While working on props for the Cavendish Chronicles II (August 27 and 28) the question came up about what the early settlers would have had for money. For a variety of reasons, money was almost always in short supply during the early colonial period. The lack of coins and currency forced the colonists to barter. The English leaders felt that colonial exports, such as animal skins, dried fish, and tobacco, should be paid for in English goods. Colonial exports would be accepted in return for an equal value of such goods as fabrics, window panes, pewter dishes, and mirrors. This barter arrangement - an exchange of goods or services without using money - seemed ideal to the British but was increasingly unpopular with the colonists, who preferred coin for their exports to gain more independence over their buying power. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
According to Leslie V. Brock There was no colonial coinage nor did the sterling coin of Great Britain circulate in the colonies. Consequently, it was necessary for the colonies to amass a supply of coin through the medium of trade.
The money metal of the eighteenth century was silver, not gold. The chief coin of the colonies was the Spanish milled dollar (piece of eight), worth 4s. 6d. sterling. There were supplementary gold coins in circulation: the Johannes of Portugal, which circulated after 1722 and was worth 36s. sterling, and the Spanish Pistole, which was worth 12s. 2.8d. sterling, and had a substantial circulation in Virginia prior to the French and Indian War. The silver was chiefly derived from the West Indies trade. It was a saying in New England in the early eighteenth century that the "Fishery was then the NE Silver Mine."8 The gold came in as a result of trade with the south of Europe. The colonies retained the British monetary units: pounds, shillings, pence (1£ = 20s.; 1s. = 12d.). The foreign coins in circulation in the colonies had values placed upon them by the several colonial legislatures. They did not, however, long circulate at their sterling values. Either to retain their coin or to draw it from their neighbors, colonies raised the value at which it circulated within their boundaries. An upper limit to these values was set by the Proclamation of Queen Anne of 1704, which placed a maximum of six shillings on the Spanish milled dollar. Gold coins, however, were not within the scope of the proclamation. Throughout the colonial period, specie in the colonies tended to be in short supply.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Cavendish Semiquincentennial: Universalists and First Baptist Church
The following information is from The History of Windsor County, Vermont 1891 Edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich and Frank R. Holmes, D. Mason & Co. Publishers
The First Universalist Society of Cavendish. — Among the early settlers of Cavendish were a number of members of the Universalist church. The first to preach this doctrine in the town were Michael, a son of Captain John Coffin, and William Farwell. Salmon Dutton, Captain Leonard Proctor, and James Smith were of this faith. From 1803 to 1809 Father Ballou, of Barnard, preached in the town. About this time a society was formed, and the General Conferences of 1812 and 1828 met at Cavendish. The society included the towns of Cavendish, Plymouth, Ludlow and Reading, and meetings were held once a month until 1827. The Rev. William Skinner preached his first sermon in Cavendish on Christmas Day, 1825. At this time he was a resident of Langdon, N. H., but removed to Proctorsville in May, 1828. He resided at the latter place till his death, excepting the years 1834-35, when he was located at Bennington. The present society was organized March 11, 1837, Samuel Adams being chosen moderator of the meeting, and Thomas Whitcomb, clerk and treasurer. The original members were William Spaulding, Samuel Adams, Asa Spaulding, 2d, Luke Parkhurst, William Smith, John Stearns, James Bryant, Asa Bond, Thaddeus Smith, Jonathan Chapman, Daniel Kendall, jr., Francis A. Foster, G. P. Spaulding, Abel Hill, and Thomas Proctor. The first minister was Rev. Warren Skinner, who continued to preach until March 1, 1845, during which period he took sixty members into the church. For the next two years Rev. G. W. Bailey supplied the church, with William Livingstone and J. Hemphill. In 1844 the present stone chapel was erected. The Rev. W. L, Barber was settled February 13, 1847, ^"<^ the following were his successors : Revs. H. H. Baker, 1852 to 1855 ; J. H. Willis, 1856 to 1859; Harrison Closson, 1861 to 1866; Miss R. A. Damon, 1868 to 1869; R. T. Sawyer, 1870 to 1872 ; John G. Gregory, 1872 to 1874; J. T. Powers, 1874 to 1878; Herbert Whitney, 1878 to 1881 ; W. H. Pratt, 1 88 1 to 1882 ; J. S. Geldhill, 1882 to 1884; A. A. Rice and John P. Eastman, 1884 to 1886. Since that date the society has been supplied by the resident ministers at Ludlow, services, being held in the afternoons.
The First Baptist Church. — The town records state that on December 20, 1799, the Rev. Aaron Leland, of Chester, certified that the following persons were members of the Baptist church : Jesse Spaulding, Asaph Fletcher, Robert Davis, Garrabel Gerrald, Obadiah White, Samuel White, Noadiah Russell, Benjamin Lynde, John Russell, Eliphalet Chapman, Stephen Roberts, Frazier Eaton, Levi Manning, John Peck, Reuben Chapman, Perley Fassetts, Joseph Wilkins, Joseph Spaulding and John Spaulding.
A society was organized by Rev. Aaron Leland, in 1803, with forty- six members, and they worshipped in the Union church located in the center of the town. It was not until 181 1 that there was a settled minister, the first being Rev. Jonathan Gowing, jr., who remained five years. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Starkweather, and in 1821 the Rev. Ruel Lathrop became the pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. Ariel Kendrick. Down to this time the society embraced Ludlow and Cavendish, but in 1825 it was divided. The first pastor of the Cavendish society was Rev. Joseph Freeman, who remained until 1837, excepting the years 1831 and 1836, when the society was without a pastor. In 1834 the society built a brick church where the town hall now stands. The following ministers have been over the society : Enoch T. Winter, 1837-38 ; Moses Field, 1839; no pastor in 1840; Obed Sperry, 1841 ; Joseph Freeman, 1842; Daniel F. Richardson, 1843-44; Ariel Kendrick, 1845-46 ; Aaron Angier, 1847-49 ; Joseph Freeman, 1850 ; R. M. Ely, 1852-55; no settled minister in 1856-57; S. W. Miles, 1858; no settled minister in 1859; Mylen Merriam, i860; Sem Pierce from 1861- 62; S. F. Brown, from October, 1863, to November, 1875; no settled minister in 1876; L. B. Hibbard, January, 1877, to January, 1880 ; Foster Henry, January, 1880, to January, 1885; S. F. Brown, January, 1885, to June, 1886; George B. Wheeler, acting pastor since August I, 1888.
The society was presented by Benjamin F. White, of Boston, in November, 1850, with a church bell.
The brick church was destroyed by fire in 1875 and in 1878 the present wood building was erected at a cost of $4,500, having a seating capacity of 250. By the will of the Hon. Richard Fletcher, of Boston, the society in 1870 received a parsonage, a pastor's library of two hundred volumes and a fund of $4,000, the interest on $i,000 to be spent annually in increasing the library, and the interest on $3,000 to be spent annually either in repairs upon the parsonage or for the support of preaching. The only conditions attached to these bequests are that the society is never to be without a settled minister for two consecutive years, if so the property is to revert back to the heirs of the donor.
The First Universalist Society of Cavendish. — Among the early settlers of Cavendish were a number of members of the Universalist church. The first to preach this doctrine in the town were Michael, a son of Captain John Coffin, and William Farwell. Salmon Dutton, Captain Leonard Proctor, and James Smith were of this faith. From 1803 to 1809 Father Ballou, of Barnard, preached in the town. About this time a society was formed, and the General Conferences of 1812 and 1828 met at Cavendish. The society included the towns of Cavendish, Plymouth, Ludlow and Reading, and meetings were held once a month until 1827. The Rev. William Skinner preached his first sermon in Cavendish on Christmas Day, 1825. At this time he was a resident of Langdon, N. H., but removed to Proctorsville in May, 1828. He resided at the latter place till his death, excepting the years 1834-35, when he was located at Bennington. The present society was organized March 11, 1837, Samuel Adams being chosen moderator of the meeting, and Thomas Whitcomb, clerk and treasurer. The original members were William Spaulding, Samuel Adams, Asa Spaulding, 2d, Luke Parkhurst, William Smith, John Stearns, James Bryant, Asa Bond, Thaddeus Smith, Jonathan Chapman, Daniel Kendall, jr., Francis A. Foster, G. P. Spaulding, Abel Hill, and Thomas Proctor. The first minister was Rev. Warren Skinner, who continued to preach until March 1, 1845, during which period he took sixty members into the church. For the next two years Rev. G. W. Bailey supplied the church, with William Livingstone and J. Hemphill. In 1844 the present stone chapel was erected. The Rev. W. L, Barber was settled February 13, 1847, ^"<^ the following were his successors : Revs. H. H. Baker, 1852 to 1855 ; J. H. Willis, 1856 to 1859; Harrison Closson, 1861 to 1866; Miss R. A. Damon, 1868 to 1869; R. T. Sawyer, 1870 to 1872 ; John G. Gregory, 1872 to 1874; J. T. Powers, 1874 to 1878; Herbert Whitney, 1878 to 1881 ; W. H. Pratt, 1 88 1 to 1882 ; J. S. Geldhill, 1882 to 1884; A. A. Rice and John P. Eastman, 1884 to 1886. Since that date the society has been supplied by the resident ministers at Ludlow, services, being held in the afternoons.
The First Baptist Church. — The town records state that on December 20, 1799, the Rev. Aaron Leland, of Chester, certified that the following persons were members of the Baptist church : Jesse Spaulding, Asaph Fletcher, Robert Davis, Garrabel Gerrald, Obadiah White, Samuel White, Noadiah Russell, Benjamin Lynde, John Russell, Eliphalet Chapman, Stephen Roberts, Frazier Eaton, Levi Manning, John Peck, Reuben Chapman, Perley Fassetts, Joseph Wilkins, Joseph Spaulding and John Spaulding.
A society was organized by Rev. Aaron Leland, in 1803, with forty- six members, and they worshipped in the Union church located in the center of the town. It was not until 181 1 that there was a settled minister, the first being Rev. Jonathan Gowing, jr., who remained five years. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Starkweather, and in 1821 the Rev. Ruel Lathrop became the pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. Ariel Kendrick. Down to this time the society embraced Ludlow and Cavendish, but in 1825 it was divided. The first pastor of the Cavendish society was Rev. Joseph Freeman, who remained until 1837, excepting the years 1831 and 1836, when the society was without a pastor. In 1834 the society built a brick church where the town hall now stands. The following ministers have been over the society : Enoch T. Winter, 1837-38 ; Moses Field, 1839; no pastor in 1840; Obed Sperry, 1841 ; Joseph Freeman, 1842; Daniel F. Richardson, 1843-44; Ariel Kendrick, 1845-46 ; Aaron Angier, 1847-49 ; Joseph Freeman, 1850 ; R. M. Ely, 1852-55; no settled minister in 1856-57; S. W. Miles, 1858; no settled minister in 1859; Mylen Merriam, i860; Sem Pierce from 1861- 62; S. F. Brown, from October, 1863, to November, 1875; no settled minister in 1876; L. B. Hibbard, January, 1877, to January, 1880 ; Foster Henry, January, 1880, to January, 1885; S. F. Brown, January, 1885, to June, 1886; George B. Wheeler, acting pastor since August I, 1888.
The society was presented by Benjamin F. White, of Boston, in November, 1850, with a church bell.
The brick church was destroyed by fire in 1875 and in 1878 the present wood building was erected at a cost of $4,500, having a seating capacity of 250. By the will of the Hon. Richard Fletcher, of Boston, the society in 1870 received a parsonage, a pastor's library of two hundred volumes and a fund of $4,000, the interest on $i,000 to be spent annually in increasing the library, and the interest on $3,000 to be spent annually either in repairs upon the parsonage or for the support of preaching. The only conditions attached to these bequests are that the society is never to be without a settled minister for two consecutive years, if so the property is to revert back to the heirs of the donor.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Cavendish Semiquincentennial: Early Religious Efforts
The following information is from The History of Windsor County, Vermont 1891 Edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich and Frank R. Holmes, D. Mason & Co. Publishers
Beginning as early as 1782 the usual distracting efforts to fix the center of the town as a site for a church were made, which continued until 1800-OI. Numerous lots were offered, but no satisfactory committee could be secured, and finally in 1801 it was agreed that Jabez Sargeant, of Chester, Squire Stoughton, of Weathersfield, and Squire Bigelow, of Reading, should constitute a committee to locate the center of the town. This was accomplished October 20, 1801.
In the latter part of 1792 the town hired Rev. Abel Wood to preach six months, he to receive twenty shillings a day. A general assessment was levied to pay the salary, and Isaac Parker was appointed collector. The following were exempted from the assessment, for the reason that they were not members of the religious sect to which Mr. Wood be- longed : Salmon Dutton, Thomas Baldwin, John Coffin, Isaac Baldwin, Jonathan Atherton, Eliphalet Kimball, Captain William Chaplin, Abner Preston, and Abel Baldwin.' The momentous question of the church site having been settled, it was voted to build a house 45 x 55 feet and to
complete it by June 20, 1802. The building committee were Abel Baldwin, Jonathan Atherton and Samuel White.
It was voted to purchase the chosen site of Jedediah Tuttle, the price to be thirty dollars an acre. It was also voted that each person or denomination shall have a right to occupy the house for religious worship in proportion as they stand on each grand list. A tax of four cents on the dollar was voted to build the church. The following, who were of different sentiments from those who voted for the tax, are recorded as dissenting from the action of the town : Salmon Dutton, Amos Pierce, Israel Dwinnell, Salmon Dutton, jr., Clark Aldridge, Samuel Wyman, Joshua Tilden, Asaph Fletcher, jr., James Hall, John Swift, Joseph Page, and William Swift.
A society of Congregationalists was organized in the town at an early day, and continued until about fifty years ago.
Beginning as early as 1782 the usual distracting efforts to fix the center of the town as a site for a church were made, which continued until 1800-OI. Numerous lots were offered, but no satisfactory committee could be secured, and finally in 1801 it was agreed that Jabez Sargeant, of Chester, Squire Stoughton, of Weathersfield, and Squire Bigelow, of Reading, should constitute a committee to locate the center of the town. This was accomplished October 20, 1801.
In the latter part of 1792 the town hired Rev. Abel Wood to preach six months, he to receive twenty shillings a day. A general assessment was levied to pay the salary, and Isaac Parker was appointed collector. The following were exempted from the assessment, for the reason that they were not members of the religious sect to which Mr. Wood be- longed : Salmon Dutton, Thomas Baldwin, John Coffin, Isaac Baldwin, Jonathan Atherton, Eliphalet Kimball, Captain William Chaplin, Abner Preston, and Abel Baldwin.' The momentous question of the church site having been settled, it was voted to build a house 45 x 55 feet and to
complete it by June 20, 1802. The building committee were Abel Baldwin, Jonathan Atherton and Samuel White.
It was voted to purchase the chosen site of Jedediah Tuttle, the price to be thirty dollars an acre. It was also voted that each person or denomination shall have a right to occupy the house for religious worship in proportion as they stand on each grand list. A tax of four cents on the dollar was voted to build the church. The following, who were of different sentiments from those who voted for the tax, are recorded as dissenting from the action of the town : Salmon Dutton, Amos Pierce, Israel Dwinnell, Salmon Dutton, jr., Clark Aldridge, Samuel Wyman, Joshua Tilden, Asaph Fletcher, jr., James Hall, John Swift, Joseph Page, and William Swift.
A society of Congregationalists was organized in the town at an early day, and continued until about fifty years ago.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Cavendish Semiquincentennial: Phineas Gage
On Sunday, July 17, there will be a presentation about Phineas Gage, his importance to the understanding of traumatic brain injury, neuroscience and why he continues to be of interest, at the Cavendish Historical Society Museum at 2 pm in Cavendish. The presentation will be followed by a walking tour of historic spots associated with Gage. FMI: 226-7807 or margoc@tds.net
On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage, a foreman, was working with his crew excavating rocks in preparing the bed for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Cavendish. An accidental explosion of a charge he had set blew his tamping iron through his head. It entered under the left cheek bone and exited through the top of the head. The rod, covered with brains and blood, was found approximately 30 yards from the site of the accident.
Sitting on the back of an ox cart, Gage was brought to the boarding house where he was staying on Main Street in Cavendish. Dr. John Harlow treated his wounds, along with Dr. Edward H. Williams. The large wound at the top of his head was closed with adhesive straps and a wet compress covered the opening. No surgery was involved.
Within days of the accident, an infection developed and Gage lapsed into a semi comatose state. Fearing that he was about to die, a local carpenter prepared a coffin for him. Two weeks after the accident, Harlow released 8 fluid ounces of pus from an abscess under Gage’s scalp. By January 1, 1849 (approximately 4 months) Gage was functional.
It is remarkable that Gage survived this accident, let alone lived for almost 12 more years. Fortunately Dr. Harlow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, a professor of surgery at Harvard University, tracked Gage as much possible, thereby documenting one of the first cases of traumatic brain injury in medical science. It was also the first understanding that different parts of the brain have different functions. With this knowledge, the first brain tumor removal operation became possible in 1885.
According to Gage’s family and friends, his behavior was significantly altered by the accident. In 1868, Harlow wrote in the “Bulletin of the Massachusetts Medical Society” His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinent, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.”
Not able to work as a foreman, Gage held a variety of jobs. He worked in the livery stable at what is now known as the Hanover Inn in New Hampshire. He drove coaches and cared for horses in Valparaiso, Chile. Around 1859, after his health began to fail he went to San Francisco to live with his mother. While there, he worked on a farm in Santa Clara County. In February 1860, he began to have epileptic seizures and ultimately died May 21, 1860.
Rumors circulated that Gage appeared at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. It would take another Cavendish doctor, Dr. Gene Bont, almost 160 years later to find proof that Gage did in fact promote himself as a curiosity. Bont found a poster advertising Gage’s appearance at Rumford Hall.
One of the least talked about people connected with the Gage accident is Dr. Williams. He was an engineer, who went to medical school when ill health kept him from working outside. Since he did not have a busy medical practice, Williams spent considerable time in various forms of engineering. In fact, he knew Gage prior to his accident. He was the first doctor on the scene but would have differed to Dr. Harlow as he was a surgeon. Not long after the incident, Williams returned to engineering full time and started the oldest engineering society in the United States, Tau Beta Pi.
On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage, a foreman, was working with his crew excavating rocks in preparing the bed for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Cavendish. An accidental explosion of a charge he had set blew his tamping iron through his head. It entered under the left cheek bone and exited through the top of the head. The rod, covered with brains and blood, was found approximately 30 yards from the site of the accident.
Sitting on the back of an ox cart, Gage was brought to the boarding house where he was staying on Main Street in Cavendish. Dr. John Harlow treated his wounds, along with Dr. Edward H. Williams. The large wound at the top of his head was closed with adhesive straps and a wet compress covered the opening. No surgery was involved.
Within days of the accident, an infection developed and Gage lapsed into a semi comatose state. Fearing that he was about to die, a local carpenter prepared a coffin for him. Two weeks after the accident, Harlow released 8 fluid ounces of pus from an abscess under Gage’s scalp. By January 1, 1849 (approximately 4 months) Gage was functional.
It is remarkable that Gage survived this accident, let alone lived for almost 12 more years. Fortunately Dr. Harlow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, a professor of surgery at Harvard University, tracked Gage as much possible, thereby documenting one of the first cases of traumatic brain injury in medical science. It was also the first understanding that different parts of the brain have different functions. With this knowledge, the first brain tumor removal operation became possible in 1885.
According to Gage’s family and friends, his behavior was significantly altered by the accident. In 1868, Harlow wrote in the “Bulletin of the Massachusetts Medical Society” His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinent, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.”
Not able to work as a foreman, Gage held a variety of jobs. He worked in the livery stable at what is now known as the Hanover Inn in New Hampshire. He drove coaches and cared for horses in Valparaiso, Chile. Around 1859, after his health began to fail he went to San Francisco to live with his mother. While there, he worked on a farm in Santa Clara County. In February 1860, he began to have epileptic seizures and ultimately died May 21, 1860.
Rumors circulated that Gage appeared at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. It would take another Cavendish doctor, Dr. Gene Bont, almost 160 years later to find proof that Gage did in fact promote himself as a curiosity. Bont found a poster advertising Gage’s appearance at Rumford Hall.
One of the least talked about people connected with the Gage accident is Dr. Williams. He was an engineer, who went to medical school when ill health kept him from working outside. Since he did not have a busy medical practice, Williams spent considerable time in various forms of engineering. In fact, he knew Gage prior to his accident. He was the first doctor on the scene but would have differed to Dr. Harlow as he was a surgeon. Not long after the incident, Williams returned to engineering full time and started the oldest engineering society in the United States, Tau Beta Pi.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Auction Items for Old Home Day
Thanks to so many generous members of our community, CHS will have a very successful auction on Saturday. The live auction takes place at 1 pm on the Cavendish Green, while the silent auction runs from 10 to 12:45. We will only be accepting cash or check. No credit cards.
A special note of thanks to Gloria Leven, who has so tirelessly worked to obtain items.
Note that more items are coming in, so look for more on Saturday
Items for Auction
Services/Gift Certificates
Camping at Meadow Brook Camp Grounds
Candlelight Dinner for four with Chef Leven
Six Loose Ladies
Two hours of gardening
Will write a personalized poem
Invite for two to the famous Fisher 4th of July Party
Paint a room in your home from Wallscapes
2 large American Pie Pizzas
Ludlow Cooking Company
Village Clipper Haircut
Smoked Bacon from Singleton’s (2 certificates)
Home Goods/Furniture
Antique Pitcher and Wash Basin
Flower arrangement
Interior Design Consultation
Painted Vanity and Chair
White Chair
Oval and small frame mirrors
Floor lamps
Bombay console tables
Sink
Silver Herb plant markers
Anniversary Clock
Plastic pipe from Hancor
Coffee Table
Art
Two Painting by Elizabeth Wolfson
Framed Print by Phillip Philbeck
Winston Churchill Framed Photograph
Gazing Glass Ball
Scrag Pottery (vase and two dishes)
Pillows (5)
Food
Monkey Chews from Old Cavendish Products
Old Cavendish Fruitcake
Other
New Yorker CD’s
Nordica Ski Boot
Swatch Watches
Clare Murray Silk Scarf
Shoot a Machine Gun (2 positions)
Earrings from Jen Hoar Design
A special note of thanks to Gloria Leven, who has so tirelessly worked to obtain items.
Note that more items are coming in, so look for more on Saturday
Items for Auction
Services/Gift Certificates
Camping at Meadow Brook Camp Grounds
Candlelight Dinner for four with Chef Leven
Six Loose Ladies
Two hours of gardening
Will write a personalized poem
Invite for two to the famous Fisher 4th of July Party
Paint a room in your home from Wallscapes
2 large American Pie Pizzas
Ludlow Cooking Company
Village Clipper Haircut
Smoked Bacon from Singleton’s (2 certificates)
Home Goods/Furniture
Antique Pitcher and Wash Basin
Flower arrangement
Interior Design Consultation
Painted Vanity and Chair
White Chair
Oval and small frame mirrors
Floor lamps
Bombay console tables
Sink
Silver Herb plant markers
Anniversary Clock
Plastic pipe from Hancor
Coffee Table
Art
Two Painting by Elizabeth Wolfson
Framed Print by Phillip Philbeck
Winston Churchill Framed Photograph
Gazing Glass Ball
Scrag Pottery (vase and two dishes)
Pillows (5)
Food
Monkey Chews from Old Cavendish Products
Old Cavendish Fruitcake
Other
New Yorker CD’s
Nordica Ski Boot
Swatch Watches
Clare Murray Silk Scarf
Shoot a Machine Gun (2 positions)
Earrings from Jen Hoar Design
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Cavendish Semiquincentennial: Old Home Day
Cavendish's Old Home Day will be celebrated this Saturday. The Museum will be open at 8:30, with its new display "250 Years of Cavendish History." Outside will be the annual plant sale. Starting at 9:30, the Cavendish Green will be filled with many different booths staffed by various organizations, businesses and artists. The Cavendish Historical Society will be holding a silent auction, which ends at 12:45, just in time for the live auction to begin at 1 pm. There will be a variety of food, including grass fed lamb kabobs and beef burgers; strawberry shortcake and lemonade; baked goods and pies, as well the Cavendish Fire Department's Chicken BBQ.
The fifth year of the revival of this custom, it's quite a bit different than Old Home's Day celebrated in the early 1900's.
Because so many people moved away from Vermont, frequently for economic reasons, Old Home Day became a time for family and friends to reconnect with those who remained in town. At the CHS Museum, there is a poster for the September 1901 Old Home Day. Featuring “horribles” (people dressed in costumes), floats and lots of speeches, 2,500 people gathered for this event. The September 1901 issue of “The Vermonter” describes the “Old Home Week” festivities in Cavendish as follows, “The morning parade, headed by the Proctorsville Band, was one of the principal features of the day and was composed of various patriotic and social organizations and floral carriages.” The afternoon featured speeches, with refreshments served at the Masonic and Odd Fellows Halls.
Below is the speech given by James Hales Bates at the Old Home Day celebration of 1901:
Non-resident Vermonters frequently have it flung up to them by friends in other states in a mood of sarcastic facetiousness, “Your state of Vermont is a good state to emigrate from.” Well, yes, it is a good state to emigrate from for two sorts of people. One sort is that not large class who have fitted over the border to escape the clutches of the law and find the climate healthier outside. The other sort are those who cannot afford to live here. Not that living is costly, but if beefsteak is five cents a pound and a man has not got the five cents, the beef might as well be fifty; it is out of his reach at either price. There have always been so much ability and energy in the state, and so few things for there to work on except climate, scenery, stone quarries and one another, that thousands have been ground out in the competition, and reluctantly gone into more promising communities where the natives know less and have more, and in these easier fields of action have thriven famously, and made for themselves and their descendants renown and riches. It will be a mighty poor spot on the earth where a Vermonter cannot be found, his eyes and hands wide open for all within reach. A few years ago, a little party of young government engineers engaged in the coast survey were passing a vacant half day, lounging about on the bank of St. Johns River in Florida, finding their pleasure in trifles, as idlers will do. Presently one cried out, “Sail Ho!” and twenty miles away emerging from the horizon, was a solitary coasting sloop beating up the river. All eyes were fixed on it in a long silence. Then a bright youth spoke and said, “I will wager any man here a box of cigars that the name of the captain of that craft is Spaulding and that he is from Vermont.” “The idea is absurd,” said another, “there are not more than five of the crew altogether and it is ridiculous to suppose the captain can be named Spaulding from Vermont. I take that bet and would like to make it dollars instead of cigars.” At last the little craft swung up to the wharf, and a tall solemn Yankee stepped ashore and made her fast. The engineers drew near. “Is Capt. Spaulding aboard?” “Yes, he is in the cabin asleep. Would you like to speak to him?” “I want to ask him what part of Vermont he is from.” “I can tell you that. He is from Cavendish.” If I have omitted any important particular of this illustration of the widespread distribution of the Vermonter, the ex- Secretary of War (Redfield Proctor) who must have had three young officers in his control, will correct me. He is fond of seeing things corrected and put in order.
Everybody knows that the valley of the Twenty Mile Stream in the upper part of this town is the most salubrious, picturesque, fertile and fascinating spot in the state, and the inhabitants the most industrious, honest and virtuous in the world. We are industrious up there because we must be to live; honest because we read in our school books that “Honesty is the best policy,” and we always want the best; virtuous because we don’t know any other way and are not anxious to learn. As to our honesty: my uncle, William Smith Esq., lived for almost ninety years under the roof where he was born, at the head of this Happy Valley. He is remembered by many here, I am sure, with honor and affection. Uncle went abroad and visited foreign countries where he saw many strange things and wicked practices quite unknown at home! On his return he for the first time in his life, felt anxious at night because HARMONY HALL —his residence— had no fastenings to its doors and windows. There were five outside doors, rendering the house uncommonly open to nocturnal visitors. For his peace of mind, Uncle bought a lock for the front door, and for two score years thereafter, slept soundly but was always careful to have that one door locked; and to show that his precaution was quite sufficient, no burglar entered the premises in all that time.
Up there a hundred years ago my grandfather’s anvil rang out cheerily among the hills from the smithy where for a generation, with busy hammer, he did not only what blacksmiths do now, but besides made all kinds of nails and the hammer which drove them in, all the implements used on the farm and in the shop— scythes, axes, forks, hoes, harrow-teeth, knives, cranes, andirons, the carpenter’s adze, square, saw, plane, —made the hunter’s traps and repaired his gun. According to all testimony an excellent blacksmith was he, as were his father and grandfather before him. Those were days when families lived within themselves, and ate and wore what they could produce on the farm and indoors. The best of potatoes grew in the fields. Big sweet brown loaves of rye and Indian came smoking out of the large brick oven indoors. Wheaten flour was little used, the immortal pie having often a rye under and wheat upper crust. The universal sweet was the sap of the maple tree with a small, well hoarded stock of loaf sugar used chiefly to sweeten the person’s glass of sling when he came to catechize the children, and express a hope that it was not sickness which kept the head of the family home from church so often.
Days before stoves, when great fires roared up the kitchen chimney, piled high with logs, and the shoemaker came with his kit and stayed a month, and made the family boots and shoes from skins grown and tanned nearby; and if they chafed more corns on the toes and had more room in the heels, chilblains than those which now come here from Boston, they at least wore longer and did more hustling. Days when the neighborhood seamstress came with her goose and press board for another month and made the family clothes, fashioned those extraordinary trousers, baggy and buttony, so exactly alike before and behind that little boys sometimes got bewildered in them and brought up in the pasture under a butternut tree when they thought they were headed for school, and were made to feel the difference between front and rear by the teacher’s heavy ferule applied to that part of the person on which the truant could sit if it did not smart too much.
No man born in the free air of the mountains can ever disown or forget or divorce them from his love. Out of sight of them he remains a homesick exile wherever he may wander or abide. Under burning tropical skies, as he breasts the icy waves of Arctic or Anarchic seas, pursues his calling in the roar of great cities, in the languorous lowlands of the south, amid the monotony of the illimitable prairies of the west, or bears the flag of his country high advanced in far off islands of the Pacific, — the Vermonter is haunted with visions of the verdurous hills and smiling valleys of his early home, and the silvery spring where he quenched his boyhood thirst bubbles and sparkles in his dreams as long as life endures.
The fifth year of the revival of this custom, it's quite a bit different than Old Home's Day celebrated in the early 1900's.
Because so many people moved away from Vermont, frequently for economic reasons, Old Home Day became a time for family and friends to reconnect with those who remained in town. At the CHS Museum, there is a poster for the September 1901 Old Home Day. Featuring “horribles” (people dressed in costumes), floats and lots of speeches, 2,500 people gathered for this event. The September 1901 issue of “The Vermonter” describes the “Old Home Week” festivities in Cavendish as follows, “The morning parade, headed by the Proctorsville Band, was one of the principal features of the day and was composed of various patriotic and social organizations and floral carriages.” The afternoon featured speeches, with refreshments served at the Masonic and Odd Fellows Halls.
Below is the speech given by James Hales Bates at the Old Home Day celebration of 1901:
Non-resident Vermonters frequently have it flung up to them by friends in other states in a mood of sarcastic facetiousness, “Your state of Vermont is a good state to emigrate from.” Well, yes, it is a good state to emigrate from for two sorts of people. One sort is that not large class who have fitted over the border to escape the clutches of the law and find the climate healthier outside. The other sort are those who cannot afford to live here. Not that living is costly, but if beefsteak is five cents a pound and a man has not got the five cents, the beef might as well be fifty; it is out of his reach at either price. There have always been so much ability and energy in the state, and so few things for there to work on except climate, scenery, stone quarries and one another, that thousands have been ground out in the competition, and reluctantly gone into more promising communities where the natives know less and have more, and in these easier fields of action have thriven famously, and made for themselves and their descendants renown and riches. It will be a mighty poor spot on the earth where a Vermonter cannot be found, his eyes and hands wide open for all within reach. A few years ago, a little party of young government engineers engaged in the coast survey were passing a vacant half day, lounging about on the bank of St. Johns River in Florida, finding their pleasure in trifles, as idlers will do. Presently one cried out, “Sail Ho!” and twenty miles away emerging from the horizon, was a solitary coasting sloop beating up the river. All eyes were fixed on it in a long silence. Then a bright youth spoke and said, “I will wager any man here a box of cigars that the name of the captain of that craft is Spaulding and that he is from Vermont.” “The idea is absurd,” said another, “there are not more than five of the crew altogether and it is ridiculous to suppose the captain can be named Spaulding from Vermont. I take that bet and would like to make it dollars instead of cigars.” At last the little craft swung up to the wharf, and a tall solemn Yankee stepped ashore and made her fast. The engineers drew near. “Is Capt. Spaulding aboard?” “Yes, he is in the cabin asleep. Would you like to speak to him?” “I want to ask him what part of Vermont he is from.” “I can tell you that. He is from Cavendish.” If I have omitted any important particular of this illustration of the widespread distribution of the Vermonter, the ex- Secretary of War (Redfield Proctor) who must have had three young officers in his control, will correct me. He is fond of seeing things corrected and put in order.
Everybody knows that the valley of the Twenty Mile Stream in the upper part of this town is the most salubrious, picturesque, fertile and fascinating spot in the state, and the inhabitants the most industrious, honest and virtuous in the world. We are industrious up there because we must be to live; honest because we read in our school books that “Honesty is the best policy,” and we always want the best; virtuous because we don’t know any other way and are not anxious to learn. As to our honesty: my uncle, William Smith Esq., lived for almost ninety years under the roof where he was born, at the head of this Happy Valley. He is remembered by many here, I am sure, with honor and affection. Uncle went abroad and visited foreign countries where he saw many strange things and wicked practices quite unknown at home! On his return he for the first time in his life, felt anxious at night because HARMONY HALL —his residence— had no fastenings to its doors and windows. There were five outside doors, rendering the house uncommonly open to nocturnal visitors. For his peace of mind, Uncle bought a lock for the front door, and for two score years thereafter, slept soundly but was always careful to have that one door locked; and to show that his precaution was quite sufficient, no burglar entered the premises in all that time.
Up there a hundred years ago my grandfather’s anvil rang out cheerily among the hills from the smithy where for a generation, with busy hammer, he did not only what blacksmiths do now, but besides made all kinds of nails and the hammer which drove them in, all the implements used on the farm and in the shop— scythes, axes, forks, hoes, harrow-teeth, knives, cranes, andirons, the carpenter’s adze, square, saw, plane, —made the hunter’s traps and repaired his gun. According to all testimony an excellent blacksmith was he, as were his father and grandfather before him. Those were days when families lived within themselves, and ate and wore what they could produce on the farm and indoors. The best of potatoes grew in the fields. Big sweet brown loaves of rye and Indian came smoking out of the large brick oven indoors. Wheaten flour was little used, the immortal pie having often a rye under and wheat upper crust. The universal sweet was the sap of the maple tree with a small, well hoarded stock of loaf sugar used chiefly to sweeten the person’s glass of sling when he came to catechize the children, and express a hope that it was not sickness which kept the head of the family home from church so often.
Days before stoves, when great fires roared up the kitchen chimney, piled high with logs, and the shoemaker came with his kit and stayed a month, and made the family boots and shoes from skins grown and tanned nearby; and if they chafed more corns on the toes and had more room in the heels, chilblains than those which now come here from Boston, they at least wore longer and did more hustling. Days when the neighborhood seamstress came with her goose and press board for another month and made the family clothes, fashioned those extraordinary trousers, baggy and buttony, so exactly alike before and behind that little boys sometimes got bewildered in them and brought up in the pasture under a butternut tree when they thought they were headed for school, and were made to feel the difference between front and rear by the teacher’s heavy ferule applied to that part of the person on which the truant could sit if it did not smart too much.
No man born in the free air of the mountains can ever disown or forget or divorce them from his love. Out of sight of them he remains a homesick exile wherever he may wander or abide. Under burning tropical skies, as he breasts the icy waves of Arctic or Anarchic seas, pursues his calling in the roar of great cities, in the languorous lowlands of the south, amid the monotony of the illimitable prairies of the west, or bears the flag of his country high advanced in far off islands of the Pacific, — the Vermonter is haunted with visions of the verdurous hills and smiling valleys of his early home, and the silvery spring where he quenched his boyhood thirst bubbles and sparkles in his dreams as long as life endures.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Cavendish Semiquincentennial: 18th Century Medical Care
Among the first Cavendish settlers, health care was most likely typical of late 18th century America. It would have been provided at home under the direction of women. They served as doctor, nurse, midwife, pharmacist, and therapist. Since women of this era received minimal education, their medical information was handed down within families and among neighbors and what they learned by trial and error. Kitchen gardens did double duty, offering remedies in the form of herbs.
If a woman was thought to be specifically skilled at caring for the sick, or helping with childbirth, she might take care of her neighbors. During the Revolutionary War and again in the Civil War, including Cavendish’s Aunt Lizzie Aiken, women served as nurses to the sick and wounded.
The use of vaccinations began in the 18th century, with a vaccination for smallpox. Given the outbreaks of this disease in Cavendish, it is unlikely that the early settlers would have been so treated.
The first physician came to Cavendish in 1787, when ASAP Fletcher settled near Proctorville. Physicians of this era based health on the four ancient elements: earth, air, water and fire and their corresponding “humors” blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. People became sick if the humors were unbalanced. If a patient had excess, practices such as bloodletting, purges, blistering, sweating was used, while herbal remedies; food and drugs were used to add humors. One of the most popular forms of medicine at the time was Calomel, a form of mercury.
The difference between how women treated their patients (family members, friends and neighbors) and how doctors administered care was that the women practiced what they found to work, while doctors practiced “scholarly medicine,” whether it worked or not. Most midwives washed their hands before attending to the mother. Physicians did not start washing their hands before assisting in a delivery until the mid 1800’s or later.
These women must have known what they were doing as John Coffeen was 76 and his wife Susanna 94 when they died. Salmon Dutton was 80, his wife 83 and Leonard Proctor were 93 at the time of their passing.
If a woman was thought to be specifically skilled at caring for the sick, or helping with childbirth, she might take care of her neighbors. During the Revolutionary War and again in the Civil War, including Cavendish’s Aunt Lizzie Aiken, women served as nurses to the sick and wounded.
The use of vaccinations began in the 18th century, with a vaccination for smallpox. Given the outbreaks of this disease in Cavendish, it is unlikely that the early settlers would have been so treated.
The first physician came to Cavendish in 1787, when ASAP Fletcher settled near Proctorville. Physicians of this era based health on the four ancient elements: earth, air, water and fire and their corresponding “humors” blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. People became sick if the humors were unbalanced. If a patient had excess, practices such as bloodletting, purges, blistering, sweating was used, while herbal remedies; food and drugs were used to add humors. One of the most popular forms of medicine at the time was Calomel, a form of mercury.
The difference between how women treated their patients (family members, friends and neighbors) and how doctors administered care was that the women practiced what they found to work, while doctors practiced “scholarly medicine,” whether it worked or not. Most midwives washed their hands before attending to the mother. Physicians did not start washing their hands before assisting in a delivery until the mid 1800’s or later.
These women must have known what they were doing as John Coffeen was 76 and his wife Susanna 94 when they died. Salmon Dutton was 80, his wife 83 and Leonard Proctor were 93 at the time of their passing.
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