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Brief History of Goshen
Gore / Stannard
Primary Source: The Vermont Historical Gazetteer: A
Magazine, Embracing a History of Each Town, Civil, Ecclesiastical,
Biographical and Military, Vol. 1.
Edited by Abby Maria Hemenway, "Goshen
Gore," By Joseph Clarke, Burlington, Vt
: Miss A. M. Hemenway, 1867, (pp. 434-435).
There were two Gores in Caledonia county by this
name. The largest contained 7339 acres; was situated in the northwest
part of the county, bounded north by Wheelock, east by Danville, south by Walden,
and west by Greensboro. The smaller Gore contained 2828 acres, and was
located in the southwest corner of the county. The smaller Gore,
sometimes referred to as "the less," was set off to Washington
County. These Gores derived their name from the town to which they
formerly belonged. By a singular act of the legislature, these two
Gores, in Caledonia county, and one still larger in Addison county, 70 miles
distant, containing 13,000 acres, were incorporated into a town by the name
of Goshen; chartered February 1, 1792, to John ROWELL, Wm. DOUGLASS, and 65
others, and re-chartered to the same, on November 1, 1798.
The inhabitants of the part of the town in
Addison county, organized March 29, 1814. The Gores in Caledonia county
were severed from the town of Goshen by the legislature in 1854. The
larger of the Gores in Caledonia county was referred to as "Goshen Gore,
near Hardwick" and "Goshen Gore by Wheelock" to distinguish it
from the smaller Gore. There were frequent petitions by the inhabitants
of the larger Gore in this county to become organized into a town, the first
being presented to the legislature in 1835. The larger Goshen Gore was
organized, in 1867, and was called Stannard by the time the 1870 U. S. Census
was taken.
The first settlements in the land which became
known as Stannard were made by Elihu SABIN and
Warren SMITH in 1802. SMITH did not settle permanently. SABIN
built a frame house which he occupied until his death some 41 years
later. Other settlements were made soon after that of SABIN, by Reuben
SMITH, Elisha SHEPARD, Reuben CROSBY, Thomas RANSOM, Azariah
BOODY, Ephraim PERRIN and Andrew BLAIR. Improvements were made about
the same time by several other transient residents.
Although the settlement of the place was at
comparatively a later date, the hardships incident to new settlements had to
be encountered. Supplies of grain and necessaries had to be procured in
a measure from adjoining towns; the method of transporation
frequently upon their backs, and the method of payment, often by a day's
work. The frosty season of 1816, and others which occurred previously,
was severely felt. Mary SABIN was the first child born. Freeman
SMITH was the first male child, and Edmund BARKER and Betsy SABIN, the first
couple married in Stannard.
By about 1867, the western portion of Stannard,
towards the Lamoile river, comprised about
two-thirds of the territory, and had been improved by resident
occupants. There were reportedly over 40 families in Stannard by
1867. Two or three farms on the eastern extremity, adjoining Danville,
had been under improvement since 1805; James CLARK and Thomas YOUNG made the
first improvements there.
The eastern portion, though well timbered,
was chiefly unimproved and mountainous. A pond, covering about 80
acres, in the northern part, the outlet of which found its way to the
Connecticut River, was the site of a steam saw mill erected, in 1856, by T.
G. BRONSON. BRONSON died in 1857, and the mill passed into the hands of
others--HAWKINS & ROSS were the proprietors in 1867. At that time,
nearly 1,000,000 feet of lumber was manufactured at this mill annually, which
was principally drawn to St. Johnsbury, and used in the manufactory of E.
& T. FAIRBANKS. About a mile west of this pond is/was "Beaver
Meadow," also called "Blueberry Meadow." A stream once
called "Gore Brook" arises from this meadow and empties into Lamoile River.
The first saw mill was built by G. W. COOK, on a
stream which is the outlet of a pond in Wheelock. This mill was burnt,
and another built by William SHURBURN on the same spot. The second was
burned, and the third was built by Enoch FOSTER in 1833, which was still in
operation in 1867. Another mill was built in 1840, by Levi UTLEY, in
the Gore brook, leading from Beaver Meadow.
In 1867, the first meeting house, first public
house, first grist mill, first physician, and the first lawyer, remained
among the things that had not yet existed within Stannard.
The first school was kept by Barilla MORSE, in
Reuben CROSBY's barn, in 1812. Judith CHASE, Betsy SABIN and Lucretia WASHBURN were the next succeeding
teachers. Mrs. Andrew BLAIR sent her girl to the first school, and paid
the tuition with a pink silk handkerchief. "Schoolmarm know'd I had it, and she wanted it to make her a
bonnet." (Reportedly, "Good old Mrs. Ann BLAIR's
testimony.) The first frame school house was built in 1823. In
1834, a second school district was formed.
A Freewill Baptist Church was organized in Goshen
Gore in August, 1841, and the Elder John Garfield ordained pastor. It
consisted originally of 12 members; growing to over 50 members by the late
1860s. In 1855, H. W. HARRIS became their minister; he was succeeded by
Elder Geo. KING, who was ordained pastor of the church in 1857. After
Elder KING left, the church was supplied by itinerant ministers.
Biographies
Elihu SABIN
Born in Dudley, Massachusetts, in 1772, died in
"Goshen Gore, near Hardwick," July 9, 1843, aged 71 years. He
was one of the 26 children of Mr. and Mrs. Gideon SABIN, commemorated in the
Hardwick History (No. 3, p. 324).
He was the first permanent settler of this
Gore. A generous-hearted, worthy man, talented for his day and
opportunities, energetic and persevering, he had the respect of all the settlers
of the neighboring towns, and was, for about 20 years, a justice of the
peace. He was, moreover, distinguished for uncommon muscular strength,
in so much that the history of the Gore is not without an example of the
courage and prowess requisite for a hand-to-hand mortal combat.
Once on a time, well verified it is said, SABIN did
face the foe in a single-handed struggle for life. It appears that he
had caught a cub, whose cries brought forward the bear robbed of her young,
whom Elihu unflinchingly smote with a breech of his gun; the bear was dispatched, and so was
the breech of Elihu's gun. Lest, however, it
may be said, in cavil, that sudden desperation which has been known to give
supernatural strength, nerved our hero's arm, we have a more deliberate feat
with which to crown our point--the prodigious strength of Elihu
SABIN--a feat of no thrilling moment, a plain, practical test, however,
evincing not less arm-strength in the man. A living witness testified
that he had seen Mr. SABIN knock down with one blow of his fist, a two year
old bullock, striking him between the fore shoulders, and breaking a
rib.
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