Yankee Inventors

Orford-Fairlee's Samuel Morey had over 20 patents and worked on perhaps 4,000 inventions during his lifetime. He is described as an "inventor extraordinary."
This is a model of Morey's 1826 engine. Charles Duryea, producer of America's first automobile gave Morey credit for invention the internal combustion engine. Photo courtesy: Vern Marine & Associates.

(photo courtesy: National Life Insurance Co.)


In 1810 James Wilson of Bradford sold the first of his American-made globes. The Bradford Historical Society recently undertook the conservation of their first-year globe. It is pictured above in a new cabinet manufactured and donated by Copeland Furniture.

As published in the January 13, 2010 edition of the Journal-Opinion.

In 1790 George Washington signed into law a bill that laid the foundation for the American patent system, a system establishing the legal right of an inventor to profit from his invention. It encouraged Americans to become prolific inventors. The very first patent was granted to Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont for an improvement in the manufacture of potash. By 1836 the U.S. Patent Office had registered 10,000 new inventions and innovations. Others were unregistered.

Residents of our area were among those individuals who found new ways to solve old problems, to improve some aspect of life. They had in common the traits of inquisitiveness, ingenuity, patience and an aptitude for tinkering. Many inventions came only after years of unsuccessful attempts and often by accident. Some were the result of “making-do,” the byproduct of a thrifty lifestyle. The system sometimes gave the inventor financial rewards and public acclaim. Others went unheralded because they failed to have patents registered or they were too far ahead of their time for public acceptance.

The most extraordinary inventor from the area was Samuel Morey of Orford and Fairlee.
His story is well documented by Alice Hodgson who lived in the Morey house on the Ridge in Orford for many years. Lance Mills of Fairlee has written an informative unpublished manuscript entitled: “Samuel Morey: A Life of Invention.” It is designed to introduce young readers to this visionary.

Morey was born in Hebron Connecticut in 1762 and moved at the age of three with his family to Orford. His father Israel Morey became a leader of the new community. In 1793, Samuel received his first patent for a steam spit designed to relieve cooks of the tedium of turning roasts over an open fire. It was the first patent granted to a New Hampshire inventor.

At about the same time he ran his first experimental steam boat on the Connecticut River between Orford and Fairlee. It was a log dugout with a paddle wheel at the prow. In 1796 he wrote, “When my arrangements are sufficiently matured for exhibition, I went to New York and built a boat, and during three successive summers tried many experiments in modifying the engine and in propelling.” But his experiments were unsuccessful and in 1800 he returned to Orford defeated and burdened by both debt and illness in his family. He was able to recover financially by selling the rights to his steam spit and a new steam engine.

At this point Chancellor Robert Livingston of New York offered Morey $7,000 for the patent rights to his steamboat. No bargain was made. Morey continued to consult with Livingston about improvements he made in his steam boat. But Livingston backed Robert Fulton who was eventually credited with operating the first commercially successful steamboat. To the end of his life, Morey felt the injustice of Fulton’s actions, saying, “Blast his belly! He stole my patent!” It was not Morey’s steam engine Fulton had copied, but his unpatented steam powered side paddle wheels which Fulton “appropriated.”

Despite this failure Morey was not deterred. In 1817 he took out a patent for an invention he called the American Water Burner. This was the result of his experiments with the interaction of heated carbon and steam. “His fellow townsmen, hearing that he was attempting to burn water, believed he had finally taken leave of his senses.” His house on the Ridge had the distinction of being heated and lighted by water-gas half a century before it was successfully used around the nation for heating and illumination.

Morey’s workshop was the,”scene of innumerable extraordinary experiments,” perhaps as many as 4,000. He patented over twenty inventions including those dealing with steam and mixing combustible substances. His revolving steam engine was commercially successful.

While he is most widely known locally for his steam boat, it was the invention of the first internal combustion engine for which he is most well known. He received a patent for it in 1826. Mills writes, “in addition to a carburetor, this engine had pistons, valves and a crankshaft.” While it was decades ahead of its time, Morey correctly prophesied that it would “greatly change the commercial and personal intercourse of the Country…there will be little use of horses for that purpose.” Charles Duryea, producer of America’s first recognized automobile in 1891-92 gave Morey credit for inventing the internal combustion engine.

In 1832 he moved to Fairlee where he owned considerable land around Fairlee Pond, later renamed in his honor. He tried his internal combustion engine on the Aunt Sally, a boat he operated on the pond. A year later he received his last patent for a method of “decomposing and recomposing water, in combustion with spirits of turpentine.” As hydrogen is developed as a fuel of the future, some credit may go to Samuel Morey, the Thomas Edison of his times. He died in 1843.

Bradford’s James Wilson, America’s first globe maker was born in Londonderry, N. H. in 1763. His early interest in globes, all of which were made in Europe at the time, was heightened by a visit to Dartmouth College where he saw several globes.. He moved to Bradford in 1795 and earned his living as a farmer and blacksmith. Resolved to make a globe that was practical, portable and more importantly, saleable, he began a fourteen year quest.

He produced his first globe in 1796. It was just a paper covered wooden ball with hand drawn maps. Its crudeness did not deter him. He sold some cattle to buy a set of Encyclopedia Britannica from a seller in Ryegate and using it strengthened his primary school education in geography, astronomy and natural science. He possessed a quick mind, knew the importance of discovery and excellence and realized the need to learn from others.

He walked to both Massachusetts and Connecticut to consult with master engravers to gain the art of engraving on copper. To overcome the problems of printing maps on a spherical surface in true proportions he sought help from Jedediah Morse in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

After fourteen years of experimentation and creating the necessary presses, lathes and other tools, inks, glues and vanishes, he produced the first saleable globe. He handcrafted the wooden stand and brass engraved meridian ring to hold the globe in place. His thirteen-inch terrestrial globe consisted of two sewn-halves of papier-mache skim coated with plaster and covered with a paper map. The map contains twelve-wedge-shaped sections hand-tinted with watercolors. They were “in all respects fitted to rival in the market any imported from foreign countries.”

While there may have been earlier sales, the first recorded sale took place on January 18, 1810. The demand for his globes was considerable. His blacksmith shop became a globe factory as the market grew. Around 1815, Wilson and his three sons moved their globe manufacturing to Albany to be closer to the markets. As the years went by the selection of globes was expanded to include celestial and terrestrial globes of different sizes, often sold in pairs and improvements were made in the details. They were sold for about $18 in 1816 and offered for up to $55 per pair in 1827. In 1827 he brought his globes to Washington to display to Congress. Three of his globes are now on display at the Library of Congress.

Wilson considered Bradford his home and returned often to a new brick residence on the Upper Plain. The business remained under the control of the family until after 1835. During that time Wilson globes were widely used and eclipsed the foreign imports.
One time Wilson was traveling by stagecoach with one of his globes in his lap. A fellow passenger, an Englishman, was touting the advantages of English made items. “Look at that beautiful instrument” he said, pointing to the globe. “Of course, it is impossible to make such a thing in this country.” Wilson turned the globe to the printed name and read “Jas Wilson & Sons, Albany, N.Y.” The Englishman was shamed to silence.

At the age of 88 Wilson built a planetarium that showed the movements of the sun, moon and planets. He died at the age of 92. On January 17, 2010, the Bradford Historical Society will celebrate the bicentennial of the invention of the first American-made globe by Bradford’s James Wilson. The ceremony will feature the presentation of a first-year globe that the Society has had repaired and preserved by the Williamstown (Massachusetts) Art Conservation Center.

In addition to Morey and Wilson there were many 19th century inventors who called our area home. The following list illustrates the variety of inventions and improvements credited to them: Bradford: Horace Strickland, 1840, cooking stove, B. Greenbough, 1862, flamethrower; Newbury: James Sawyer, 1832, piston paper-maker, Elijah M’Lenan, 1851, shoe polish; Piermont: Daniel Young, 1819,threshing machine, Elnathan Sampson, 1849, shingle sawing; Lyme: Rufus Conent, 1825, window shades, S.G and G.S Rogers, 1866, papermaking.

West Fairlee: William Marston, 1865, improved window blinds; Haverhill: James Cutting, 1854 locomotive spark extinguisher and ambrotype, George Morse: 1856, metallic cartridge case and gun with magazine lock; Peacham: Ira Blake, 1860’s watch spring; Ryegate: A. Leitch, 1865 improved sap spout; Corinth: Daniel Flagg, 1840s, cowcatcher; Further afield were Thaddeus Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury, platform scales,1830 and Thomas Davenport of Brandon, first electric motor, 1837.

Many of these innovations did not bring about revolutionary changes in established industries but rather incremental improvements. To quote Steward Holbrook: “For a century [after 1790] Yankees were to stand in the very front rank of American inventors, both in number and in the wide influence of their work.”

Since 1790, the U. S. Patent Office has granted over seven million patents of which 185,244 patents were granted in 2008. One half of the patents granted in 2008 were granted to Americans and the remainder to inventors from all other nations. The percentage of foreign inventors granted American patents has increased significantly over the past fifty years.

Are area inventors a thing of the past? Have they and America lost its edge in the world of inventions? I posed these questions to Norman Etkind of InventVermont, a non-profit organization that encourages inventors. He responded: “Yankee ingenuity is as much a part of Vermont as the Green Mountains. It is a feature of the collective personality of the state and is as alive today as it ever was. America is unique among the nations in the way we constantly strive to improve upon our current condition and the way that all people, not just big companies participate in this quest.”

Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the businesses that have grown up around them are the invention incubator for the Upper Valley. Many of the men and women employed there live in our area and their innovative influences reaches out to the world. According to Glennis Gold of Dartmouth’s Technology Transfer Office over the past 15 years scores of inventions and innovations have been created in fields such as word processing, engineering, biotechnology, medical devices and life science.

The term invention comes from the verb to find. We celebrate the ingenuity of area inventors, past and present. They continue to change and in most cases improve our lives. It is to our advantage to have Americans, including those in our area, continue to be inquisitive, to tinker, to experiment and to find.

Upper Valley Exodus

Vermont 19th century sheep craze was a major motivation for emigration from the region as small farmers were enclosed into neighboring farms. When the craze turned to bust, many other farmers sought greener pastures.

Conestoga wagons such as this one carried area residents to the West.

Other modes of transportation included sleds, canal boats, rail and foot.

In this 1872 image by John Gast entitled "American Progress" the spirit of the nation is shown leading migrants westward. Native peoples and animals flee before the onward rush of railroad, telegraph and other vestiges of civilization.

As published in the Journal-Opinion on December 30, 2009.

It has a pleasant variety of natural scenery, an abundance of pure water, a healthful climate, better markets and hard roads, plenty of timber and extensive sources of power as well as an equal distribution of property. What may appear to be a local development promotion is actually from the 1876 Vermont Agriculture Annual Report. It was extolling the virtues of Vermont in an unsuccessful attempt to stem the tide of emigrants leaving for better opportunities elsewhere.

In 2010, the United States will count its population. It has been doing so every ten years since 1790 as required by the Constitution. The count will show that towns in our area are growing. That was not always the case. Our area has a history of dramatic changes in population. Lewis Stilwell’s Migration From Vermont, Harold Wilson’s The Hill Country of Northern New England, Harold Meeks’ Time and Change in Vermont and Freedom and Unity by Michael Sherman et al along with town histories chronicle those changes.

The first wave of white settlers came to our valley from southern New England in the late 1760s. Population growth there had left little available land for new farmers. In the first twenty-five years there was spectacular growth, giving river towns such as Newbury, Thetford and Bradford a population of 873, 862 and 654 respectively.

Between 1790 and 1810 Vermont had a growth rate of 150 percent. That rate of growth was mirrored by most towns and more than doubled by Topsham and Fairlee. This was the result of continued migration from the south and the large families common to the farming communities. Vermont was young, with a majority of its residents age sixteen or younger.

However, Vermont’s boom time was brief. By 1810 migration slowed and some Vermont towns began to lose inhabitants. While none of the area towns experienced this early decline, the rate of growth in our area slowed. Some area residents joined the migration to newly opened lands in northern New York and Pennsylvania. “York fever” was followed by a similar epidemic of “Ohio fever.” Others were drawn to newly open lands on both sides of the Vermont-Canadian border.

In the twelve years following 1808 emigration “rose to a flood.” The stimuli were the economic and social problems of the War of 1812, an epidemic of spotted fever and the terrible weather of 1816 and the lure of better land in the West. That attraction was enhanced by advertisements and letters as well as the growing shortage of good farm land in Vermont and New Hampshire. A man, often a young one, would go first, acquire land, erect a shelter and then return for his family. They traveled to their new home by canal boat, sled, wagon or foot.

A major motivation for the emigration was a tradition of migration. Migrants’ ancestors had crossed the Atlantic and their children had moved out across the region. For some this created a wanderlust that encouraged them to pick up and move from established areas to new. To the families were added single young men, missionaries and craftsmen drawn to the opportunities and needs of newer communities in places such as Illinois and Wisconsin.

At some point in the decades from 1820 to 1860, every area town reached a peak of population and began to decline. Following is a list of some area towns showing the year with the highest early count and where it stood in 1860, on the eve of the Civil War. Vershire (1810-1,311, 1860-1000), Lyme (1820-1,824, 1860-1,572); Fairlee (1820-1,143, 1860-549), Orford (1830-1,829, 1860-1,255), Thetford (1830-2,113, 1860-1,876), Piermont (1840-1,057, 1860-949), Topsham (1840-1.745, 1860-1,662), Newbury (1850-2,984, 1860-2,549). Bradford, with its mills, commercial center and railroad connection, peaked in 1860 with a population of 1,689.

That period of decline was the result of a great migration, described by Stilwell as, “great in numbers, great in enthusiasm, and great in results.” To some extent this was an organized group migration. Companies of settlers moved westward. There were newspaper reports of wagon trains moving through Bradford on the way to new territories west of the Mississippi. Some residents of the area joined the Mormons’ westward trek. In 1855, the Emigrant Aid Company of Boston persuaded George and Jacob Rowe of Lyme to join the free-soil movement to “sing upon the Kansas plains a song of Liberty!.”

Economic displacements caused by the Panic of 1837 and the rise and fall of the sheep craze contributed to the migration. Farmers could not compete with products shipped from the better farmlands to the west. Vermont had used up many of its resources. Many farmers tired of the annual crop of stones from the marginal soil. In 1848 the news of the discovery of gold in California only added to the number who sought riches in the West. My great-great grandfather left his family in Orange and sailed around the Horn to San Francisco, returning empty-handed. .
The out migration also included the young seeking better opportunities in the larger communities of the East. They were young professionals, craftsmen and mill workers. The lure was especially strong for young women who saw in their mothers’ lined faces the hardship of country life. Many agreed with Vermont-born Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas when he said “Vermont is a good state to be born in, provided you migrate early.” . Some other migrants from the two state area left the country altogether. A visitor to Tahiti in 1837 met migrants from Peacham and Bradford.

The upheaval of the Civil War as well as the post-war development of the West and cities continued to drain the area’s rural population. Only about 61 percent of native Vermonters made the state their permanent residence. Some rural districts became completely depopulated whereas thriving commercial villages and larger urban towns retained their population and even grew. Because of the impact of the Ely Copper Mine, Vershire’s population rose to 1,875 in 1880 only to be reduced to 754 ten years later when the mine closed. The population of nearby West Fairlee also grew dramatically and then fall. Fairlee reached its lowest population count in 1890 at 398 inhabitants. Haverhill had a slight dip in population but grew after 1840. Major factors in its growth were the railroad center at Woodsville and Pike Manufacturing Company in Pike. Its population reached 3,414 in 1900.

As Vermont lagged behind the rapid growth of other states, towns in the area continued to lose population. It was said that the only things growing in the towns were the cemeteries. Although they migrated away, native-born Vermonters wanted to retain some connections. From the very beginning of the exodus, new communities throughout the West were named for Vermont towns. They also formed organizations such as the Sons of Vermont of Iowa. Migrants from our area contributed significantly to their new homes, a topic for a future column.
Rural interests campaigned to keep the lifeblood of their communities from flowing away. Many feared that the selective nature of the migration would leave behind a population reduced by ability and replaced by foreign immigrants of dubious value as citizens. “Stick to the Farm, Young Man” was a theme that reflected suspicion of both urban and western lifestyles. But the same newspapers that carried such articles also carried advertisements trumpeting the opportunities in the West. The decline built upon itself as the state’s shortage of labor and capital discouraged manufacturing.

The out-migration that Vermont and our local area experienced during the last half of the 19th century continued through the first half of the Twentieth. The causes were the same although the destinations and the mode of escape changed. In the period 1900-1910 two-thirds of all Vermont towns lost population. Whole sections of rural towns reverted to woods with only cellar holes and stonewalls remaining. A future article will deal with those abandoned districts in our area.

In the decades between 1910-1920 and 1930-1940, Vermont actually lost population, the only times in its history when that happened. During World War I and the Great Depression the emigration exceeded the natural increase of births. In the period between 1920 and1950, many area towns had the lowest population since the early 19th century. Representative of this count are Lyme (1930 census-830), Bradford (1930-1,235), Thetford (1940-1,043)), Topsham (1940-707) and Corinth (1950-786). Vershire’s population reached its low in 1960 at 236 residents and Newbury declined to 1,440 in 1970.

Between 1945 and 1960 there was a modest growth in the population of Vermont, although it “lagged behind the national and regional growth rate.” Our area reflected the same slow to modest growth. However, after 1960, Vermont truly became “the beckoning country.” The changes from the population trends of the previous one hundred and fifty years were abrupt. The building of the interstate highway system made Vermont more accessible to the huge population within a day’s drive. The natural growth from the baby boom was enhanced by the increased magnetism of the state for residents from other states. Each of the decades since has reflected double digit growth in population.


The population increases in our area reflect the impact of the interstate as well as the closeness to Dartmouth College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and the other entities that drive the economy of the Upper Valley. Thetford, with its interstate access, matched its 1830 census count during the 1970’s and had an estimated population of 2,779 in 2007. That represents a 165 percent growth since 1960. Across the river, Lyme with a 2007 estimated population of 1,697 equals that growth rate.

Further up the river, Bradford’s growth during the 1970’s had it matching the level of population of a century earlier. Haverhill’s population increased dramatically from 3,090 in 1970 to 4,661 in 2007 easily exceeded earlier highs. Its rate of growth was equaled by its valley neighbor Newbury. Although they grew, Corinth, Piermont, Topsham and Fairlee have not achieved the population levels of the early nineteenth century.
Following is the most recent census estimates for area towns along with the percentage of growth since 1960: Newbury (2,158-49 %), Corinth (1,458-127%), Fairlee (1,008-77%), West Fairlee (726-118%), Topsham (1, 139-79%), Vershire (625-165%) Piermont (690-45%) and Orford (1061-59%). This influx of new residents has changed these communities socially, economically and politically. “Where are you from?” is a much more common question when meeting fellow residents than it was in the past.

The Council on the Future of Vermont describes population changes over the past fifty years. Their report indicates a steady decline in the number of native-born residents, dropping from 75 percent in 1960 to 53 percent in 2005. The population is more highly educated. The emigration of local college graduates is somewhat offset by an in-migration of young well-educated residents.

While the natural increase of population is still slightly higher than people relocating from other places, it was recently reported that Vermont has the lowest birth rate in the nation. As a result of that and the number of retirees moving to the state, Vermont tends toward an aging population with 13.6 percent of the population over 65. While the state is still one of the most ethnically homogeneous in the nation, the ethnic diversity of our area has changed since the 1950.

In March, 2010 each household in our area will receive a questionnaire from the Census Bureau. The nation-wide result of that tabulation will determine the number of members of the U. S. House of Representatives and Electoral College assigned to each state. It will affect the distribution of more than $400 billion in federal funds for such services as schools, hospitals, job training and emergency services. It is truly the time to “stand up and be counted.”

The 2010 census figures were released on February 10, 2011. Population changes for Vermont towns in our area were part of an article in the February 11th Valley News as follows: (2000 population, 2010 population and percentage change) Vershire: 629,730. 16.1%; Newbury: 1,965, 2216, 12.8%; Bradford: 2,619, 2797, 6.8%; Fairlee: 967, 977, 1.0%; Thetford: 2,617, 2, 588, -1.1%; Corinth: 1,461, 1,367, -6.4%; West Fairlee: 726, 652, -10.2%.

Thanksgiving Myths and Memories

Thanksgiving  is  a family affair for most area families with traditional

foods such as turkey, ham and sweet potatoes. It is a chance for a multi-generational sharing of thankfulness for all we enjoy.

"The First Thanksgiving" (1914) by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1850-1936) helps to perpetuate the belief that the Pilgrims celebrated the original American thanksgiving in 1621.

This c 1911 Thanksgiving greeting card was typical of many holiday post cards published in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Published in the Journal-Opinion, November 24, 2009



They were a group of hard-pressed colonists facing the rigors of the New World. Faith in a providing and protecting God caused them to celebrate with thanksgiving the blessings they felt had been provided. The image that immediately comes to mind with this description is of the traditional Pilgrim Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621.



However, in New Mexico there are those who believe this describes colonizing families led by Don Juan de Onate who reached the banks of the Rio Grande and celebrated by giving thanks to God in April 1598. Berkeley, Virginia residents believe that the honor for the first American thanksgiving belongs to them.


On December 4, 1619 a group of newly-arrived English colonists under Capt. John Woodlief proclaimed the following: “Wee ordain that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacons in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”



All of these observances are merely continuations of festivals celebrated from very ancient times. Early hunters and gatherers connected continued success with worship of their deities. Ancient civilizations such as the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans made these festivals significant annual events.


Native Americans celebrated in a similar way prior to the arrival of European colonists. Certainly the English settlers were familiar with the age-old rural celebration of ingathering called Harvest Home. Held on the last day of the harvest, this traditional festival of ingathering included feasting, song and dance.



The Thanksgiving story my grandchildren will hear in school this November will most likely include Pilgrims and their neighbors, the Wampanoag. That story, so familiar to most Americans, is a mixture of fact and myth. What is known is that after a difficult first year in which more than half of the Pilgrims died, the company had gathered a reasonably good harvest. They were also amazed by the natural bounty of the forests and sea around them. A hunting party returned with an abundant take, probably including wild turkey. Governor William Bradford called for a harvest festival.



Massasoit, a leader among the Wampanoag, along with a large party of his people, arrived to join the English in three days of feasting and entertainment. Fall festivals of this sort were part of the fixed rhythm of their culture. They brought with them 5 deer as a gift. This sharing was a way to show friendship and respect. That was a relationship that continued until the 1630’s when war broke out between the ever-expanding colonial settlements and the Native Americans.



Most of the foods Americans traditionally eat at Thanksgiving were probably not on the menu in 1621. This celebration, according to Giving Thanks, by Kathleen Curtin et al, “occurred sometime between September 21 and November 9.” Having all the trappings of the Harvest Home observance, this was not truly a day of thanksgiving. That, in the English tradition, was a solemn day of prayer, worship and often fasting.



My 8th great-grandfather, 13-year old Joseph Rogers, was at that celebration. He and his father, Thomas Rogers were among those “planters” who came on the Mayflower. His father died during the first winter and young Rogers went to live in the household of Governor Bradford. He would have joined in the games and partaken of the venison, wild turkey, fish, breads and sweets along with beer and water.



Over the next century and a half, colonial thanksgiving days were held from time to time, both in recognition of special blessings and, “more general expressions of gratitude for prosperity and health.” Governors and later Presidents would declare official thanksgiving observances. Worship was the main event of these days, although food or fasting played an important role.



Increasingly, in the early19th century, the so-called Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving became attached to a fall family festival that included distinctly American foods. Many of the dishes that are served today became standard fare. These include stuffed turkey or chicken, gravy, cranberry sauce and a vast array of vegetables, breads and desserts. Molasses-based pumpkin pie and Indian pudding were staples of the day.



Rev. Grant Powers, one of the earliest local historians, relates how in one of the earlier years, “the proclamation of Thanksgiving did not reach Newbury till after the appointed day had passed. The people however, decided to keep the feast, but it was discovered that there was no molasses in the settlement. A supply being expected from Charlestown, the day was postponed to await its arrival, but, after waiting several weeks, the desired article having not appeared, Thanksgiving was kept without it.”



In 1863 President Lincoln established the last Thursday of November as an annual national Thanksgiving holiday. This was largely a result of the lobbying by New Hampshire-born Sarah Buell Hale, editor of the women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book. She wanted to extend the New England holiday to the rest of the nation. While Lincoln may have felt that such a holiday would serve the war-torn nation, Southerners rejected the declared day for one of their own.



Jessie Baldwin’s brief history of Post Mills describes Thanksgivings as celebrated a century ago. It was a day when family members, “gathered at the family homestead.”


Both she and Suzanna Taplin, whose recollections are included in the Corinth history, tell of pies being baked and frozen in cold rooms. Taplin, “told of her aunt making 100 pies, 25 to 30 of mincemeat, one dozen apple and the others pumpkin, squash, blackberry and custard. Freezing improved the flavor, especially of mince pie.”



Articles in Bradford’s The United Opinion reflect the changing observances connected with Thanksgiving. In the closing years of the 19th century there were articles that included the Governor’s annual Thanksgiving proclamation, notices of church services and poems and articles connecting the celebration to its mythical Pilgrim roots. The close of the 8-week fall term at local schools was also announced.



There were almost no ads for Thanksgiving supplies. One did appear on November 23, 1888 as a small notice that announced that Bradford’s Bailey’s Store has “oranges, oysters and sage cheese, fine cooking raisins and pure spices for Thanksgiving.” An article described a Thanksgiving Dinner served in the French style reflected the attempts by urban Victorians to gentrify the meal. One suspects it had little impact on country homesteads.


Some communities had Thanksgiving pageants and dances. In 1891 Bradford’s Village Hall held an afternoon of entertainment featuring Thomas Edison’s new “wonderful Phonograph.” It played to an overflow audience.



Thanksgivings in the 1920s and 30s reflected the prosperity and depression of those years. Two years after the disastrous flood of 1927, Vermont’s Governor John Weeks’ proclamation cited the abundant harvest, the rewards of industry, freedom from disease and pestilence as well as peace among the nations and the swift recovery from disaster as reasons for being thankful.


But five years into the Depression, Governor Wilson included in his message that, “The past year has not brought the prosperity for which we had hoped. We have been beset by trials of many kinds.” He called on Vermonters to face their problems, “with a confidence born of the experiences of the past.” Roland Moore of Woodsville recalls that Thanksgivings for his small family in those Depression years were sparse.



During World War II, many were unable to return home and food was rationed. The United Opinion still saw reason to observe the spirit of Thanksgiving. Its columnists cited among the reasons for thankfulness the many rights enjoyed by Americans and denied to people in conquered lands. Additionally, they added, “We are able to carry the war back to the enemy, and carry it back hard and furiously to him wherever he is.” One gets the impression that Americans are more thankful for what they have when they have less or are beset by problems.


Editions in the post-war years reflected the renewed prosperity and availability of food. Additionally, as hunting season overlapped the celebration, the paper featured the resulting deer count as front page news. For those who wanted to eat out, the Bradford Inn offered, in 1949, a complete Thanksgiving Dinner for $1.50. Post-holiday editions featured news of numerous family gatherings.



In those years my family spent the holiday at my grandmother’s in Brattleboro. My 90-year-old great grandmother’s contribution to the dinner was Indian pudding made with stone-ground corn meal. I didn’t appreciate it as much then as I would now. After the traditional mid-day meal my brothers and I got to go to the Paramount for a movie before the long and sleepy ride back up Route 5 to Orford.



In some of the larger communities, football games became a tradition. Barbara Condict of Post Mills, who grew up in Leominister, Massachusetts, remembers both the traditional game with Fitchburg and the touch football games in the family’s yard. Most people gathered with family for the meal of comfort foods, particular to their traditions.


For Betty Wheeler Emerson of West Newbury it was turkey and dressing along with steamed puddings at her grandparents’ farm in Haverhill. For Mary Metcalf Munn who grew up on Taplin Hill, it was the gathering at the farm that had been in her family for four generations. Dinner at that household was placed on hold until the men returned from hunting.



During my four decades of teaching high school students in Bradford, I annually closed the classes prior to the Thanksgiving break with the same set of questions. How many will gather with you for dinner tomorrow? Can you list exactly what will be served and by whom? What is the one dish you really enjoy and the one that few seem to eat? If your family has a children’s table, what is the manner in which one becomes eligible to sit at the adult table?



Even as football replaced hunting and the holiday bird was sometimes deep-fried, the results of this informal survey were predictable. Similarities were enhanced by family variation. Boiled onions and turnip could not hold up against turkey, stuffing, apple pie or mixed nuts. The children’s table was often more fun than the grownups’ table especially when it was next to the television for parade or football viewing. Besides, only some wanted to hear old Uncle So-and-so tell the same stories year after year.


If there were members of the extended Kingsbury-Maxwell family of Bradford they would claim the record for participants. That was broken only one time by a family reunion in Corinth that numbered nearly 150 and was held in the old academy building.



I was lucky to have married a wife who loved to cook for Thanksgiving, and she brought to our holiday table the extended Martin family. With our daughters’ families we often number up to 40 diners. One year we included two German students from Dartmouth. They were astounded that the meal that had taken days to prepare could be wolfed down in less than 30 minutes. In Europe, they remarked, it would have been a 3-hour meal, with each course relished in turn.



While America is not the only nation that celebrates thanksgiving, it does tell us a lot about America as a nation. It reflects the level of our religious beliefs, our prosperity, the respect for both traditions and change, our mobility and freedom to travel, the importance of commercialism, the changing divisions of labor, our intergenerational relations and how important eating, sports and families are to us.



Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The Bradford Game Supper for which my wife and I make gingerbread and rolls for many years was behind us. The overshadowing Christmas season demands our attention. I love the smell of the kitchen, the conversation of family members, the way in which children change from year to year, the traditions and the food.


I join those who hold that one of the pleasures of Thanksgiving is the “pickings”, those leftovers best enjoyed by those who host. For me one of the great comforts of this holiday of memories is a cold turkey sandwich on homemade bread, a cold glass of milk and a piece of left over pie in the early twilight of Thanksgiving Day. All this gives more than ample cause for giving thanks.

Rev. Powers on Local Historians

“Let every town have its stated historian, who shall delight in his duty, whose object will be to collect facts of the aged, and by all other means Providence may afford him; to record passing events of an interesting nature.”

Rev. Grant Powers
Historical Sketches of the Discovery, Settlement, and Progress of Events in the Coos Country and Vicinity
1841

October 1759 Rogers Rangers

Robert Rogers, known among the Abenakis as the White Devil was a skilled frontier fighter who led his Rangers against the native village of St Francis in October, 1759.
This Highway Historical Marker on Route 10 south of Woodsville reminds area residents of the wilderness ordeal that took place 250 years ago this month as Rogers and some of this Rangers struggled to reach Fort Number 4 60 miles to the south.

The meadows at the junction of the Waits and Connecticut rivers was the scene of the slaying o f a deer by Capt. Joseph Wait on October 20, 1759. He left a portion for other rangers and carved his name in a tree, thus becoming the first recorded European visitor to Bradford. (Photo: Nancy Jones)
The Connecticut River flows south of its confluence with the Wells and Ammonoosuc rivers between Woodsville and Wells River. In 1759, Rogers' Rangers followed the Wells to its junction with the Connecticut expecting provisions from a relief party, but instead found an abandoned camp with nothing left behind. (Photo: Alex Nuti-de Biasi)

Additional comment, April 2014:  amc channel has premiered a new series about spies during the
American Revolution.  Entitled Turn, it is based on Alexander Rose's book Washington Spies.  Robert Rogers is shown in a decidedly less than favorable role as the leader of a group of Queen's Rangers.  In the opening scenes of the pilot his men are shown celebrating the massacre of a group of young American soldiers.  


As published in the October 7, 2009 Journal Opinion

Two hundred and fifty years ago this month, the White Devil passed through the region.
He was Robert Rogers, known among the Abenakis as Wobomagonda, the White Devil.
With the beleaguered remains of a force that he led against the St Francis Indians,
Rogers was struggling to reach the safety of Fort Number 4 at present-day Charlestown, New Hampshire.

One of his captains named Joseph Wait reportedly killed a deer in the meadow at the junction of the Connecticut and the river that now bears his name, providing much needed food for the starving men. Young ranger Silas Aldrich escaped pursuing Indians and returned to live in Bradford.

What circumstances brought these three men to our area? It was 1759, a pivotal year in the struggle between Britain and France for control of North America. Part of that struggle was for the control of the waterway of Lakes George and Champlain. Throughout those wars, native tribes allied with New France constantly terrorized the English colonists.

The St Francis Indians were among the most terrifying. In his book White Devil, Stephen Brumwell states: “During a half century of warfare, the St Francis Indians had torched countless frontier communities, killed and scalped numerous men, women and children, and herded droves of shocked and bewildered captives back to Canada…they were a devilish crew and their village was a pernicious nest.” Rumors that the English might build a road from Fort No. 4 to our area, then known as the Lower Cohas “incited the Abenakis to threaten Strong War.”

There are many accounts of the attack by Rogers and his Rangers on St Francis. Brumwell’s book and War on the Run by John F. Ross are two, drawing heavily from primary sources and native oral tradition. Some are familiar with the event from Kenneth Roberts’ novel Northwest Passage and the 1940 film of the same title with Spencer Tracy portraying Robert Rogers.

Robert Rogers was born in Massachusetts and from an early age was involved in the militia. In 1753 he joined an expedition to mark out a road to the fertile meadows of the Lower Cohas, perhaps reaching Moose Meadow in Piermont. The venture was aborted. However, his military career was not. Rogers was described as a natural leader, “big, bold and articulate.” Adept at frontier guerilla tactics, he was willing to undertake dangerous scouting assignments.

In 1755 he was selected captain by his New Hampshire men and three years later was commissioned as major with a command of six hundred. This group of independent companies was known as Rogers’ Rangers. John Taplin of Corinth and perhaps even his young son, John Jr. were members of this group. Rogers developed regulations that outlined techniques for warfare in the situations facing his Rangers. Rogers’ Rules for Ranging have been used by US ground troops and Special Forces as well as private paramilitary groups.

In 1759, General Jeffery Amherst assigned Rogers the task of destroying St Francis. Rogers gathered from different companies over two hundred men along with native scouts. On September 13 they departed by whaleboat from Crown Point up Lake Champlain. Ten days later, having skirted French gunboats, they left their boats at Missisquoi Bay and set off for the one-hundred mile trek to St Francis.

It would take them until October 3 to reach their destination. It was a strength-sapping march through spruce marsh, ever mindful of possible attack. From the beginning disease and injuries reduced the force. Members left behind to guard the whaleboats caught up to report that the boats had been discovered by the French, cutting off that route of return. Rogers decided to return by way of the Cohas to Fort. No. 4. He sent word back to Amherst asking that provisions be sent to the Ammonoosuc River on the Cohas.

Luck was on the side of Rogers. His French pursuers turned back. Distracted by the crisis of the fall of Quebec City to the British, the French incorrectly anticipated his target. On the night of October 3, Rogers poised for the attack on the St Francis, having personally conducted a reconnaissance. His command had been reduced to about 142 men, in poor condition and hungry. The village’s 600 residents had also been reduced in number as many warriors were away fighting with the French.

The village was in the midst of a celebration, perhaps of the harvest. Tradition has it that one of Rogers’ Indian scouts warned a young native woman that the village was about to be attacked. Some inhabitants heeded the warning and went into hiding, leaving others behind. At 5 a.m. on October 4th, the Rangers punitive attack began.

With little defense, the occupants were massacred. Amherst’s order to spare women and children was ignored. The village was plundered for food and valuables and put to the torch, burning some inhabitants alive. There is no doubt that the Rangers were incensed by personal memories of Indian attacks and by finding many English scalps hanging in the village. “The St Francis Indians had now been punished for their cruelty.”

Just one of the Rangers was killed and seven wounded. Rogers incorrectly estimated that 200 residents had been killed. He based his estimate on the number of inhabitants he had seen the night before, prior to the warning.

Hearing from the prisoners that there was a large enemy force just a few miles away, the Rangers hastily began the two-hundred mile trek to Fort No.4. Rogers ordered his men to take provisions from the village, but some filled their packs with loot, a mistake they would come to regret.

Both Ross and Brumwell give extensive coverage to the retreat. Assuming pursuit, Rogers pushed his men through the unbroken Appalachian wilderness. Within eight days the party had reached the northern edge of Lake Memphromagog. The party was worn down by unrelenting fatigue, compounded by the hard trek and the fear of ambush. Rogers wrote in his Journal that “provisions began to grow scarce.” Efforts at hunting were unsuccessful. Hunger became so extreme that they roasted the Indian scalps and boiled their leather belts, moccasins and powder horns for what little nourishment they would provide. Loot was abandoned.

Rogers then made what Ross calls as “a devil’s bargain.” He divided his command into smaller groups of approximately 20 men each. One group would strike out overland to Crown Point whereas the others would try alternative routes south and east. Two of the parties fall victim to attack by the pursuers, with many being killed. It is thought that Silas Aldrich was in one of those parties, but managed to escape.

By October 20, the map drawn by Rogers indicated that group was somewhere near present-day Groton on the Wells River. Following the river to the Connecticut, the party came upon a recently abandoned camp. The relief party fearing ambush had, just hours before, retreated to Fort No. 4 leaving no provisions behind.

Rogers recalled “Our distress upon this occasion was truly inexpressible; our spirits, greatly depressed by the hunger and fatigues we had already suffered, now almost entirely sunk within us, seeing no resource left, nor any reasonable ground to hope that we should escape a most miserable death by famine.” Some later recalled that members of the party resorted to cannibalizing the bodies of their dead comrades.

Not all were so unfortunate. The party lead by Captain Joseph Wait missed the rendezvous at the Ammonoosuc and found itself at what is now Bradford. Wait shot a deer on the meadow at the junction of the two rivers. After the party had satisfied their hunger, the remains were hung in a tree for other Rangers who might pass that way. Wait carved his name in a tree, thus becoming the first recorded visitor to Bradford.

Rogers made one last desperate attempt to save his beleaguered party. He, along with two others, undertook a treacherous voyage on a rudely-constructed raft down the Connecticut. Upon reaching Fort No. 4, he had provisions sent north to his party. Of the more than 200 who had set out from Crown Point, 142 were involved in the attack at St Francis and only 63 survivors made it to Fort No.4 and 17 to Crown Point.

What then of Robert Rogers, Joseph Wait and Silas Aldrich? Rogers continued to play a role in the war along the northern frontier from New England to the Great Lakes. Upon return from a short trip to England he was appointed to an official position in the upper Mississippi Valley. Being suspected of trying to create an independent republic in the area, he was unsuccessfully tried for treason. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he offered his services to Washington. Suspicions that he was really loyal to the King caused him to be jailed, a confinement from which he soon escaped.

He spent the remaining years of the Revolution serving the British cause. He organized several ranger-style groups of loyalists. Wells History of Newbury states that in November, 1775, Rogers came to Newbury “under circumstances which exited alarm to all who knew the character and present relations of the man.” Well’s continues: “In May, 1782, Major Robert Rogers came into Coos with a strong force, and encamped among the hills back of where Bradford village now stands, and held communication with certain men of doubtful loyalty to the American cause.” As the Revolution drew to a close, Rogers returned to England where, beset by personal and financial problems, he lived out his life in obscurity.

As the Upper Valley opened to settlement by New Englanders, Joseph Wait moved to Claremont and Windsor. He became active in the Green Mountain Boys against both the British and New York interests. He took part in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. He actively recruited men, including a number from local towns, for Bedel’s Regiment and was commissioned a lieutenant colonel. After being mortally wounded at the Battle of Valcour Island in September 1776, he was buried in Clarendon, Vermont, his grave being marked by a monument erected by his men. Present-day Bradford was unofficially known as Waits Town in his honor until it was chartered as Mooretown in 1770.

Young Silas Aldrich also returned to the area. Drawn by the prospects he saw in the region through which he had travelled on his return from St Francis, he settled in Mooretown sometime before 1774. In that year he married Alice Collins and, according to Silas McKeene’s History of Bradford, they built a log cabin in the northern part of the town and there raised a family. He was described as “a man of even peaceable disposition.” He died in 1811 at age sixty-eight and was buried in Bradford’s Upper Plain Cemetery.

One can imagine the memories that Aldrich carried of Robert Rogers, the Rangers and the Pyrrhic victory that was the attack on St Francis as he lived out his quiet life as a Bradford farmer. Did he, in the words of Shakespeare’s Henry V, on its anniversary “strip his sleeve and show his scars” and remember the feats of the day? If he did, those memories, like many of the details of this wilderness ordeal, were either lost, subject to varied interpretations or changed by their telling.

Cemetery Walk: Bradford's Upper Plain Cemetery

On Saturday, October 12, 2009, the Bradford Historical Society held a cemetery walk at Bradford's Upper Plain Cemetery. Charles Marchant (right) and Arthur Hyde (left) , pictured above, shared their extensive knowledge of cemeteries and burial practices with the tour participants. They are both active in the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, with Marchant as secretary and lecturer and Hyde as vice-president and grant chairman.

The cemetery walk was a departure from the "Graveyard Gossips" programs that the Society has held during the past few years. However, Larry Coffin, President of the Society, shared information about some of the individuals buried at the sites visited. The first burial in this cemetery was in 1770 and it is currently being used for burials.

Coffin and Marchant are two of the four teachers that produced "Stones and Bones", a curriculum for the use of cemeteries in the classroom. This was produced in 1996 and republished in 2008. They are retired social studies teachers. The other two teachers are Joan Alexander, a special education teacher in Irasburg, and Andersen Thorp, an art teacher at Hartford High. Copies of this curriculum can be obtained from the Vermont Old Cemetery Association at Charles Marchant, PO Box 132, Townshend, VT o5353

Included in the presentation was a discussion of the materials from which the markers were built. Markers in the Upper Plain cemetery are made from slate of several types, soapstone, granite, marble and, as shown in the one above, metal. This type of marker was popular at the end of the 19th century and could be ordered in many variations from the company's catalog.

About 20 participants joined the one and a half hour tour which ended with a visit to the Sawyer Chapel located at the entrance to the cemetery. A group is currently seeking funds for the restoration of that chapel.

A film crew from Lyndon State College's Channel 7 toured with the group and interviewed both participants and leaders. Reporter Daniel Adams (left) has promised to sent the video for possible later inclusion in this posting. Stay tuned for that.

School Bells: Academies and Seminaries 1790's-1890's

From the earliest years of the Upper Valley, leaders of the towns felt that it was important to

establish institutions for educating students beyond the common school level. Pictured above is Newbury Seminary, located in Newbury Village. It opened 175 years ago this month on Sept. 15, 1834. It was moved to Montpelier in 1868 to become Montpelier Seminary (later Vermont

College, part of Norwich University).

Haverhill Academy's Pearson Hall is seen behind the graduating Class of 1881. Haverhill Academy was chartered in 1794 and for a time was the only institute of higher learning in the area. (Photo/courtersy of John Page/Haverhill Historical Society)
While the first academy in Orford opened in 1796, it closed soon after for lack of a charter from the state. Orford Academy was reopened in this building in 1851. The third floor was the boys' dormitory and named Patterson Hall after John Patterson who provided the funds for it.


The Cookeville Academy building housed the Corinth Academic Institute and County Grammar School from 1846 to 1910. In 1847, 170 students were enrolled. It is now the home of the Corinth Historical Society.


The picture above and below is of the original Thetford Academy classroom hall (right) built in 1818. To its left is Burton Hall dormitory (1845) In the picture below, Bartholomew Hall (1870) can be see to the right of the classroom building. All three buildings burned in 1942. (Courtersy of the Thetford Historical Society)




Montebello Ladies Institute, located north of Newbury Village, opened in 1850. Over the next 17 years it awarded the degree "Lady of Liberal Learning" to many young ladies.



Bradford Academy operated in this two-story wooden building for 75 years following its opening in 1821. The building was replaced by the brick Woods School Building in 1895.





As printed in the Journal Opinion on Sept. 9. 2009

There have been private academies, seminaries and institutions that operated in our local area from as early as the 1790’s. Education was very important in early New England as it enabled people to read the Bible. In 1647 Massachusetts required primary schools in most towns. New Hampshire followed suit in 1680 as did the new state of Vermont in 1777. Randolph Roth’s study of the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont between 1791 and 1850 includes a speech given to the 1782 legislature by Rev. Gershom Lyman. Lyman, “expressed the belief of the majority of Vermonters when he referred to ignorance as, ‘a natural source of error, self-conceit and contracted, groveling sentiment.’ ”

Roth continues, “Education promised to create an electorate that would choose its representatives wisely and then defer readily to the judgment of those they had placed in power over them.” He concludes that by the turn of the 19th century, “the valley had one of the highest literacy rates in the world—approximately 95 percent for men and 85 percent for women.”

Area business and professional leaders were instrumental in establishing private academies to provide education beyond the common or primary schools. Their motives were similar to those of the founders of Haverhill Academy, “to promote religion, purity, virtue, and morality and for teaching the youth in English, Latin, and Greek languages; in writing, music, and the art of speaking; in geography, logic, geometry, mathematics, and such other branches of science as opportunity may present and the teachers shall order and direct.”

What follows is a brief history of these institutions to their demise or merger with the public school system. The sources of information are the histories of the respective towns or institutions, often written by those who were graduates or staff. These sources generally focused on the positive aspects of the institutions, the outstanding administrators and graduates.

Haverhill Academy was chartered in 1794 and for a time was the only institution of higher learning in the area. As mentioned above its founders regarded religion and education as inseparable. The wooden academy building was located on the northeast corner of the common in Haverhill Corner, a building it occupied until a fire in 1816. The replacement brick building, known as Pearson Hall, was occupied until 1897 when an additional building was built next door.

John Bittinger’s History of Haverhill recounts the struggles the academy went through before merging with the Haverhill public school system in 1880. “One purpose of the merger was to resurrect the Academy at a low point. There had been a suspension of classes for some time during the 1870’s.” The more successful public academy continued until 1969 when the Haverhill and Woodsville districts were merged.

As early as 1796, a group of proprietors worked to establish an academy in Orford. Orford historians William Conant and Alice Hodgson describe how the group erected a building on the West Common south of the present church, hired a teacher and “…fixed the tuition at one shilling a week.” After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain a state charter, the academy closed. The building was used as the district primary school until it burned around 1850.

At that time, there was a renewed interest in Orford Academy and a new three-story brick building was constructed at the south end of the Ridge. Joseph Patterson furnished the money for a third story boys’ dormitory, which became known as Patterson Hall. A dormitory for girls was built next door. The Academy opened in 1851 with 9 teachers and 167 students. In 1898, as its enrollment declined, the proprietors sold the property to the town. Orford High School, established in 1926, occupied the building until it merged into the Rivendell Interstate District.

In 1935 the United Opinion stated, “There is some evidence that an academical institution was operated in Bradford as early as 1797.” It refers to the “seminary” operated in the home of Mother Peckett for the training of Methodist ministers. Bradford Academy was established in 1820 with the first classes being held on March 12, 1821, with hopes it would become the Orange County Grammar School. Bradford historian Harold Haskins, who later served as its principal, chronicles its long history.

The Academy operated for 75 years in a two-story wooden building located in front of the present BA building. After 1866 the private academy was partially merged with the Union School District that operated two district primary schools in Bradford Village. That merger was expanded in 1892 to become the Bradford Academy and Graded School District. The present brick building, known as the Woods School Building, was first used in 1895. It was the gift of John Lund Woods, a native of Corinth. Bradford Academy became a public high school and continued to operate as such until 1971 when Oxbow High opened.

During the 19th century there were several private institutions in Newbury, their history recorded by Frederic Wells in his town history. A “select school” was open in 1830 but ended with the establishment of Newbury Seminary. That academy opened 175 years ago this month on September 15, 1834 in a three-story brick building on Newbury’s common. Established under the auspice of the Methodist Conference of New Hampshire, it operated in Newbury until 1868.

It then moved to Montpelier to become Montpelier Seminary, now part of Norwich University. Walter Rice Davenport writes in his History of Montpelier Seminary that lack of success was not the reason for its relocation. Rather, the lack of local support both from students and moneyed interests along with a break in the association with the N.H. Methodists caused the trustees to seek a larger community site.

In 1887 the village school district purchased the old seminary building, and in 1893 the town central school was created. The building burned in 1913 and was replaced by the present school.

Newbury was also the site of the Newbury Biblical Institute. Operating from 1837 to 1846 to train young men for the ministry, it was the first Methodist theological seminary in America. It was the predecessor of the Boston University School of Theology.

Two institutions for the training of young women also operated in Newbury. The first was the Female Collegiate Institute. It opened in 1850 and during its 17 years it educated 151 young ladies. The second was the Montebello Ladies’ Institute located on what is now Montebello Road north of Newbury village.

This institute opened in 1873 as a day and boarding school and operated until 1890. Women who finished the course of study were awarded a diploma declaring them to be “a lady of liberal learning.” An article on their third year commencement in the 1876 Bradford Opinion stated, “The people of Newbury may justly be proud of having such a school in their midst.”

The only academy that still operates as a private secondary school is Thetford Academy. It opened in February 1819 at Thetford Hill and had close connections with the Congregational Church. Alice B. Slade has written the most complete history of the academy during its first century. The 1888 Orange County Gazetteer stated, ”Thetford Academy is perhaps more widely known than any other public institution in the town because of the large number who have pursued the road to knowledge through its portals.” The original classroom building and adjacent dormitories burned in 1942 and were replaced by the current academy building.

The Corinth Academic Institute and County Grammar School was incorporated in 1846. The academy building is located in Cookeville. In 1847, 170 students were listed. In 1876 it united with the local district school. The Corinth town history concludes, “Corinth High School or Cookeville Academy, suffered reversals over the years, being reduced to one high school teacher and one grammar school instructor when the last class graduated in 1910.”

There were attempts to establish academies in several other area towns. Lyme formed an academy in 1836, erecting a building in Lyme Center in 1839. It operated for about 15 years and then the building, which still stands, was used by the public school system. Individuals in Post Mills, Topsham, Ryegate and Groton established “select schools” during the period from 1840 to 1860. Private and selective in their enrollment, they were short-lived.

Education beyond primary school was not a goal for most children. Roth writes that the majority of 19th century residents of the Valley, “Did not feel that their children needed more education than they themselves possessed, and they did not want to incur the costs associated with improving the schools and taking their older children out of employment.”

Even among those students who did attend, many attended only one or two 11-week terms each year. Reformers wanted to make schools public open and to all children. In 1867 Vermont became the first state in the nation to require school attendance for children ages 6-16. New Hampshire followed suit in 1871.

In all academies, the number of students attending in any one year was affected by the course of study, tuition, the staff, epidemics, and national events such as war and economic depression. Students often changed from one school to another and one of the duties of the principal was to recruit students.

Students were tuitioned to these academies from neighboring towns and states. Thetford, Newbury and Orford owned dormitories and in all cases villagers offered board and room. The students who attended were often interested in entering college. Those who attended schools such as Newbury Seminary were interested in becoming ministers and teachers. It was not uncommon for students to take a term off to teach in a local district school.


Having students from away brought new life and some prosperity to the villages. At the Orford Academy there were 13 rules published in 1851. A student was, “expected to conduct himself at all times with propriety” and refrain from profane language, cards and dice playing, ardent sports and smoking. While rules were strict, enforcement varied with changing administrations. Youthful capers in the neighborhoods were not uncommon.

Some academies allowed young women to attend. Martha Howard of the Thetford Historical Society writes: “From the beginning, Thetford Academy was co-educational: this being attributed to the number of educated and strong-minded women living in Thetford at the time, who likely influenced their husbands toward admitting girls to the school from the beginning.”

Students of color were another matter. Wells writes, “At that time it was held by a large portion of the public, to be a sin and a crime to teach a colored person to read and write.” When in 1842 Newbury Seminary allowed a “colored girl” to attend, there were those “who advised her exclusion from the school” saying that it would ruin the school. In what Wells calls an “act of moral heroism” one student offered to room with the young woman and the preceptress gave her a place at the dining table next to her. In 1856 Thomas Morris Chester, the son of a slave, graduated from Thetford with 2nd highest honors and became a Civil War reporter and a general in the Louisiana militia.

Tuition varied from term to term and with the selected course of study. In 1853 at Bradford, the Common Branch English tuition was $3 per term, whereas Higher English, Latin and Greek tuition was $3.50. By 1878 the tuition for those courses had been raised to $4.50 and $5.50. Because funds were usually in short supply, faculty members often stayed for just a short time before seeking improved opportunities. Older students sometimes taught young ones under the supervision of the principal.


Between 1894 and 1906 Vermont began to require that all towns provide a public high school or pay tuition for its students to attend a high school. As a result of this change, some academies merged with the public school system and made changes in their curriculum to accommodate the diverse needs. In the case of Thetford, the private academy became a designated school for Thetford students. Tuition students still attended the local academies. It was not uncommon for students from Corinth and Topsham to board in the village when attending Bradford Academy, returning to their homes on the weekend.

Many students did not graduate from the academies, even after they became public schools. They assumed that graduating from the 8th grade or achieving the age of 16 was sufficient. There is no doubt that many of the students who did graduate went on to live more productive lives as a result of their education. An internet search of the graduates of local academies produces the biographies of leaders from every field of endeavor and from across the nation.

Rev. Timothy Frost spoke at the centennial celebration of Bradford Academy in 1920. His words reflect the accomplishments of all of these academies. “Here sleeping potentialities have been awakened. Here aspirations have been born, to bless the world. Out from this school have gone joymakers to touch with beauty and refinement a multitude of homes.”