
prisoned in the hold of British ship.
/ Col. Johnson was paroled and re-
turned home in a few months. When
the fleet sailed from Quebec, young
Elkins and Mr.. Page, whose home
was in Ryegate, were sent as prison
ers to England with $50 others.
They were all distributed through
the fleet and obliged to do duty.
When the fleet arrived at Plymouth,
England, the prisoners were confined
in Mill prison and remained until
they were exchanged for Cornwall's
troops in 1888, at the close of the re-
evolutionary war. Then young Ell
kins returned home.
While a prisoner, Benjamin Frank
lin, first grand master of the Masons
of Pennsylvania, and Ira Allen, first
state treasurer of Vermont, brother
of Ethan Allen and also an early
Vermont Mason, were in England on
some business pertaining to some
matters relating to the states and
they called on the American prison
ers. Young Elkins made the ac-
quaintance of Franklin and Allen,
who took a special interest in him.
Franklin advised him to get an edu-
cation while in prison and Franklin
paid the whole expense of a teacher
for him.
When he came home he had fine
education. He settled on his fathers
farm and became a prosperous farm
er until 1886, when he died. He
raised a family that did well too,
ever after. At his family table he
had an extra plate put on for any
one who might come hungry. This
he did in memory of his sufferings
while in the English prison.
About ten years ago, his son,
h Henry S. Elkins, died, at the age of
one hundred years, wealthy lum-
\ Der dealer in Chicago.
4 The grist mill was built that the
stones were for on a brook nearby.
1t stood for about forty years, the
miller being a Scotchman by the
name of James Craig. After the mill