Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-03-10
HISTORY OF COUNTY
TAKEN FROM VERMONT GAZATEER PUBLISHED In
The YEAR 1862


Few men were more fond of a moose
or deer hunt than he, and none ever
enjoyed more the pleasures of camp
life. The woods of the northern
portions of Vermont, New Hamp.
shire and Maine, were all familiar to
him-as the pastures, fields and
meadow-lands are to the thrifty
farmer. His mind was we'll stored
with hunting lore, Indian traditions
and revolutionary Incidents. The
following was one Of those early
"reminiscences: When a small boy,
his father was a near neighbor of
Gen. Stark. The general being alb
sent in the war and help scarce, by
permission Of his father he went and
worked for Mrs. Stark in the hay
field in company with herself, a son
Of about the same age as himself,
the girls and two hired men. A few
days before the battle of Benning-
ton, while thus engaged a courier
arrived in great haste and delivered
to Mrs. Stark a letter from her hus-
band and with the rake leaning on
her shoulder she read it aloud which
was to the following effect:
Dear Molly: In less than one
week the.British forces here will be
ours. Send every man from the
farm that will come, and let the
haying go to hell" This was char
acteristic of the General.
Few men had such general store
of knowledge as John Hugh the
younger.E 1t was culed from every
source of knowledge. His memory
was renal kable, and often people
would come from distance to gath
er from his great store-house of in
formation facts and incidents in con-
nection with the early settlement of
the country He lived in the town
of Canaan and died there at an ad-
vanced age some ten years since.
SAMUEL HUGH,
the youngest son of John Hugh lived
at a time when there was occasional
ly a'school of few weeks in the
winter season. This however was
limited to few of what are now
called elementary studies, such as
spelling, reading and writing, with
the ground rules of arithmetic
geography in those days being rath-
er too classical. Previous to the
war of 1912 he was appointed Depu-
ty Collector of the State of Yer
mont. and continued so until he was
forcibly taken from his own house
in Canaansa by a band of ruffians
from Canada and carried prisoner
out of the United States. The cir
cumstances connected with this out
rage was as follows: There were
parties from. Canada engaged in
smuggling through property chiefly
cattle, from the..State, and it is to
be regretted that many of our citi-
zens were then as now found who
were anxious to give aid and COM
fort to the enemy" 1t was duty
of the officers of customs to put a
stop to this contraband business, and
they did so, but not without the loss
of several lives.
Hearing that large drove of cat
tie was being started through by
the smugglers, Samuel Hugh gath
cred together number of men and
pursued them. Among the number
were Ephraim tMahurin, Eleazer
Slocum, VIM. McAllister, - Cogs-
well, and several others-all armed.
The party did not succeed in over
taking the drove of cattle until they
got over the line and had been de-
livered to the purchasers, who were
also in force respecting a conflict.
Samuel Hugh was a powerful man,
over six feet high and weighed over
200 pounds. Two men by the name
of Morrill, also powerful men attack
ed him at once, and having knocked
one of them down, the other was in
the very act of swapping a loaded
gun at Hugh's breast before he
could use his own weapon again,
when some one from the American
party more expert fired his rifle and
Morrill, fell dead. AS several guns
were discharged at the same time, it
was never known to whom Hugh
was indebted forthis life.
In the melee another Lof the Ca
nadianl party was wounded. His
name was also Morrill, and brother