Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-05-21
HISTORICAL
SKETCHES
OF ESSEX CO.
Continued from last week.
BY MRS. MARGARET G. MARSHALL

BY MRS. MARGARET G. MARSHALL
| will relate circumstance of his
narrow escape from death when a
boy about ten years old: His father
had girdled large elm tree for the
purpose of killing it; Joseph the boy
was driving the team for his father
to plough, ,and as they passed around
the land they were ploughing, they
came near this elm tree, which being
hollow and consequently nearer cut
off than the father was aware, it fell
just at the time they were passing it,
falling on the boy and killing one of
the oxen; that part of the tree how
ever that struck the boy had a small
crook in it,which prevented his being
killed, notwithstanding it held him
so fast that help had to be obtained,
before he could be removed.
JOSEPH WAIT
came to Brunswick in 1779, and set
tied with his brother Nathaniel on
the bow of land which bears their
name. He was chosen proprietor's
clerk in 1876, which office he held
until the town was organized. He
was the first sheriff in Essex county,
was the first representative of the
town, and was first selectman, in
connection with JOHN Merrill, and
David Hyde. He was chosen clerk
at the time the town was organized,
and held the office many years. The
town meetings were holden at his
dwelling-house for many years after
the town became organized, and he
probably held more town offices than
any other man in town before 1920.
He was killed by a fall from his
horse in 1923. Nathaniel his brother,
served three months as militia-man
in the war of the Revolution.
PHILIP GRAPES
came to Brunswick in 1880, he was
chosen selectman in 1897, and first
constable and collector in 1898, and
collected the tax Of one cent on each
acre of land, granted by the legisla-
ture of the state of Vermont Nov.
10th, 1797,~for the support of Gov
ernment. He was soldier in the
war of the Revolution some two or
three years land was killed by the fall
of a tree in the year 1900. His widow
Elizabeth survived him many years,
and was the oldest person that ever
died in town, being over 100 years of
age. The first saw and grist-mill
was built in Brunswick, in 1900, by
Ithiel Cargill, who came into the
town in the fall of 1899, and con-
tracted with the proprietors to build
the mills in one year, and as an en-
couragement for building the same
the proprietors voted him the right
of pitching 400 acres of his undivided
land, provided he did not select it in
more than three places. He pur-
chased the farm occupied by Reuben
Tuttle, which embraced the mill
privilege. He owned and occupied
the farm and mills more than twenty
years, and raised up a large family.
His two oldest sons, John and Ithiel,
went to the town of Wenlock (now
Brighton), about 20 miles from the
Connecticut river, through an un-
broken forest, and commenced in the
solitude of the forest to make them
selves a farm; after chopping down
some Is or 20 acres of trees Ithiel
was killed by the falling of tree,
yet John with great perseverance
continued the improvements, and
cleared up a large farm, and now
lives upon the premises, being a
worthy and independent farmer; the
rest of the family moved to Morgan
in the county of Orleans, and there
is not any of the name or connection
remaining in Brunswick.
DAVID HYDE
came here in 1884, and settled upon
the farm known as the Hyde Bow.
This bow is a beautiful tract of land
situated nearly in the center of the
town, and taking into consideration
all the conveniehces with which it is
surrounded, constitutes a desirable
! location.
He soon made the forest disappear,
and in it's place waved the golden
grain. He was a close observer of
men and things, and in the athletic
4 sports often practiced in those times,
he could run the fastest, dive the
deepest, and stay under water the
7 longest of any of his townsmen. His
notions of right and wrong were
somewhat peculiar, as will be seer
by reference to his acts and sayings
In measuring grain that he sold tc
his neighbors, he always heaped the
half bushel, and in weight he made
no account of the fractions of ;
pound, frequently remarking tina
weight and measure was the Lord s
but the price was his own"
He died in the year 1912. David
his younpest son when q boy had