Caledonia

CROSBY, Reuben

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, p 435 (history of Goshen 
Gore)

Reuben CROSBY, one of the first settlers [of Goshen Gore,* Caledonia County, 
Vermont], accumulated a handsome property, but becoming partially insane, 
mediated self destruction. For this purpose he made his escape from his 
house, and seated himself upon a large rock, where he remained until his 
limbs were frozen. But by a change in the weather the process of thawing, 
much more painful than freezing, commenced. This led him to creep to the 
house, but he lived only a few days; he died in 1830.

[* Excerpts from the section dealing with the history of Goshen Gore (author 
Joseph CLARK, page 434), are included here because of references to Reuben 
CROSBY.] There are two Gores in Caledonia County [Vermont] by this name 
[Goshen Gore]. The largest lies in the northwest part of the [Caledonia] 
county, is bounded north by Wheelock, east by Danville, south by Walden 
[those three in Caledonia County, Vermont], and west by Greensboro [Orleans 
County, Vermont]. The smaller Gore lies in the southwest corner of the 
[Caledonia] county. By a singular act of the Legislature these two Gores in 
Caledonia County, and one still larger in Addison County [Vermont], seventy 
miles distant, were incorporated into a town, by the name of Goshen; 
chartered 01 February 1792, to John ROWELL, William DOUGLASS, and sixty-five 
others, and re-chartered to the same 01 November 1798. The inhabitants of 
the part of the town in Addison County organized 29 March 1814.

The Gores in Caledonia County were severed from the town of Goshen by the 
legislature in 1854. There have been frequent petitions by the inhabitants 
of the larger Gore in this [Caledonia] county to become organized into a 
town, the first being presented to the legislature in 1835, but an 
organization has never been granted. (The people, for the most part, are not 
dissatisfied with their present situation, being exempt from the demands of 
the tax gatherer, and the expenses incident to a town organization.) The 
larger Gore in this [Caledonia] county, being most accessible to East 
Hardwick [Caledonia County], as a place of business and post office address, 
is distinguished from the other, by "Goshen Gore, near Hardwick." [The 1895 
Atlas shows two places named Goshen, one in Addison and one in Orleans 
County, Vermont.]

This tract of land lies sloping from the valley of the Lamoille River, rising 
to form one limb to the fork of the "Y." The first settlements 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 decease, some forty-one 
years. 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. [edited] Mary SABIN was the first child born. 
Freeman SMITH was the first male child, and Edmund BARKER and Betsey SABIN 
the first couple married. [edited] Two or three farms on the eastern 
extremity, adjoining Danville, have been under improvement since 1805. James 
CLARK and Thomas YOUNG made the first improvement there. [edited]

A steam saw mill was erected by this pond [a pond covering about eighty acres 
in the northern part, with outlet to the Connecticut River] in 1856, by T. G. 
BRONSON. BRONSON died in 1857, and the mill passed into the hands of others; 
Hawkins & Ross, present proprietors. Nearly one million feet of lumber is 
manufactured at this mill annually, which is principally drawn to St. 
Johnsbury, and used in the manufactory of E. & T. FAIRBANKS. About a mile 
west of this pond is a "Beaver Meadow, also called "Blueberry Meadow," where 
vestiges of the labors and dwellings of this sagacious animal are yet to be 
seen. A stream arises from this meadow, called Gore Brook, which empties 
into the Lamoille River.

The first saw mill was built by G. W. COOK on a stream which is the outlet of 
a pond in Wheelock. The 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 is still in operation. There was also another built in 
1840, by Levi UTLEY, on the Gore Brook, leading from Beaver Meadow.

The first meeting house, first public house, first grist mill, first 
physician, and first lawyer, are among the things that never were. 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." Good old Mrs. Ann BLAIR's testimony.) The first 
frame schoolhouse was built in 1828. In 1834 a second school district was 
formed.

A Freewill Baptist Church was organized here in August 1841, and Elder John 
GARFIELD ordained pastor. It consisted originally of twelve members; upwards 
of fifty have since belonged to it. Two of their quarterly meetings were 
held here. In 1855 H. W. HARRIS became their minister, who was succeeded by 
Elder George KING, ordained pastor of the church in 1857. Elder KING has 
left the place, and the church is now supplied only by itinerant ministers. 
In 1850 this church "Resolved themselves into a society for the purpose of 
aiding superannuated ministers and poor widows and orphans, and to do all 
they could for their aid and support."

Submitted by Cathy Kubly