Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-12-02
Windsor, Windsor County,
Vermont.
BY Daniel L. Cady.

at Windsor when the L.amson g. Good
now Mig. Co., whose name is still well
known in the cutlery line, removed their
snath shop from Shelburne Falls, Mass,
to Windsor. and who also, as an old
poster states, were prepared to furnish
guns, machinery for guns, sewing ma
chimes, needles, a line Of hand-operatcd
turret lathes, plain and index miller plan
ers. trimming presses. drill presses, saw
mills. rock drills and mining machinery.
OTHER WINDSOR INVENTIONS.
The split pulley was "A Windsor in
vention and in 1850 Mr.. Lawrence first
fabricated bullets with tallow, which
made possible the repeating rifle, and
n magazine rifle made at least sixty
years ago. so much resembling the mod
ern Winchester rifle tina the likeness is
startling. The name of the great UNI
known who so long ago in a country
town exhibited this remarkable firearms
ingenuity is n mystery. The piece much
resembles the modern Winchester. with
which We are acquainted. except that
the chamber holding the mechanism is
Of iron instead of brass.
Other things that happened in Old
Windsor were the making of the first
great seal of the state of Vermont by
Reuben Dean; the laying of the corner
stone of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in
1870 by the Vermont Lodge Of Free
Masons 'in solemn form; the visit of
General Lafayette in 1895, and the visit
of President James Monroe in 1877. Presi-
dent Monroe passed a night in town
and was received, We read, with all tho
JOY and cordiality which can possibly be
expressed"
the '30's and '40's the Ascutncy
mountain water power was developed by
the construction of three dams across
Mill rock. The largest of these was
built In 1895 and the work is thus describ-
ed by Zadock Thompson: at is 3so feet
In length, fifty-six feet in breadth at
the base. twelve feet at the ton and
forty-two feet in height. forming a reser-
voir of water nearly one mile in length,
with a surface of 100 acres. having AN
available all Of sixty feet in the distance
OF one-third of a mile. The dam is built
on the arc of a circle. over which in
flood time the water flows in an I'M
broken sheet 1Uo feet in length. and
forming one of the most beautiful cas-
cades In the country" Pretty good for
days which had not yet heard Of re
1nforced' or any other kind of concrete,
COMING OF YOUNG EvARTS
But the great red feather day in
Windsor's cap was the day on which
William Maxwell Evarts. twenty-five
years of age, a Yale graduate and the
ClaSSnate of Samuel TiIJap or1 c,i
mon T. Chase, led to the altar on August
30. 1913. Miss Helen Minerva Wardner
OF Windsor. The WARMERS were bank
ers. and an old family much respected
for both mind and means. The sigma
lure II. Nardner' on a national bank
note 1lrty years ago was a work of art.
No money signer except General Spinner
ever equalled Henry Wardner, and then.
Spinner did not sign by hand Young
Evarts, though young and ungreat, pos
sessed great possibilities of greatness.
for as the novelists say he was not
born at the foot of the social ladder
so hard to climb" On the contrary he
was the son of the Rev. Jere-
miah Evarts, a Boston ~Vermonter. who
had in turn married Mehitable Barnes
sherman, a daughter of Roger Sherman.
the only man who signed both the Dec
laration Of Independence n the Con-
stitution Of the United States.
AS Mr.. Evarts prospered in his law
business in New York city, he had the
time and inclination to return often TO
windsor. where he began the purchase
OF lands and houses and the establish
ment OF n private estate which he named
Hunnemede, no doubt because Runne-
mede, England. is near Windsor. Eng
land. AS years passed, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
al and Secretary and Senator Evarts,
as he became. added to his holdings. and
In his estate to-day. We believe. is the
title for five or six OF the colonial houses
we have heretofore mentioned. Senator
warts being a grea. wit, was either
a farmer or an agriculturist as the
ituati. demanded. and his large farm.
with the yellow buildings just north of
the village. became almost as CLOSELY
linked with his name as Ashland in con-
nect!on with Henry Clay. or Marshfield
with Daniel Webster.
MILK OR CHAMPAGNE ANECDOTE.
1t was here that Senator Evarts one
day offered the choice of milk or cham
payne to his guests, remarking that IL
made no difference to him which they
TOOK as the cost was exactly the same,
Here he came year after year, bringing
MS retinue or horses, carriages and col
ored servants and spending a large part
or each summer. He soon had as n
the Hon. Edwin w. Stoughton.
Who. born In Weathersfield, became un-
der President Grant our minister at St.
Petersburg, Mr.. %Stoughton's horses and
carriages were also numerous and his
servants also black. and great was the
treat enjoyed by the country folk around
Windsor for many years. to meet As they
went or returned from town. one of the
Evarts or Stoughton barouches, with
colored coachman and footman, consti-
tuting a mass Of Class which strange
ly contrasted with the other turnouts
seen on the open roads of Windsor
County.
The eldest Evarts daughter married an
other great lawyer-to-be, viz: Charles
c. Beaman, Jr., formerly private score
tary FOR Charles Sumner. He later be-
came one OF the firm of Evarts, Choate
& Beaman Of so Wal street, and. natural
ly. n little later looked for a country
residence for himself. He too liked
Windsor and the vicinity, but as his
father-in-law had absorbed nearly all
or the attractive real estate on the Yer
mont side of the river near the village.
upon looking around Mr.. Beaman cross
ed the Connecticut river. went north
some two miles. and located upon n
pleasant low height" overlooking the
river and nearly opposite the vellou, O., r,,