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lots. The following record made by the town clerk relates to this sale:

"Royalton 29th November 1788

Sir.

On examining of Solomon Cushman's Records I find that Lot No. four was sold the Twenty second Day of the Month I desire you will mark that Number on your Records so that it may be known that the Redemtion money is not paid on that Lot I have mark (four) in this way in the receipt let it be done on your records the same way then they will both be alike

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Whitehead Hicks was mayor of New York City in 1778. He owned many lots in Hertford, now Hartland. On Mar. 24, 1778, the Assembly of Vermont declared the land forfeit, and gave William Gallup liberty to dispose of it. They claimed to be acting according to the advice of Congress in making immediate sale of the enemies' land, so we must conclude that Hicks was a tory, less discreet and cautious than Banyar. In 1778 William Gallup as Commissioner of Sales reported more than 1000 acres of land sold which belonged to Whitehead Hicks.

John Kelly was an attorney. He appears to have been very energetic in pushing his claims, and seems to have kept the good will of Vermonters. It is quite probable that he visited the region, Sharon and Royalton, soon after the grant of Royalton. In a deposition of his made Mar. 6, 1771, he stated that Robert Havens of Sharon showed him a petition received from Benjamin Bellows, Jr., son of a N. H. magistrate at Walpole, and which had been circulated in favor of annexation to Ñ. H., and only eight or nine names were on it, and Havens said they were the only ones in Sharon that would sign it. If he had a personal interview with Havens, that may account for the fact that Robert Havens was the first one to settle in Royalton. In a petition. for land, 1787, Kelly said he owned 111 rights. In March Vermont granted him 69,000 acres. He succeeded in getting his rights under N. Y. confirmed in some instances, and permission to locate on unchartered land as an equivalent for losses in others, a good indication of the high esteem in which he was held by the ruling powers. The following year he interested himself in the welfare of Vermont, and wrote to Gov. Chittenden to know on what terms the Grants would come into the Union, saying there were friends of Vermont who would gladly serve the interests of the state. He suggested that Congress exonerate Vermont from paying taxes of the War, and if claimants to land which had not been chartered would accept of wild land to the

west, that Vermont might be satisfied, and that Col. Hamilton to whom he had proposed this, thought such a settlement could be effected. He certainly was either a good friend to Vermont, or led her leaders to think so, for Nov. 5, 1792, he obtained another grant, this time one of 12,000 acres joining land granted him in 1791 near Jay and Newport. He was an attorney for Ambassador Jay, and successfully conducted cases in which Jay had claims to land.

William Livingston, LL. D., was born in Albany, 1723. He graduated at Yale in 1741. He was Governor of N. J. from 1776 to 1790. He was a patriot, and was elected to the Continental Congress of 1774, and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a jurist, legislator, magistrate, and an author of several legal and political treatises. He died in 1790. He apparently was the leader in first petitioning for the grant of Royalton, which in 1766 was named Loyalton. In 1769 he and Hicks petitioned for leave to insert names in the schedule annexed in the letters patent for this tract. He had a manor, in which Abel Curtis, the agent of Bethel, found William Smith a prisoner, and Mr. Banyar visiting him, and where he negotiated for the two tiers of lots belonging to the western part of Royalton.

William Smith was a member of the New York Council for a considerable time. On Oct. 20, 1769, the Council had advised the practical violation of the King's order forbidding further grants, and it was the next month that Royalton was granted. He became a tory, and the Council of Safety ordered him to the Manor of Livingston, June, 1777. He escaped being included under an attainder act through the powerful influence of the Livingston family, with which he was connected by marriage, so he received a share of the $30,000 indemnity paid by Vermont, about one sixth what Banyar received. He was a distinguished judge of New York, and his legal advice was sought in the discussion of the Haldimand correspondence. He afterwards became Chief Justice of Canada, and died there in 1793.

It will be seen from these sketches that political discord probably reigned in the meetings of the New York proprietors, and that some of them must have been too busy in looking after their own personal safety to give much time to their infant child here in the Vermont wilderness. Royalton may well feel proud of the high social and intellectual standing of these first owners of the soil, though, possibly, no one of them ever set foot on the grant of Nov. 13, 1769. They employed Thomas Valentine to survey the town.

CHAPTER XIV.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

THE FIRST CHURCH.

It is noteworthy that one of the first things the pioneers of New England considered in establishing settlements, was the provision for supplying their spiritual needs. The settlers of Royalton could hardly have numbered one hundred, all told, when they gave their attention to the matter of stated preaching.

In its earliest days Royalton was closely associated with Sharon in religious, as well as in civic matters. It is in Sharon records that we find the first steps taken to secure a minister for the two towns. The inhabitants of Sharon and Royalton met in Sharon Feb. 11, 1777. Joel Marsh was chosen moderator, and Benjamin Spalding clerk. They vote,

"that the Towns of Sharon and Royalton will unite to have a gospel minister Setled amongst them and to be in conjunction or union in order to Support the gospel amongst them for and Dureing the term of Ten years from and after this meeting.

Voted that they will hold Publick worship in two Places in the following manner Namely for Sharon on the Roade Between Mr. Rosel Morgans grist mill and the Dwelling House of Mr. Joseph Parkhurst Near the Second Bridge on Quallion Brook about 20 Rods below sd Bridge and at Royalton in the Crotch of the Roads Near the foart, and that the Preaching Shall be held in Each Town and in Each Place as stated in Proportion to what each Town Pays.

Voted that the Towns of Sharon and Royalton will Support the gospel Ministry amongst them by a Rate made on the Poles and Reatable Estates of the inhabitants in Each Town.

Voted that Joel Marsh Esqr Lieunt Medad Benton and Benjn Spalding Ensign Isaac Morgan Shall be a Comtee to treat with the Reverend Mr. Judson to Preach in sd Towns on Probation.

Voted that the aforesd comtee Shall Set up warnings for meetings for the future.

test Benjn Spalding for sd meeting.”

A few days later this other record was entered:

"At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Towns of Sharon and Royalton Leagueally Warned and held in sd Sharon February the 20th A D 1777.

ing

Then Lieutenant Medad Benton was chosen moderator for sd meet

then Benjn Spalding Chosen Clark

then Voted to Chuse a Comtee to ask the advice of the neighboring ministers to git a Candidate to preach on Probation and voted that Mr Benjn Spalding Lieutnt Medad Benton and Mr Daniel Gilbert Shall be a Comtee for the Purpos aforesd and for sd Comtee to make a Return to sd meeting."

The meeting adjourned to Mar. 18. At this meeting a committee was appointed to take a list of the polls and ratable estates of the two towns. The rate was to amount to £50 legal money. Benj. Spalding, Daniel Gilbert from Sharon, Elias Curtis and Benjamin Parkhurst from Royalton were the committee to make a rate.

This action probably proved unsatisfactory, for on May 20, 1777, it was voted to raise money by subscription, and Benjamin Spalding, Joel Marsh, and Tilly Parkhurst were chosen to receive the money, and hire a minister on probation. It has not been ascertained whether the two towns did really employ the same minister or not. The Rev. Mr. Judson mentioned was, doubtless, Andrew Judson, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1775. He was born in Stratford, Conn., 1748, and was a missionary. He may have preached in one or both towns while engaged in this work. It is not probable that he was secured "on probation," since he was pastor in Eastford, Conn., 1778-1804, dying in the latter year.

The arrangement made was likely to prove unsatisfactory, as the amount of service in each town would vary according to the sum each town paid, and as Sharon had been settled several years before Royalton, her population would have been greater at this time. The compact must have been dissolved before Aug. 26, 1778, the earliest record of the Royalton church which has been preserved. That record comprises only the following: "At a Church meeting in Royalton, August the 26, 1778, at the house of Lieut Joseph Parkhurst

I Chose Rufus Rude Moderator and Clerk'

On the 19th of October of the same year the Royalton church voted to give Rev. Asa Burton a call, and in case he declined, to "apply to the Presbetry for their advice and assistance to get a minister." No record is found of the organization of the Royalton church. Dr. Drake states that some old residents affirmed that it was organized in the fall of 1777. If so, it would leave scant time between the last union meeting of the two towns, the canvass provided for, and the organization of the Royalton church. Is it possible that the meeting in Sharon, Feb. 11, 1777, was really the time the old residents had in mind?

Sharon seems to have had a resident missionary in 1778. Under date of Aug. 20, 1781, they gave a deed of 100 acres to Mr. Thomas Kendall, preacher and missionary, as he had resided in Sharon three years. That may partly account for the separa

tion of the two towns in church matters. It is not unlikely that Mr. Kendall may have occasionally preached in Royalton, before the town secured a supply. This missionary may have been the Thomas Kendall who graduated from Dartmouth in 1774, was pastor in Foxboro, Mass., from 1786 to 1800, chaplain in the War of 1812, and who died in Lebanon, N. Y., in 1836.

Mrs. Lorenza Havens Lovejoy is authority for the statement that the first sermon preached in town was in the house of her father, Robert Havens, who was then living on the George Cowdery place, the Irving Barrows place at present. The date is not known. The preacher was Rev. Elisha Kent, whose son Elisha, it is said, came to Royalton in 1772. Rev. Elisha Kent died July, 1776. His visit to his son, who lived where his grandson Archibald lived later, and where Lester Corwin resides today, was between 1773 and 1776. Probably it was not earlier than 1774. He was born in 1704, so that he was about seventy at this time. To Mrs. Lovejoy's youthful eyes he was "an old man.

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He was very fleshy and somewhat infirm, and preached sitting in "the great chair." It is told of him that in the midst of his sermon he stopped and said to Mrs. Havens, "Madam, your pot is getting dry." He was not so lost in his discourse, that he did not have an eye on the savory meat that the good wife was "potting down" for his dinner, when the long sermon should be ended. We can imagine the company gathered in the little log house in the forest, the kindly Benjamin Parkhurst and wife, who had found their way on horseback along a trail that could have been only partially cleared at this time; Isaac Morgan and wife, who had waded the river, if it were summer, or crossed on the ice if in winter; Elisha Kent, Jr., and his whole family, for John and Elisha third, then striplings, would wish to hear "grandfather" preach, and perhaps Joseph Moss, a babe in arms, helped in the music too. From Sharon Ebenezer Parkhurst and family would be sure to be on hand. The people of Sharon had had no settled minister as yet. If the sermon of this graduate of Yale, preached in the wilderness to the heroic souls gathered in that rude home had been preserved, how it would be prized by present and coming generations of Royalton!

Mr.

A careful examination of Sharon records reveals that no pastor was called by the town till ten years from the time of the compact. On July 9, 1788, they voted to give Lathrop Thompson, candidate, a call to settle as a minister in their town. Thompson, who had graduated from Dartmouth in 1786, accepted and remained with them five years. He then went to South Britain, Conn., in 1799 to Chelsea, Vt., in 1810 to Southold, Long Island, where he remained sixteen years. He returned to Chelsea and died there July 19, 1843.

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