Caledonia

ELKINS, Jonathan & Jonathan

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, p 363 [excerpt from a 
section on the history of Peacham; sketch entitled "Deacon Jonathan ELKINS")

Biography of Jonathan ELKINS (the Deacon) - father of Jonathan (the Colonel)

Deacon Jonathan ELKINS was born in 1734 at Hampton [Rockingham County], New 
Hampshire; in 1756 married Elizabeth --- of Chester [Rockingham County], New 
Hampshire, and in 1760 removed to Haverhill [Grafton County], New Hampshire, 
being among the first settlers of that town, and coming there in very 
troublous times. From thence in 1776 he removed with his family to Peacham 
[Caledonia County, Vermont]. His was the first family to settle in town, and 
his house the first public house kept in Peacham. He was also the first 
deacon of the Presbyterian Church in Peacham, and when that ceased to be, 
filled the same office in the Congregational Church.

More than any other man, he may be called the father of the town [Peacham]. 
As a pioneer, he was patient, peaceful, persevering; as a citizen trusty, 
worthy, and honest; as a Christian exemplary, kind, quiet, submissive. He 
loved peace, and to maintain it would make almost any sacrifice. When the 
Tories took possession of his dwelling, he yielded rather than defend it, as 
being in his circumstances the wisest course, and they left his house 
standing, and him with his family in it, excepting his two sons, and one of 
those returned the day after, and the other in the space of two years. [Note 
the abducted son's biography below states he was gone one year. Biographies 
of other individuals in this source tell of young men being given a choice 
between imprisonment and joining British forces.] His idea was conquer by 
mildness more than by fighting; to persuade rather than drive, and beseech 
rather than fret and threaten; and by his gentle, yielding temperament, may 
have averted trouble and calamity from the infant settlement. He [Jonathan 
ELKINS] died 04 December 1808, aged seventy-four years. His wife died in 
Peacham [Caledonia County, Vermont], 07 March 1809, aged seventy-one years.

[The same source, on page 363 (also from the section concerned with the 
history of Peacham), includes the name of Dea. Jonathan ELKINS on a list of 
twelve persons who were members of the Congregational Church at its 
organization 12 April 1794, and gives the year of his death as 1808, but 
notes his age at death as seventy-four, not seventy-one. The history further 
states: "The first call to a minister to settle in the town [Peacham] in the 
work of the ministry was as follows: At a town meeting held in Mr. Reuben 
MINER's barn, July 1791, [it was] voted to offer Rev. Israel CHAPIN one half 
of the minister's lot and a salary of fifty pounds annually, which sum be 
paid in wheat at five shillings a bushel, or neat [unblemished] cattle, 
rating six-feet oxen at twelve pounds per yoke." For comparison, the first 
salary paid the principal of the academy (for three years beginning in 1796) 
was $333.33.]



Biography of Jonathan ELKINS (the Colonel) - son of Jonathan (the Deacon)

Colonel Jonathan ELKINS was born 23 October 1761 in Haverhill [Grafton 
County], New Hampshire, son of Deacon ELKINS; came with the family to 
Peacham, and was taken captive by Tories in his father's house 06 March 1781. 
He was marched away on foot, in deep snow, direct to Canada, first to 
Quebec, then carried to Ireland, then to England, from whence by exchange of 
prisoners, he returned to his friends the following year. He removed from 
Peacham about 1836 to Albion [Orleans County], New York, where he died. He 
possessed a soldierly element, was fearless, hardy, able to endure, met 
perils and dangers with firmness, and could mingle in stirring events with 
self-possession and confidence. His memory is held in high esteem by those 
who knew him, as a citizen of Peacham in the stirring times of its early 
history.

[The following is taken from page 362 of the same source, also from the 
section dealing with the history of Peacham.] The first millstones for a 
grist mill in Peacham [Caledonia County] were drawn from Newbury [Orange 
County] on an ox sled by Col. JOHNSON, of Newbury. He tarried overnight with 
Dea. ELKINS. Somehow the Tories found out he was there. They had a special 
dislike for Col. JOHNSON, Gen. BAILEY, and Rev. Peter POWERS. They hated 
BAILEY for his influence over the Indians; JOHNSON for his bravery at the 
taking of Ticonderoga; and POWERS, for he now and then preached on freedom 
and human rights, and that was preaching politics. Knowing JOHNSON was 
staying with a defenseless farmer [Deacon Jonathan ELKINS], about midnight 
they surrounded the house, and entering took prisoners whom they would, at 
the point of a bayonet. Resistance was useless, and JOHNSON, with Jacob 
PAGE, Col. J. ELKINS, and a younger brother, were marched off before 
daylight, prisoners of war. JOHNSON told the Tories the younger ELKINS would 
not live to get through the woods, as he was feeble, "having been drowned 
when a little boy," and they let the boy return, to his great joy and that of 
his parents. Col. J. [Jonathan ELKINS] found many old acquaintances among 
the Tories, now bitter enemies. There were eleven of them under the command 
of a Capt. PRICHARD. This affair happened 06 March 1781.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly