Sometimes when we are at the historical society we
overlook things that are interesting reading. Here is an article that Merrill Dole Wheeler had published Oct 1947
in the Vermont Quarterly. It is about early Cavendish folks, and very
interesting indeed ! Linda Welch.
The Old Morgan Cemetery - - Henry Proctor’s grave - - Wheeler
and Densmore Farms – Reverend Joseph Brown - Cavendish Baptists – Levi
Stevens – William Bond and their families
From
Merrill Dole Wheeler: "Near at hand by the eastern wall of this old
[Morgan] Revolutionary cemetery in Cavendish, is a grave of much interest, if
not of mystery. It stands alone, the only gravestone facing eastward. The
inscription reads. "Henry Procter, died June 19 1778 age 51", thus
indicating that it marks the first burial in Cavendish, earlier by eight years than any death of record.
Who was this lone man of mature years, and what brought him into the wilderness
when only three families were living in town? A little research has grown some
light on this subject, taking us away form the seclusion of the little
cemetery, away from Vermont, then back again to the stone of the oldest, best
known farms in town.
Henry
Proctor was not closely related to others of that name who were to lived in the
Proctorsville - Cavendish area. This Henry was the son of Gershom Proctor, who
in his day had been a well-to-do citizen of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Gershom
had owned slaves as well as land and other property. He had also been one of
the proprietors of a land bank, which issued currency on the basis of land band
bonds, until suppressed by an Act of Parliament as unsound in principle
and inflationary. While Gershom Proctor was a man of note in his community, it
cannot be said that he or his son Henry enjoyed the full approval of the more
conservative elements of Chelmsford's First Church Society.
This
humbled the men, and thus doing so, the Church then proceeded to call the women
to account before a meeting. If the reader things that Colonial women were
demure and obedient, he should prepare for a surprise. "Diverse female
members," among them Rebecca, the wife of Gershom Procter, acted in a
"Very Audacious manner ... [and] Justified their Conduct!" Indeed
they behaved so badly that it became necessary to dismiss them from the church
"forthwith." So, Gershom Proctor and his wife were dismissed from
their own church in Chelmsford. Years later —some 16 years later —in the case
of Rebecca Proctor —a number of these errant "Females" acknowledged
their fault and were taken back into the church. Unfortunately the Baptist
movement came about with renewed vigor and Gershom Proctor was again one of its
leaders. In 1773, the Baptist sect bought a church building on the Westford
side of the line. When the identity of the purchaser became know, says the History
of Chelmsford,
the building was robbed of its pews and furnishings. Nothing daunted, the
Baptists came in the night with ox sleds and hauled the building on the snow
crust directly to its new site in Chelmsford, on or near the farm and home of Gershom
Proctor."
Wheeler's
article continues: "In January of 1778 after the death of his parents,
Henry Proctor sold his home and land in Chelmsford for £2,376. This was a large
sum in those days, sufficient to insure a good living in such a well-settled
community in which he was raised. But Henry chose to forego the comforts of his
home at the age of fifty years and subject himself and family to the hardships
of pioneer life in an undeveloped section of Vermont, then known as the New Hampshire
Grants Henry bought 1,076 acres of wild land from the original grantee for £600.
Well chosen, this tract included within its bounds two of the [later] best
farms of Cavendish, long known respectively as the Wheeler and Densmore farms
in what is now, the Cavendish Center District. In coming to Vermont, Henry
Proctor made a fateful decision and must have been moved by compelling motives,
probably a strong desire to get away from a scene of religious strife and
perhaps, also, an unwillingness to pay rates to support a church and
congregation he did not care to attend or associate with. It is
significant that a number of those like-minded Baptists and neighbors from
Westford and Chelmsford later followed him to Cavendish. Among them was Dr.
Asaph Fletcher
[see Families of Cavendish Volume One, Fletcher]. He became the first physician in
Cavendish and a leading citizen in the new state of Vermont. Dying in
June of 1778, Henry Proctor did not live long in Cavendish, but it is supposed
that he spent much of the winter there. It is strange that no record can be
found of the administration of his rather large estate, either in Massachusetts
or Vermont. A deed to his land in Cavendish was signed in Massachusetts a year
after his death, evidently in confirmation of an "informal
transaction" which had taken place prior to his leaving for his Vermont
land. Members of Henry's family lingered in Cavendish for a number of years
after his death. It was his widow who undoubtedly married second in 1784, Nahum
Powers. [see: Families
of Cavendish,
Powers]. Nahum and his two sons Henry and Gershom Powers were landowners in
Cavendish in the early 1790s.
Henry
Proctor's daughter Rebecca, then living in Woburn, Mass, sold in 1788, two
thirds of the land in Cavendish, "the property of my father Henry Proctor,
deceased" to Levi Stevens, a member of an enterprising family of that named in Townsend,
Mass [see Families of Cavendish, Stevens] Levi Stevens made a good start, built his log cabin.
The site of this cabin can still be seen in the west pasture of the one-time
Daniel Wheeler farm on the Twenty-Mile Stream [the Riford Farm] and a large
house with a peaked roof, built in 1797, stood in place of the later farm
house, until it was destroyed by fire in 1883. Daniel Wheeler, who finally
became owner of the farm, was living with his Uncle Willard Spaulding in Cavendish
when Reverend Joseph Brown came to town. Anna, wife of Willard Spaulding, was a
sister of Joseph Brown. [see Families of Cavendish, Vol. 2, Spaulding, also families of
Brown and Wheeler for later volumes]. Other sisters living in Cavendish were
Mary (wife of Colonel Samuel Wyman) [see Families of Cavendish, Wyman] and Rebecca (wife of
Josiah French) [see Families of Cavendish, Vol. 3, French].
Levi
Stevens had a difficult time in making his ends meet. He had a wife and
thirteen children to support. He was obliged to sell off parcels of his
land from time to time, until finally, to liquidate a debt, the original farm
passed into the hands of four local men, Levi’s creditors, who soon sold it to
the Reverend Joseph Brown of Alfred, Maine — little suspecting the comedy that
was in the making. Shortly before the day set for making payment and taking
over the newly purchased farm, Reverend Brown started out on horseback from his
home in Maine. In his saddlebags was the purchased price, so much in bullion,
so much in bank notes —$800 in all. We may suppose that the good man began his
journey in a hopeful mood. Behind him was a scene of trouble and sorrow. He had
been minister in Alfred for four years and had seen fit to give up his church
three years previously. Shakers and other radicals of that day had caused great
dissension by their proselytizing and offensive agitation. Finally, during the
current year, 1811, his wife Rebecca had died. He considered in Vermont, then a
new state in its boom period, he could begin again. Rev. Brown had good reason
to anticipate a much happier experience. There were no threats of quarrels over
religion in the town of Cavendish. Also, he would be welcomed in that town by
his three of his sisters, all wives of its leading citizens, and by other
Congregationalists whose pastor he was to be for many years. Yes, he was
assured of a welcome in Cavendish and of a good home there, but what about a
mistress for it, a mother for his town children, an aid to him in his pastoral
duties and in many other says? Surely there were attractive girls in that
growing town who would consider it an honor to be the wife of a minister of the
gospel, a man of some education and of good family. While we cannot be sure
that such thoughts were with the traveler on his journey, we do know, as will
after appear, that they came to him a little later.
Arriving
in Cavendish after several days on the road, the Reverend Joseph Brown reached
the farm at the specified time and found the people of the neighborhood on hand
to witness the change in ownership by "turf and twig," this being in
accord with an ancient custom that prevailed when the written word was not
trusted or generally understood. Among them were families of Bates, Bond,
Proctor, Smith, Spaulding, and probably young Daniel Wheeler; also the
Conant's, French's, Hutchinson's, Page's, Scott's, Stiles' - with men, women
and children. [see Families of Cavendish Vol. 3, French and later volumes on
Wheeler, Conant, Page, Hutchinson, Scott, Stiles]. After greeting his new
neighbors, many of whom were to be members of his church, and partaking of a
tasty noon meal, Reverend Brown took the saddlebags from his horse and brought
them into the east room of the farmhouse where he began to count the money. He
counted and recounted the gold, silver and bank notes, but one note was
constantly missing. No end of searching and checking brought the missing note
to light. His Reverence was perplexed and greatly upset. He was certain that
the full among of money had been placed in the bags and the disappearance of
any part of it was a very great mystery indeed. It was also embarrassing for
him to be in this position at his first meeting with the people of Cavendish,
but nothing could be done. The frustrated man was compelled to return to Maine
without paying for the farm in full.
The
loss of the money was disturbing to the people of the neighborhood also,
because many considered it to be a reflection on their honesty. It became so
distressing to one William Bond [see Families of Cavendish, Bond] that he journeyed to
Plymouth to consult a "conjurer" of that town. Unable to return with
Bond in person, the conjurer was willing to tell him what to do to solve the
mystery, namely: cause the people to reassemble and to bring to them the Great
Bible and key of the Meeting House." Bond was shown how to suspend the
Bible from the key by means of a cord, and was taught a jargon which each man
was to repeat while he, in his turn, he held the Bible by means of the cord and
key, well up in the air in the sight of everybody. The innocent would have no trouble
in holding the Bible in this manner, said the conjurer, but the guilty would
let it fall. Certain that he had the means of detecting the guilty party, Bond
rushed home and called a meeting of the people of the neighborhood, convincing
them that they should submit to this test. The beginning was without event.
Several men met the test in triumph but when James Bates, [see Families of Cavendish, Bates] the local Blacksmith
seized the key and began to repeat the magical words, the Bible fell violently
to the floor to the astonishment of many. Mr. Bates was, by all accounts, a man
of good repute among them. He was one of the joint owners of the farm being
sold. His wife and daughter wept copiously and he appeared to be greatly
disturbed himself at the prospect. After the confusion had subsided somewhat,
it was proposed that the test be continued and the Bible was held by others
without mishap until Mr. James Smith, [see Families of Cavendish, Smith] an outstanding citizen,
dropped the Bible to the amazement of the people; later, Mr. Jabez Proctor, another leading citizen and
joint owner of the farm, similarly failed in the test!
At
this stage, Bond, a small, nervous man, became greatly excited. He had expected
that some lowly fellow would be exposed by the test and frightened into
admitting his guilt. The exposure instead of three joint owners of the farm,
all men of substance and influence, was more than disconcerting —it was
alarming. What would the people think of the test and what would these strong,
shrewd men do? While hot and bothered by the course of events, Mr. Bond met
with another surprise that was most disturbing. Some inconsiderate person
suggested that he, the instigator of the test, should submit to it in his turn.
This was not according to plan, considering the trouble he had taken, it seemed
ungrateful, but the people insisted, and he could not refuse. Seizing the key,
Bond raised the Bibe from its resting place, well in sight of everybody, trembling
with excitement the while. He began to mumble the prescribed jargon and then
disaster overtook him. The good book broke loose and fell to the floor with a
crash, to his intense distress and that of his family. The frantic man
proclaimed his innocence to the high heavens but the people were not impressed.
They could not believe that the three leading citizens would stoop to petty
theft, but it was conceivable that Mr. Bond, who was favored neither with much
of this world's goods nor sound judgment, might have yielded to temptation. Why
had he taken on himself the task of detecting the thief unless he aimed to hide
his own guilt by throwing suspicion on others? The meeting broke up in
confusion and poor Mr. Bond departed for his hillside farm, bewildered,
discouraged, shame faced. Conscious of his own innocence and good intentions,
he felt that he had been badly used by his neighbors whose good name he had
tried so hard to preserve.
Whether
his faith in conjure waned at this time, we have to means of learning, but it
must have occurred to him that the conjurer who had been "unable" to
attend the meeting in person was a man of discretion, much too sagacious to
challenge the intelligence of the early settlers of Cavendish. They were by no
means an ignorant, superstitious lot, as the future was to demonstrate.
In the little group that stood for the test were several keen, understanding
men, whose sons inherited qualities that brought them great wealth,
professional reputation, a seat in the Governor's chair, in the U. S. Senate
and in the [case of Redfield Proctor] Cabinet of a President. Could the magic of the
conjurer have told him as much?
But no
man was to suffer loss or incur disgrace because of the missing money. Shortly
after the day of the test, a letter came from Maine. It told how the Reverend
Joseph Brown had taken another look into his saddlebags after returning to his
home and there, to his great astonishment, was the bank note that he had
overlooked in Cavendish, to the grief and confusion of many! And then it came
out that William Bond had been the victim of a plot. The three men who had
dropped the Bible, skeptics one and all, had done so intentionally in order to
make a farce of his test, and to have a little fun with him, at the expense of
the superstitious among them. Especially Bond, the little busybody, in their
midst. The purchase of the farm was duly consummated and "Priest Brown" as he came to be known,
made Cavendish his home for sixteen years. He died in 1840 and the
Congregational Society of Cavendish also came to an end at about that time. It
is not known that he ever threw any light on his strange failure to see the ten
pound note, but the mystery was explained by curious people somewhat as
follows: As intimated previously, this middle-aged widower had a variety of
hopes and interests in Cavendish. When he arrived in town with business in mind
and met the good people who had assembled at the farm to welcome him, his quick
eye caught the pretty face of Lucy [Proctor], the daughter of Benjamin
Proctor. It was
a case of love at first sight. Matters of business lost much of their
importance at once as did the sorrows of a widower. This was in April of 1811.
In November of that year, say the Cavendish records, the Reverend Joseph Brown
and Lucy Proctor were joined in matrimony. It is strange that the fast-working
pastor was unable to see a mere bank note while his heart was pounding like mad
and his eyes were dazzled by the first sight of his future bride?
As part of establishing the permanent
exhibit “I Wrote and Waited,” which covers the 18 years Aleksandre
Solzhenitsyn, the 1970 Nobel Prize winner for literature and Soviet dissident,
lived in Cavendish, CHS selected this film as it begins in Cavendish. Produced
by the BBC, the film documents the two-month train journey across Russia as
Solzhenitsyn returns home to Russia with his family after twenty years of
enforced exile. Solzhenitsyn, the man who experienced and revealed to the
world the full horror of the Soviet gulag, is recognized throughout Russia as
'the conscience of the nation'. But despite the triumphant and emotional
homecoming, this is no easy ride for Solzhenitsyn, his wife and American sons.
Instead, they abandon their refuge in America to find their trans-Siberian trip
from Vladivostok to Moscow dogged by the KGB, the Russian Mafia, old-style
communist bosses, the tragic plight of ordinary Russians and the echoes of its
even more terrible past.
