EARLY SETTLERS
Few of the original Grantees under the Charter of 1761 settled the land; most sold the "Rights" or "Shares" they had been granted. In 1763 (recorded in 1798) one sale to Ephraim Cowen conveyed 25 Rights, together with 28 in Manchester, for "Thirty-three Pd, Six Shillings and Eight Pence"; and in 1764 (also recorded in 1798) the same Grantee secured the Rights of 19 others for 5 Shillings each. These, together with his own Right, gave him 45 Rights, more than half the acreage of the Town.
As a speculator he did well in Litchfield County and Fairfield County, Connecticut, for early records show his many sales of property, notably to purchasers from Woodbury, Roxbury, Southbury, New Milford, Newtown, Kent, and Watertown.
The first settler in Sandgate was Reuben Thomas, who came from Woodbury, Connecticut. Congregational Church records show "1769, December 27th -- Reuben Thomas Esqr. moved his family which was the first family into this town."
Samuel, his son, the first child born in Sandgate, was born on September 15, 1772.
Under the Constitution of the Independent Republic of Vermont, each town consisting of 80 taxable inhabitants was to choose 2 representatives during the period of 7 years following the adoption of the Constitution, and each other inhabited town one representative; after that date each town was to be entitled to one representative. 7
The journal of the first House, that of March 1777, contains no roll of members. Reuben Thomas served as Representative from the Town of Sandgate during the Session called October 1778, his pay being 1 pound 4 shillings per day, plus one shilling per mile for his horse. This session was held at Windsor. He served again as Town Representative in 1781, 1796, 1800, and 1802.
In 1784 an Act was passed enabling the Governor and Council to appoint Justices of the Peace in new towns. Reuben Thomas was appointed one of the Justices for Bennington County in 1786, 1787, 1788, and 1789.
It is not known when the town of Sandgate was organized, that is, when Proprietors' Meetings ceased and Town Meetings began, but they seem to have over-lapped. Earliest records are in bad condition, many pages torn and missing, but legible items would indicate that the first annual Town Meeting was held in 1781 or 1782. Records for the annual Town Meeting held in March 1790 and through 1804 are complete. During this period Reuben Thomas at various times held offices of Moderator, Selectman, Lister, Highway Surveyor, and Trustee of the first official school district, called the South School District.
Reuben Thomas, Esq., died January 11, 1806, at the age of 66, and is buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery. His two sons, Samuel and Reuben, later became active in town affairs
.Sandgate's early development can be credited largely to the industry and initiative of the Hurd families. Early land records between 1780 and 1800 show innumerable Hurd names, and their relationship is interesting.
Adam and John Hurd, brothers, born in Somersetshire, England, resided in Stratford, Connecticut, about 1640. Of all the original Sandgate Hurds who emigrated from Woodbury, Connecticut, and vicinity, only one, possibly a second, can be clearly identified as a descendant of John Hurd.
Adam's great-grandson, Benjamin Hurd, born in 1693, married Hannah Hinman. They became the parents of 13 children, five of whom, Timothy, Daniel, Simeon, Samuel, and Abijah are known to have settled in Sandgate. Their sister Silence married Benjamin Warner in 1736 and became the mother of Col. Seth Warner, well-known Revolutionary War hero.
At a Proprietors' Meeting in 1781, Timothy Hurd was voted "Committee for to take care of the Glebe Lot and Society Lot and Se that non man shall cut timber on the same." He was also one of the original Proprietors' Committee to lay out highways. His name is listed on the first roll of membership of the Congregational Church.
Timothy and his son Eleazer owned one of the first sawmills and the Grist Mill (located at the convergence of the main highway and the highway to West Sandgate) and leased the "prevelidge of higsting a wast gate at the west End of there said Grismill Dam to Preserve sd mill" from his son Isaac. Timothy died in 1798 at the age of 76, and willed his half of the mills to his son Ned.
Part of Timothy's bequest to his wife was "one Good Serviceable horse, two cows, and ten sheep and all the wool and flax remaining in the house at my Death."
Wool and flax were valuable assets -- one of the Acts passed by the Legislature in 1787 being designed to encourage the raising of sheep and the manufacture of linen. It provided that the listers were to deduct from each person's list the sum of 2 shillings for every pound of wool to have been shorn from sheep in his possession the year of taking the list, and also to deduct in like manner one shilling for each yard of linen or tow cloth which such person had raised and manufactured into cloth the preceding year, either for rise of his own family or for sale.
Timothy had seven children: Isaac, Abner, Mary, Ned, Hannah, Eleazer, and Beula, of whom Abner and Ned were the most active in town affairs.
Abner served on Proprietors' Committee to lay out land; as Town Representative in 1780; as Town Clerk from 1790 (possibly earlier) to 1801; as Selectman for two years; and as Constable for four years. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1787, 1788, and 1789. In 1801 he removed to Frederick Town (now Lakemont, N. Y.) where he died suddenly in 1812 or 1813.
Ned was a surveyor, and served on Proprietors' Committee to lay out land (as a Surveyor his earnings were 5 shillings per day). In 1783 he was appointed one of four County Surveyors for Bennington County. He later removed to Clarendon, Vermont.
Beula, Timothy's youngest daughter, seems to have been the only one of his children who lived out her life in Sandgate. She married Reuben Hurd, son of Daniel 1st, bore seven children, died in 1889, and is buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery.
This Daniel Hurd, son of Timothy, was known in Sandgate as Daniel Hurd 1st. During the same period another Daniel who lived in Sandgate was known as Daniel Hurd 2nd. They were second cousins, their grandfathers, Sgt. Benjamin Hurd and Ebenezer Hurd, respectively, being brothers.
At Proprietors' Meeting in 1781, Daniel Hurd and Samuel Drinkwater were voted "Committee for to take care of the Minister's Lot and Se that non man shall cut timber on the same."
Daniel Hurd 1st was also one of the first members of the Congregational Church, as was his second wife, Dorcas His first wife, Experience Smith, had borne him five children; Dorcas bore him seven children. Daniel Hurd 1st died in 1805 at the age of 82, his wife Dorcas in 1812; both are buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery. None of his children seems to have taken too active a part in town affairs.
Bethel, the oldest son. served as Town Representative in 1779;
Reuben and Thomas served its Listers;
Abraham served as a Fence Viewer.
Bethel later moved to Middletown, Vermont, his brother Daniel to Tinmouth, Vermont; Thomas moved to New York State, as did his bother Moses; Reuben and Abraham remained in Sandgate. Reuben died in 1811, Abraham in 1855, and both are buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery.
His service to the town was its Tything Man and Fence Viewer'. He was also one of the first members of the Congregational Church. He died in 1806, at the age of 81 years, and is buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery. Of his 11 children --
Richard, the oldest son, probably did more for the town in its first years than any other Hurd. He served as Proprietors' Clerk from 1781 (or earlier) and many of the meetings were held at his home. From 1790 he served various terms as Selectman, Constable, Treasurer, and 5 years as Moderator. He was a Justice of the Peace; also Town Representative 13 years between 1787 and 1807. In 1808 he removed to New York State, died in 1827, and is buried in Penn Yan. There is no record that any of his 10 children remained in Sandgate.
Elijah served as Selectman, Lister, Tything man, Fence Viewer, and Highway Surveyor. He died in 1835 at the age of 80 years and is buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery. His youngest son, Elijah, Jr., became Dr. Elijah Hurd and served the townspeople many years, until his death in 1884.
Not very much is known of Samuel; apparently he did not remain in Sandgate very long. However, records show that he served as Selectman for 3 years.
He also did not remain very long in Sandgate, and seems to have taken no part in town affairs. He is believed to have moved to Manchester.
Another branch of the Hurd family which added to Sandgate's early history was that of Jedidiah Hurd. He was a cousin of Timothy, Daniel, Simeon, Samuel, and Abijah; his father, John Hurd, and their father, Benjamin Hurd, were brothers.
The life of Jedidiah must have been a full one, for, from one of his descendants, Mr. Thaddeus B. Hurd of Clyde, Ohio, we learn that he was a builder of mills, and built the early mills in what is now North Adams, Massachusetts, and once owned all the land which is now the downtown business district of North Adams. Born in Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1721, married there in 1741, he seems to have gone to North Adams when it was a wilderness to build the first mill. He returned to Woodbury, then, in 1762, bought land in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, and apparently replaced the early mill in North Adams with two more substantial structures, one a gristmill, the other a sawmill. He was a Proprietor of Sunderland, Vermont, in 1764; sold his land in Massachusetts in 1765; kept going back to Woodbury and selling his lands there. The then owner of the mill lands in Massachusetts, a Tory, fled to Canada when the war came on, and the lands were confiscated. After the war Jedidiah petitioned the Massachusetts General Court and was awarded the lands, which he promptly sold. He was then living in Amenia, New York, where he died in 1792.
In 1779 Jedidiah purchased from Edward Wentworth of Boston (father of Benning Wentworth, then deceased) the share of land in Sandgate which Benning had granted to himself, "No. 13." Some of this land was laid out to him on the "easternmost" side of Minister Hill, along Hopper Brook, and in 1789 survey of road was made "to 'Diah Hurd's house, along Hopple Brook."
At least two of Jedidiah's 12 children also settled here, Jedidiah, Jr., who later removed to Sunderland, and David Canfield Hurd, who married Philena Bristoll, in Sandgate, in 1786. It is believed he built the house now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fred W. Lomberg, Jr. (date on stone in cellar wall 1795). He later removed to Canandaigua, New York, where he died in 1834.
Jedidiah Hurd was also one of the first members of the Congregational Church, and according to church records his wife died in Sandgate, 1781.
The grandson of Ebenezer Hurd, Daniel 2nd, as he was known in Sandgate, was another of the Hurd family who settled here prior to 1780, and for more than a hundred years descendants of this Daniel lived here. Four generations are buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery. Daniel 2nd had four sons, Lewis, Adam, Frederick, and James, but only Lewis seems to have taken a particularly active part in town affairs.
Capt. Lewis, as he was known, was born in Roxbury, Connecticut in 1759. Drafted in June 1776 for 6 months, in May 1777 he enlisted in Col. Webb's Regt. of Stamford, Connecticut, and still later served in Col. Butler's 2nd Connecticut Regt. He saw action at Valley Forge, Monmouth, and the storming of Stony Point under Gen'l. Anthony Wayne. In 1781 he was in the Battle of Yorktown, on which occasion he was a member of a party under Lafayette who scaled the walls of the fort during the siege. There he received a severe wound in his arm, which put him out of active service for some time. In 1782 he was attached to the 3rd Conn. Regt., and was later placed on the Pension List of that company. In the winter of 1783, Capt. Lewis Hurd settled in Sandgate with his family. A religious man, he worked hard for the completion of the "Meeting House" or Congregational Church. He served the town many years as Treasurer, and at various times as Tax Collector, Lister, and Highway Surveyor.
Daniel 2nd died in 1810, Lewis in 1847, Adam in 1844, Frederick in 1812, James in 1854.
Thus far, we have discussed the descendants of Adam Hurd, one of the two brothers first mentioned on page 13 above. With Theophilus Hurd we come to the one person who can thus far be definitely identified as a descendant of John Hurd, Adam's brother.
Theophilus settled in West Sandgate with his wife and six children, and the only known one of the so-called "Stratford" Hurds in Sandgate. He was a Tithing man, his son Cyrus a Brander of horses for the town, and both are listed among the organizers of the Episcopal Society.
Theophilus and his wife Joanna Bristol are believed to be buried in West Sandgate, although no marker can be found. Their son Cyrus and his wife Gemina are buried there, as are also their daughter Abigail and her husband, Joseph Tuttle.
The lineage of John is not known, but it is assumed he was probably of the "Stratford" Hurds also. Census of 1790 shows a family of eight, names of children being unlisted.
Town records show that John Hurd served as Selectman in 1790, and during the next ten years, at various times, as Fence Viewer and Highway Surveyor. He was also one of the organizers of the Episcopal Society.
It would seem that many Hurd "in-laws" settled here, for early records show the names of Baker, Bennett, Bristol, Clark, Curtis, Hinman, Lacy, Leavenworth, Sanford, Tuttle, Wellor, and Warner.
THE WARNERS
Col. Seth WarnerCol. Seth Warner was born in Roxbury, Connecticut, the fourth of 10 children of Dr. Benjamin Warner and his wife, Silence Hurd, sister of Timothy, Daniel, Simeon, Samuel, and Abijah Hurd. Dr. Warner purchased ten "shares" of land in Sandgate from Ephraim Cowen, and two of these shares went to his son Seth. In 1763 the family removed to Bennington, and in 1765 Seth Warner was married to Hester Hurd.
When the courts of New York challenged the legality of the New Hampshire grants and sought to oust the occupants of the lands, the people of Vermont resisted, under the leadership of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner and others. When the Revolution broke out, Seth Warner was actively allied with Ethan Allen and fought under General John Stark at the Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777.
It is not known whether Col. Warner actually lived in Sandgate, nor for how long, but records of 1781 show that he was one of a Proprietors' Committee to lay out the first 50-acre Home Lots, and the work was accepted.
Due to failing health, and in the hope of improvement, he returned to Roxbury in 1782, where he died in 1784, at the early age of 42.
Eliphaz Warner and his wife Mercy (Drinkwater) came from Middletown, Connecticut, in 1776, with their family. He served as a soldier in various alarms during the Revolutionary War.
Among early records we find that Eliphaz Warner, acting on Proprietors' Committee, laid out most of the first land surveys. He died in 1816, at the age of 73; his wife Mercy died in 1813, age 67. Both are buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery, as is also their daughter Hannah, who died in 1818, age 33.
William, their eldest son, became a prosperous farmer. He was married three times, and was the father of 11 children. William Warner died in 1856 at the age of 85, and is buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery, as are also his first and second wives.
and
SHAYS SETTLEMENT
Daniel Shays was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in 1747. He saw distinguished military service during the Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1780. His early service was as a Sergeant in Capt. Dickinson's Company of Minutemen, which marched on the "Lexington Alarm" April 19, 1775. 8
Following the Revolutionary War, feeling was running high concerning exorbitant taxes and foreclosures, but nowhere was this discontent more keenly felt than in Massachusetts. Mobs, mostly debt-ridden farmers, formed in various sections. Daniel Shays became the leader of the Rebellion in 1786, and there were many skirmishes; he was finally charged with treason and condemned to death. He escaped, made his way to his sister in Salem, New York, and later to Sandgate, where he was befriended by Capt. Lewis Hurd. Both had seen service during the Revolutionary War under General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point, July 16, 1779.
Many of Shays' followers also left Massachusetts and eventually found their way into West Sandgate, possibly having gone into New York State and through Salem back into the mountains of Vermont. There they established a settlement in the ferthe Edie valley south of Beatty Mountain, about four miles from the New York State border, and about six miles north of Lincoln Lane Corners in West Sandgate. The settlement consisted of a tavern, a little store, a fort and block house, mill dam and mill, schoolhouse, a burying ground, and 15 or 18 houses clustered around a Village Green. 9 The settlement was abandoned not long after due to an epidemic, probably 1798, which took the lives of most of the settlers. 10
In 1787 Governor Chittenden issued a Proclamation that the citizens of this State were not to "harbour, entertain or conceal the said Daniel Shays." In 1787-88 Shays had purchased two Rights of land in Sandgate, which he sold in September of 1788, and it may have been due to this Proclamation that he did not stay here long. In 1790 he was living in Arlington, but soon moved on to Livingstonville, in Schoharie County, New York, where he is supposed to have lived for 15 years, then to the Village of Cayuga, where he remained briefly. tie finally settled in Sparta Township in Livingston County, where he spent the remaining years of his life. He died in 1825, a free man, as he was pardoned in 1789, although he is said not to have known of it until years later. He is buried in Union Cemetery, "McKay Burial Grounds," Conesus, Livingston County, New York. A New York State Historical Society Marker by the roadside points out his burial place.
Simeon Hazletine, born in 1737, was a soldier in the French and Indian War at the age of 20. He had been living in Hardwick, Massachusetts; later he returned there and bought a farm in 1771. In 1774 he was elected Captain of the Minutemen. In 1777 he served in the 4th Worcester County, Massachusetts Regiment, which marched to Bennington, joining Brig. Gen. Jonathan Warner's Brigade. 11
Returning to Massachusetts, he joined Shays Rebellion as Colonel, and, in 1787, was so deeply involved in the Rebellion that he left Hardwick permanently and fled to Vermont. He settled in the northeast part of Sandgate, the section known as Beartown, some time previous to 1790.
He was a member of the Episcopal Church, and, by recording certificate, exempt from tax for supporting the only church in Sandgate at that time, the Congregational --
"Dec. 6, 1790 - Simeon Hazletine - Cert. Renew for Record, Sandgate, Sept. 2, 1790, this may certify that Capt. Simeon Hazletine is a professor of the Episcopal Church and pey his minister's Rate to me.
Simeon Hazletine continued to enlarge his holdings, always joining his property at some boundary. In 1796 he bought at tax sale 217 acres for 13 shillings 5 pence (a halfpenny per acre) and in 1801, at another tax sale, 190 acres at "lc per acre plus costs, total $2.09." In all he acquired over' 1000 acres in Sandgate, besides considerable bordering acreage in Manchester. He owned a sawmill, blacksmith shop, and quarry.
"Colonel" Hazletine, as he was known, served as Selectman in 1793 and 1794, and Town Representative in 1794. lie died in 1824 at the age of 87, and his wife Mary in 1828 at the age of 84. Both are buried in the old Beartown Cemetery on Hazletine Hill.
Almost twenty years later, a deed of record reads in part "all land lying East and Northeast of a Rock on which Col. Hazletine skinned a beat', there being a hole drilled in the rock."
Three Hamilton families came to Sandgate; the relationship, if any, is not known.
The first Hamilton family was that of Thomas, who, with his wife Jannett and four children, came from Massachusetts during the early 1780's. He purchased the "Share" granted to John Hamilton by Benning Wentworth, and is believed to have been a nephew of John Hamilton. 12
Thomas Hamilton served as Moderator, two terms as Selectman, and as Highway Surveyor, and was a Deacon in the Congregational Church. In 1799 his daughter Anne married James Cleveland of Pawlet, Vermont. By 1814 Thomas and his sons were in Granville, New York. A few years later, according to Land Records, Thomas was in Pawlet, Vermont.
Not very much is known of this Fairfield County, Connecticut, family. A son George, who married Elizabeth Ann Woodard in Sandgate, 1796, son Nathan and daughter Sally are the only ones who settled here with Alexander' in the 1790's; but none of this family seems to have taken any active part in town affairs. Alexander moved on into New York State, where he died in 1809. 13
From Stratford, Connecticut, James and Rhoda Hamilton came to Sandgate prior to 1790 with their children, James Jr., Aaron, John H., William, Robert, Maria, Rhoda and Eliner. For more than one hundred years thereafter the name of Hamilton was a familiar one in town. The section where they settled along Red Brook and Hopper Brook is still known as Hamilton Hollow.
Rhoda Hamilton died in 1796, James in 1808, both being buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery, where foul' generations of the family lie. All the children married in Sandgate and lived here. James Jr. had no children; Aaron had four; John H. had three; William had five; Robert one; Maria (Hurd) two; Rhoda (Buker) five; and her twin sister Eliner (Thomas) four.
Aaron's son Morehouse served as Justice of the Peace, and his son, Aaron Morehouse Hamilton, was Selectman four years.
William's second son, William Gilbert Hamilton, served as Selectman three years, and was Town Representative in 1852. Elisha L., son of William Gilbert, was also a Selectman, and served as Town Representative in 1876. Ezra Hamilton, a younger brother of Elisha L., did not hold any town office.
William's first son, James 3d, apparently took no active part in town affairs; but James' older son, William J., served as Justice of the Peace, School Superintendent a number of years, and taught school until he was more than 60 years of age. He and his wife Viola (Woodard) had eight children; Celia, their first child, married Cole Stickle, and in her later years, although she then lived in Indianapolis, devoted her efforts to restoring the old Methodist Church, our present Town Hall.
Clark Hamilton, brother of William J., was Town Representative in 1882. At the time of his death in 1939, aged 94, he was believed to have been Vermont's oldest Mason, a member of Red Mountain Lodge, No. 63, of Arlington, since 1867. 14
The names of James Hamilton and James Hamilton, 3d, are on the early membership list of the Congregational Church.
Three Peck families were among early Sandgate settlers who came from Newtown, Connecticut. They were the grandsons of two brothers, Joseph and Ephraim Peck. 15
A grandson of Joseph, Aaron Peck and two sons, Joshua and Joel, were here before 1790, but only Joel remained in Sandgate. He married Sarah Hurd and had three children; Sarah and the children died before he died in 1842, at the age of 78; all are buried in West Sandgate Cemetery.
Another grandson of Joseph, Nathan Peck, came soon after 1800; nothing is known of his family. He died in 1811, at the age of 41, and is buried in West Sandgate Cemetery.
A grandson of Ephraim, George Peck, is supposed to have established his family here in 1787, although he had cattle registered in 1778. He and his wife Ann had 10 children, four of whom died young. An active man, he took great interest in town affairs; served four years as Selectman from 1791; as Fence Viewer, Treasurer, and Lister at various times; as Town Representative four terms. He was elected Town Clerk the year Abner Hurd left Sandgate, in 1801, and held that office 28 years. He was Justice of the Peace for 29 years. George Peck died in 1831, his wife Ann in 1844; both are buried in West Sandgate Cemetery.
Clark Peck and his sister Betty were the only ones of George Peck's children who remained in Sandgate; Hezekiah, Thomas and Amarillus went West.
Clark and Polly Ann (Baldwin) Peck had eight children; one of their sons, Smith Peck, served three terms as Selectman, and his son, William C., was Town Representative in 1892, served various terms as Moderator, Selectman, and was an Assistant Judge. 16
Matthew Smith established his home in West Sandgate prior to 1795, and the Smith name still appears on Sandgate records. The Smith farm is one of the few remaining dairy farms in the town.
Matthew Smith served as Tithing Man, Fence Viewer, and Highway Surveyor. He died in 1827, age 56, and is buried in West Sandgate Cemetery. His wife Ann (Hurd) died in 1847.
Levi Smith, one of Matthew's sons, died in 1826 at the age of 31. He was killed when working on a well which caved in and caught him in the debris. Levi and his wife Laura (Hubbell had three children; the eldest, Aaron Hamilton Smith married Amarillus Peck (daughter of Thomas Peck). He went West during the 1850's with his family, his mother, and his father-in-law.
Norman Smith, another son of Matthew, married Louisa Peck, eldest daughter of Clark Peck. Norman served as Selectman, and Justice of the Peace, as did his son Guy.
Edd Smith, a third son of Matthew, married Pamela Sherman, daughter of Isaac Sherman (Town Representative two terms) who built the first brick house in Sandgate, from bricks made in his own kiln. Edd Smith died in 1833, at the age of 31. His only son, Cornelius V., served as Selectman and Justice of the Peace, as did his son Rollin Cornelius.
Rollin C. Smith also served as Town Representative in 1902. He married Ruth Ann Millard (granddaughter of Clark Peck); their son Fred R. was Justice of the Peace; daughter Ione served two terms as Town Representative; daughter Vivian served 22 years as Justice of the Peace.
Edison Smith and Millard Smith, sons of Fred R., have also served as Selectmen. 17
Asa N. Randall, although he had come to Sandgate earlier, did not bring his family from Southbury, Connecticut, until 1800, and apparently did not take any active part in town affairs. He died in 1827 at the age of 58; his wife Hannah lived to be 91 years. Both are buried in Sandgate Center Cemetery.
Walter Randall, their son, became Town Clerk in 1834, and served in that office for 26 years. His son, Walter B. Randall, was Selectman, held the office of Town Clerk for 20 years, and also served three terms as Town Representative.
Levi Randall, other son of Asa N. and Hannah, married twice, had 10 children. One of his daughters, Harriet S., married Cornelius V. Smith; one of his sons, Ransford B., served as Selectman.
Ransford B. Randall died in 1901; in 1902 his widow, Sarah M. Randall, was elected Town Clerk and held the office 7 years; for the next 6 years one of her daughters, Caroline A. Randall Roberson was Town Clerk.
There have been no Randalls in Sandgate for a good many years.18
Other familiar names appearing on record before 1800 are Buckingham, Conkey, Daton, Field, Gray, Norton, Parker, Peet, Prindle, Sherman, Skidmore, Squires, Torrance, Tucker, Woodward, and Woodard.
In the early 1800's appear the names of Baldwin, Bentley, Covey, Flower, Mears, Snow, Waters, Woodcock, and Wyman.
Stephen Peet, author, editor, missionary, and one of the founders of Beloit College, was born in Sandgate, 1795.19
Ormsby B. Thomas, twice Congressman from Wisconsin, was born in Sandgate, 1831.20
Franklin C. Prindle, Civil Engineer, U. S. Navy; Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy, was born in Sandgate, 1841. 21 He was the author of The Prindle Genealogy.
7. John M. Comstock, Principal Civil Officers of Vermont (St. Albans, Vt., 1918), p. 70.
8. Graham, Notes on Daniel Shays.
9. Graham, Notes on Shays Settlement.
10. While no official record of Shays Settlement exists in the Town of Sandgate, Congregational Church Records show 32 deaths during a three month period, July, August, and September, 1798, 30 of which were children. This seems to point to a possible connection.
11. Graham, Letter, Hardwick Historical Society, Hardwick, Mass., February 27, 1955.
12. Leslie Peebles, Family records.
13. Cyril B. Clark, Family records.
14. Mrs. Clifton Mears, Family records.
15. Ira B. Peck, Peck Genealogical History, (Boston, Mass., 1868).
16. Under Vermont law an Assistant Judge may be a layman.
17. Vivian J. Smith, Family records.
18. Harry Asa Randall, Family records.
19. Dorman B. E. Kent, One Thousand Men, (1915), p. 99.
20. lbid., p. 100.
21. Ibid.
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