Groton Historical Society NewsletterJ. W. Benzie, EditorP. O. Box 89Groton, VT 05046-0089

GHS NewsletterPage 12

Hosea Welch; Descendantsof Edmund and JonathanWelch Genealogy ; Grotonand Ryegate Land Records;The History of Ryegate;Vital Statistics Records andthe Vermont HistoricalSociety.

Footnotes

1 The site of Jesse's housewas west of what is nowc a l l e d G l o v e r R o a d ,approximately 1.1 milesNorth of Route 302.

(Continued from page 11)2 Gray's Cemetery is located nearthe intersection of present-dayPound and Glover Roads.

3 This house is located on theNorth side of William ScottMemorial Highway (Route 302)approximately two-tenths of amile West of the Groton-Ryegatetown line. A period painting ofthe house is on display in theGroton Historical Society house.

4 The Heath Cemetery is locatednear the intersection of present-day Goodfellow and Red BrookRoads.

Return mailing label with any cor-rections and your 2006 dues of $5to the Groton Historical Society atP. O. Box 89, Groton, VT 05046.

Pioneer families living in Groton at thetime of the first census in 1790 wereenumerated as:

James Abbott 2-3-1Israel Bailey 1-0-3John Darling 4-2-5Aaron Hosmer 2-1-0Jonathan James 1-1-4Edmund Morse 2-1-2Timothy Townshend 1-0-2Robards Darling 2-1-4

The three numerals following eachhead of the household are number ofmales 16 years of age and over, malesunder 16, and females. Two otherpioneers living here before the censuswere Jacob Jenness and ArchibaldMcLaughlin as noted in the proprietorsmeeting record of 1787, but they hadleft town before the census. ArchibaldMcLaughlin was enumerated in thePeacham census, but the whereaboutsof Jacob Jenness, a relative of EdmundMorse, is unknown. Another pioneerliving here before the census and alsobefore the proprietors meeting in 1787

(Continued on page 2)

GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETYNewsletter

Volume 19 Issue 1 Winter 2006Groton, Vermont 05046

GROTON’S PIONEERS

OFFICERS

President Richard BrooksVice President Deane PageSecretary Diane KreisTreasurer Joan HaskellWeb Site Editor James DresserNewsletter Editor Willard Benzie

MEETING SCHEDULE(second Tuesday)

March through November10 AM at the Peter Paul House

1203 Scott Hwy.

Contents

Groton’s Pioneers 1Jesse’s Powder Horn 2Heath Family 3GHS web address 3Civil War memorabilia 4Pictures 6

NOTICE

Don’t forget your 2006 dues

The next Newsletter will bemailed only to members in

good standing.

Apologies for missing theFall 2005 Newsletter. Ed.

Page 2 GHS Newsletter

was Jesse Heath who came to Groton in1781 and his first three children, John,Susanna, and Thomas, were born here in1782, 84, and 85 respectively as reportedin the Ryegate History. Jesse Heath’sfamily was enumerated in the Ryegatecensus of 1790 and in the Groton censuses

(Continued from page 1) of 1800 and 1810. See the relatedstories in this issue written by DaleBrown. about Jesse’s Powder Horn anda brief history of The Heath Family.

Look for stories about the otherpioneers in future issues of the GrotonHistorical Society Newsletter.

Jesse Heath’s Powder Hornand its association with Groton, Vermont

By Dale Brown

The Heath familywas very active during theWar of Independence.Jesse's father, Zebediah,was with the Green MountainBoys, under the command ofSeth Warner, when theycaptured Crown Point inNew York. He and his sonJesse, age 16, served withthe Patriots at Bunker Hilland the Battle of Trenton.They enlisted in the Conti-nental Army for a period ofThree years and spent thewinter at Valley Forge. Inthe spring their unit wassent to the Lake Champlainarea to prevent General Bur-goyne from isolating the NewEngland States from the restof the Colonies. As a scout,

Zebediah went missing inaction during the battle ofHubbardton. After thebattle of Bennington andSaratoga, Jesse finishedhis enlistment at WestPoint where his unit was toresist General Howe's at-tempt to join Burgoyne. Itwas here at West Pointthat Jesse crafted his spe-cial POWDER HORN, which iscurrently in safe keeping atthe Groton Historical Society.

Allen Gandin gra-ciously donated the POW-DER HORN to the GrotonHistorical Society in mem-ory of his wife ‘Dolly’(Page) Gandin, a descen-dant of Jesse Heath. (seeThe Heath Family article)

Page 11GHS Newsletter

third child born in the Grotonterritory, enlisted during thewar of 1812 and was slain bythe enemy in 1815.

James Heath born in 1789and married Nancy Taisey, thesister of George Taisey. Georgehelped his father build thestone house on the Great Roadin Groton and made the brick tobuild his brick home onpresent-day Route 302.3

Jesse Heath Jr.married Mehitabel Paul, whosebrother Peter Paul built, ahouse in 1832 that nowserves a s th e Gro tonHistorical Society House, andis currently the oldest housein Groton.

Moses Heath, thefourth child, was also in theWar of 1812. Upon the deathof his first wife, Betsy, hee s t a b l i s h ed t h e H ea t hCemetery on his land near theintersection of the Old andNew County Roads.4 This areawas reserved when he soldthe property to JosephRicker, the founder ofRicker's Mill. After his secondmarriage to Sally Chase, theymoved to Barton. They died inBarton and their bodies wereinterred at the Heath Cemetery.It should be mentioned thatAlbert Cady maintained thisburial lot for years and he inturn was buried there.

Author's Notes:1. Jesse’s daughter

Betsey Heath had a greatgrandson who lived in Groton.He built a store in the villageand his business survived theGreat Depression to exist for40 years. The store front had asign that read B. L. Brown Meatand Groceries. This was my father'sstore. The building currently housesa small restaurant named Brown'sMarket Bistro.

2. When Sam Clarkpurchased a farm from Ira Low in1837, he set aside a portion of theland for the Groton VillageCemetery. There is a recordthat Jesse Heath surveyed andlaid out the plots for the firstsection. The date of thisstatement is in question;however, Clark's second wife,Martha Heath, may have involvedJesse in this assignment. There isreason to believe that Jesse didperform this assignment andwas awarded Lot # 4 for hiseffort. Jesse Heath died on April27, 1839 and was the first tobe buried in the Groton VillageCemetery.

Acknowledgements:The information in this briefhistory was taken fromLawrence Heath's Our FamilyLegacy; Mr. Glover's Groton;History of the Groton VillageCemetery; Indian Trails by

(Continued on page 12)

Page 10 GHS Newsletter

daughters. Sally, Jesse's seconddaughter, married John O. Pageand they were residents ofRyegate. It is the opinion of thosecontacted, that Jesse may havespent his final days with the Pagefamily and gave the POWDER HORNto his daughter Sally. Since then,it may have been handed downto their son William and then toWilliam's son Edward (Ed) Page.It is known that Ed Page gavethe Powder Horn to his first bornLeslie (Les) Page. Les marriedElizabeth Hart and they had onechild, Geraldine. Referred to allher life as Dolly, she marriedAllen Gandin and after her death,Allen graciously donated thePOWDER HORN to the GrotonHistorical Society in her memory.

Jesse Heath's Children

Jesse had a family of 15children. Some of them remainedin the Groton-Ryegate area andhave been associated with the firstfamilies of the town:

John Heath, Jesse's firstchild, was born in 1782. Heserved in the War of 1812 duringthe border line conflict betweenCanada and the United States. Hemarried Hannah Darling in 1804.John served as Selectman, Justiceof the Peace and County Judge.He purchased several lots of landin the survey of the seconddivision and lived in West Groton.(Worthy of note: John's wife

(Continued from page 9) Hannah was the sister ofSam Darling. Sam marriedCatherine Welch and theyare accountable for 50pages of the WelchGenealogy.)

Between 1825 and1850 there was a landrush to buy properties inthe west. and around1835, John and Hannahmoved to Ohio. Threeyears later he was sellingland about 40 milesnorthwest of Columbus Ohioto Vermonters from theGroton-Ryegate area. Heand his wife Hannah wereburied in East Liberty,Ohio. They had 32 sonsand grandsons serve in theUnion Army during the CivilWar. It appears that atleast one family of Heaths ofeach generation. beginningwith John's, moved furthernorth and west to Indiana,North Dakota, Alberta andBritish Columbia. Seveng e n e r a t i o n s l a t e r ,L a w r e n c e H e a t h o fVancouver B.C., becameinterested in genealogy,sold his business andpursued the history of hisfamily. After two years ofresearch his book, Our FamilyLegacy, was published in 1991and a large portion of JesseHeath's life history was takenfrom this Genealogy.

Tom Heath the

GHS Newsletter Page 3

When the Roman Empireconquered Eng land , theybrought with them the Catholicreligion. In the twelfth century,the Norman name for Heath innorthern France was Bruarioand became the Anglo-Saxonname Heath when moving toEngland. During the 1500's theKing Henry VIII of Englandabolished the Catholic Churchand established the Church ofEngland. Those who resistedwere put to death. Until 1605the Heaths abided by these rulesbut changed to join the Puritanswho didn't agree with the Englishinterpretation of the Bible. Toavo i d p r o s ecu t i o n , t h e yremained under cover in thetown of Nezeing, England toawait a ship that would takethem to the New World. FourHeath brothers who lived therecame to the Boston areaaround 1632. How the John,William and Isaac familiesarrived is not known. However,records show that Bartholomewwas single at the time and

arrived on the Ship Lyons,the same type of ship asthe Mayflower.

Bartholomew Heathand Hannah Moyce, born inEngland, were married inNewbury, MA, later to live inHaverhill, MA. At that timetown allotments were calledplantations with a commonarea for housing and landoutside for farming. SinceHaverhill was a frontier townadjacent to the MerrimackRiver, the settlers weresubject to French and Indianraids for a period of 75 years.Bartholomew and Hannah hadeight children. Only three ofthe eight lived to become adults.The other five were killed byIndians.

Josiah Heath Sr. thethird child of Bartholomewand Hannah. was born in1651. He married MaryDavis from Haverhill in 1671and they had nine children.During the late 1670's andthrough the 1700's, Indians

(Continued on page 5)

GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY WEB PAGEEasy access from http://www.grotonvt.com/

The Heath FamilyBy Dale Brown

Page 4 GHS Newsletter

sioned 1st Lieutenant on the 16th

of August, 1860.The Thirteenth Regi-

ment Vermont Volunteer Infan-try with Colonel Francis V.Randall commanding was or-ganized September 24, 1862. Itwas composed of ten companiesrecruited from northern VT, andmustered into the U. S. serviceon October 3, for nine months,with 953 officers and men. Itleft for Washington D. C. on the11th, arrived on the 13th, andwent into camp on East CapitolHill, remaining there until Octo-ber 30th. They crossed LongBridge and camped one night onArlington Heights, marching thenext day to the heights south ofAlexandria, and there, in whatbecame known as “Camp Ver-mont” they were engaged for amonth in camp and picket duty,drills, reviews and in fatiguework on near-by Fort Lyon.On November 26th, theymarched towards Fairfax C. H.and late in the night biv-ouacked, then proceeded thenext day to Union Mills, where

(Continued on page 6)

The DRUM and PARADEDRESS UNIFORM of CaptainWilliam V. Peck used by the VER-MONT VOLUNTEER MILITIAwas donated to the Groton Histori-cal Society for public display byMelvin Benzie from the Benziefamily. Captain Peck was theGrandfather of Helen M. (Peck)Benzie, and the Great Grandfatherof her children, J. Willard Benzie,Ina M. (Benzie) Boucher Corthell,Melvin C. Benzie, Charlotte J.(Benzie) Fadden, and Janet H.(Benzie) Puffer.

William V. Peck was com-missioned Captain on the 23rd ofSeptember 1862. He recruitedCompany H, 13th Regiment, Ver-mont Volunteer Infantry, whichwas mustered into the UnitedStates service at Brattleboro, VT,on the 4th of October, 1862. Hewas given an Honorable Dischargeon 20th of January, 1863, due to illhealth. Captain Peck was born inWolcott, VT on the 8th of Febru-ary, 1834. Prior to his enlistmentfor Civil War duty, he served 10years in the Lafayette Artillery ofthe Vermont Volunteer Militia atCalais, VT where he was commis-

CIVIL WAR ERA MEMORABILIAestablished as there has beenno document found thatindicates when Jesse sold hisRyegate property. Recordsshow that John Cameronpurchased some of his flat land in1802. And for some reason, in Aprilof 1832, Ebenezer Chadwick,trustee for the John JonesEstate, deeded Lot 387 toWilliam Blair. The lot was thensold to John Miller ands u b s e q u e n t l y , B r a d l e yMorrison purchased the farmfrom Miller in 1840. It shouldbe noted that Brad leyMorrison purchased the GrotonCemetery from the Estate ofSamuel Clark and enlargedthe burial grounds to it'spresent size. The Town Historyof Ryegate states that five ofHeath's 15 children were born inGroton and the rest in Ryegate.In Jesse's town records it isnoted that four children wereborn in Ryegate and after1795, the remaining wereborn in Groton. This is of nohelp because the bedroom ofhis Ryegate farm was inGroton. Jesse's daughterBetsey, born in 1800, marriedher next door neighbor RobertBrown from Ryegate in 1818.In my opinion it may havebeen a two-family home.

In 1803, Jesse musthave declared his residency inGroton for in this period from1803 to 1813, he held the offices of

(Continued from page 8)Town Clerk, Lister, Selectman,School Superintendent and Justiceof the Peace, and Captain of theMilitia.

Jesse purchased hisoriginal homestead at aSheriff's sale. When theVermont Legislature voted athree cent tax per acre tobuild roads connecting allcounty seats, many chartermembers with lots in Grotonfailed to pay that tax and theland was listed for tax sale inOctober 1800. Jesse purchasedhis original Lot 20, Lot 11, Lot7, and possibly more. He builthis new framed home in 1807on Lot 20 and his original logcabin became the first schoolhouse and a meeting roomuntil 1813. Moulton, Jesse'sfifth son, bought Jesse'sGroton farm in 1810 andoperated a blacksmith shop onthe property near the Gray'sCemetery.2 The original farmbuildings burned in 1901.

Jesse Heath spent hisfinal years in Ryegate. Whenhe applied for a militarypension in 1820, he was livingthere. Eventually he did obtain afive dollar a month pension, butonly a total of $131.00 wasreceived prior to his death 19years later in April, 1839.During those times, it wascustomary that elderly parentswould spend their remainingdays with families of sons or

(Continued on page 10)

Page 9GHS Newsletter

Battle of Hubbardton. His wifeLydia eventually moved toGroton to live with her sonJesse.

Jesse Heath was bornin Plaistow NH. which was apart of Haverhill, MA prior to theborder change. He marriedPhebe Straw from Sandown,NH in 1781, after his returnfrom the service at West Point

With his new brideJesse set out to find land for ahomestead. From Plaistow,they proceeded up theMerrimack, Pemigewasset andBaker Rivers to a portage thattook them to the Oliverion. Thisr i v e r f l o w ed i n t o t h eConnecticut at Haverhill, NHand with no vacant landavailable in the area, theyproceeded up the ConnecticutRiver to the Wells River andinto Vermont Territory. Therethe couple followed an IndianTrail , known as the GlouchesterCounty Road, which was builtby the English. At the highpoint of land, near a watersource, Jesse and Phebe built theirlog cabin on a lot near present-dayGlover Road. 1

Three children wereborn to Jesse and Phebe in theGroton Territory: John in 1782,Sarah in 1784 and Thomas in1785. Around 1786, as Grotonwas being chartered, theHeaths left their homesteadand purchased one hundred

(Continued from page 5)

Page 8 GHS Newsletter

acres of land from GovernorChittenden, who owned oneshare of the Scotch RyegateCompany, and moved to thesouthwest corner of Ryegatewith their family. This 100 acreshad an unusual historybecause the authorities ofRyegate sold this property,with others, to pay a mortgagethat had been in existence for15 years. When the originalsettlers of Ryegate realizedthat they needed a grist millin 1775, Whitelaw, acting forthe Scotch Company ofRyegate, exceeded hisauthority and purchased theBoltonville Falls in Newbury.He borrowed money for thisproperty from a Mr. Little.After 15 years the townfathers, in exchange for thedebt, gave lots 330 to 400,the southwestern portion ofthe town and every lot southof the Wells River, to Little. In1790 Mr. Little sold this landto a speculator, John Jones ofBoston. John Cameron, whosewife was the daughter ofMolly Pitcher, purchased thesouthwestern section ofRyegate in 1793. Since townofficials sold property thatwasn't theirs, Cameron wasgiven three town lots in RyegateCorner in exchange for Jesse'sproperty, Lot 387.

The length of time thatJesse lived there is not

(Continued on page 9)

would kill the male populationand sell the women andchildren in Canada. One of theirchildren, possibly Judith, waskilled in one of these raids.After Hannah's death hemarried his second wife,Martha Chase.

Josiah Heath Jr. wasborn in 1673 and was marriedin 1694 to Hannah Sterlingfrom Rowley, MA. It is notknown why Josiah died at theage of 48, but at the time hewas in the Militia when thecolonies were fighting theFrench and Indian raidingparties. The couple had at leastsix known children.

Josiah Heath III wasborn in Haverhill, MA in 1701.He married Mary Merrill FromNewbury, MA and since theylived near the disputed linebetween New Hampshire andMassachusetts, records aredifficult to research because ofthe resulting confusion. It isknown that in 1758, he waswith Captain John Higdon whenthe Green Mountain Boyscaptured the fort at CrownPoint. The dates of their deathsare not established, however itis known that they had at leastseven children.

Z e b e d i a h H e a t h ,Josiah III's third child, wasbaptized in May, 1731. Thereis no record of his wife, Lydia,except that she was buried at

(Continued from page 3) Groton, VT in 1815. They hadeight children, Jesse beingthe first. (I should alsomention the second child,D a n i e l , b e c a u s e h epurchased land in Ryegate,near the Groton-Ryegate lineon present-day Route 302a n d b e c a m e J e s s e ' sneighbor.) At the age of 16,Zebediah was on the musterroll in His Majesties Services,but later became a memberof the Green Mountain Boysin the expedition againstCrown Point. With his son,Jesse, they enlisted in theContinental Army for threeyears, and were sent to ValleyForge to train in various units.During this period of the Fallof 1777 and the followingSpring, 300 men died ofdisease and cold weather. Inthe Spring, the camp wasdispersed, and the menassigned for special missions.It appears that Zebediah wasa scout. In the bookSaratoga by McCulloch, itnoted that Sergeant Heathwas sent on a scoutingmission to observe Gen.Burgoyne's advance by land,because the lower end ofLake Champlain had beenobstructed by a chain-logbarrier. The application forhis Revolutionary War pensionstated that he was killed inAugust, 1777 during the

(Continued on page 8)

Page 5GHS Newsletter

Page 6 GHS Newsletter

they remained nearly two weeks,guarding the railroad and main-taining a strong picket line alongthe Bull Run. Being relieved onDecember 5th, they returned toCamp Vermont where the oldroutine was resumed. December12th they marched to Fairfax C.H. and encamped in a grovenorthwest of the village, remain-ing there five weeks, assisting inholding the fortifications at Cen-treville and picketing along theBull Run. December 28th theyparticipated in the repulse ofStuart’s Raid, at Fairfax C. H.,returning to camp the next morn-ing.

On the 20th of Januarythe regiment marched south 12miles to Wolf Run Shoals, re-maining until April 2, when itmoved five miles down the Oc-coquan and established ”CampCarusi”. June 13th the advanceof Hooker’s Army began to passnorthward and on the 25th, afterthe entire army had marched, the13th moved to join the other regi-ments of the 2nd Brigade. Theymet at Union Mills and pro-ceeded together on the greatseven days march to Gettysburg,PA, where they arrived at sunset,July 1, 1863, bearing a loyal partin this famous battle on July 1, 2,

(Continued from page 4) and 3, 1863. July 6th theymarched in pursuit of the re-treating enemy; crossing Ca-toctin Mountain in Maryland onthe night of the 7th, and the nextday bivouacked near Middle-town, where, it’s term of servicehaving expired, it was orderedhome, and was mustered out

July 21, 1863.

Parade Dress Uniform worn byCaptain William V. Peck ondisplay at the Groton HistoricalSociety.

Page 7GHS Newsletter

Above: Jesse Heath’s Powder Horn with the inscription “Jesse HeathWest Point 1780” is on display at the Groton Historical Society.Below: Captain William V. Peck (1834-1910) Civil War Veteran 1862-1863 and the drum used by the Vermont Volunteer Militia in the CivilWar. The drum is on display at the Groton Historical Society.

Page 6 GHS Newsletter

they remained nearly two weeks,guarding the railroad and main-taining a strong picket line alongthe Bull Run. Being relieved onDecember 5th, they returned toCamp Vermont where the oldroutine was resumed. December12th they marched to Fairfax C.H. and encamped in a grovenorthwest of the village, remain-ing there five weeks, assisting inholding the fortifications at Cen-treville and picketing along theBull Run. December 28th theyparticipated in the repulse ofStuart’s Raid, at Fairfax C. H.,returning to camp the next morn-ing.

On the 20th of Januarythe regiment marched south 12miles to Wolf Run Shoals, re-maining until April 2, when itmoved five miles down the Oc-coquan and established ”CampCarusi”. June 13th the advanceof Hooker’s Army began to passnorthward and on the 25th, afterthe entire army had marched, the13th moved to join the other regi-ments of the 2nd Brigade. Theymet at Union Mills and pro-ceeded together on the greatseven days march to Gettysburg,PA, where they arrived at sunset,July 1, 1863, bearing a loyal partin this famous battle on July 1, 2,

(Continued from page 4) and 3, 1863. July 6th theymarched in pursuit of the re-treating enemy; crossing Ca-toctin Mountain in Maryland onthe night of the 7th, and the nextday bivouacked near Middle-town, where, it’s term of servicehaving expired, it was orderedhome, and was mustered out

July 21, 1863.

Parade Dress Uniform worn byCaptain William V. Peck ondisplay at the Groton HistoricalSociety.

Page 7GHS Newsletter

Above: Jesse Heath’s Powder Horn with the inscription “Jesse HeathWest Point 1780” is on display at the Groton Historical Society.Below: Captain William V. Peck (1834-1910) Civil War Veteran 1862-1863 and the drum used by the Vermont Volunteer Militia in the CivilWar. The drum is on display at the Groton Historical Society.

Battle of Hubbardton. His wifeLydia eventually moved toGroton to live with her sonJesse.

Jesse Heath was bornin Plaistow NH. which was apart of Haverhill, MA prior to theborder change. He marriedPhebe Straw from Sandown,NH in 1781, after his returnfrom the service at West Point

With his new brideJesse set out to find land for ahomestead. From Plaistow,they proceeded up theMerrimack, Pemigewasset andBaker Rivers to a portage thattook them to the Oliverion. Thisr i v e r f l ow ed i n t o t h eConnecticut at Haverhill, NHand with no vacant landavailable in the area, theyproceeded up the ConnecticutRiver to the Wells River andinto Vermont Territory. Therethe couple followed an IndianTrail , known as the GlouchesterCounty Road, which was builtby the English. At the highpoint of land, near a watersource, Jesse and Phebe built theirlog cabin on a lot near present-dayGlover Road. 1

Three children wereborn to Jesse and Phebe in theGroton Territory: John in 1782,Sarah in 1784 and Thomas in1785. Around 1786, as Grotonwas being chartered, theHeaths left their homesteadand purchased one hundred

(Continued from page 5)

Page 8 GHS Newsletter

acres of land from GovernorChittenden, who owned oneshare of the Scotch RyegateCompany, and moved to thesouthwest corner of Ryegatewith their family. This 100 acreshad an unusual historybecause the authorities ofRyegate sold this property,with others, to pay a mortgagethat had been in existence for15 years. When the originalsettlers of Ryegate realizedthat they needed a grist millin 1775, Whitelaw, acting forthe Scotch Company ofRyegate, exceeded hisauthority and purchased theBoltonville Falls in Newbury.He borrowed money for thisproperty from a Mr. Little.After 15 years the townfathers, in exchange for thedebt, gave lots 330 to 400,the southwestern portion ofthe town and every lot southof the Wells River, to Little. In1790 Mr. Little sold this landto a speculator, John Jones ofBoston. John Cameron, whosewife was the daughter ofMolly Pitcher, purchased thesouthwestern section ofRyegate in 1793. Since townofficials sold property thatwasn't theirs, Cameron wasgiven three town lots in RyegateCorner in exchange for Jesse'sproperty, Lot 387.

The length of time thatJesse lived there is not

(Continued on page 9)

would kill the male populationand sell the women andchildren in Canada. One of theirchildren, possibly Judith, waskilled in one of these raids.After Hannah's death hemarried his second wife,Martha Chase.

Josiah Heath Jr. wasborn in 1673 and was marriedin 1694 to Hannah Sterlingfrom Rowley, MA. It is notknown why Josiah died at theage of 48, but at the time hewas in the Militia when thecolonies were fighting theFrench and Indian raidingparties. The couple had at leastsix known children.

Josiah Heath III wasborn in Haverhill, MA in 1701.He married Mary Merrill FromNewbury, MA and since theylived near the disputed linebetween New Hampshire andMassachusetts, records aredifficult to research because ofthe resulting confusion. It isknown that in 1758, he waswith Captain John Higdon whenthe Green Mountain Boyscaptured the fort at CrownPoint. The dates of their deathsare not established, however itis known that they had at leastseven children.

Z e b e d i a h H e a t h ,Josiah III's third child, wasbaptized in May, 1731. Thereis no record of his wife, Lydia,except that she was buried at

(Continued from page 3) Groton, VT in 1815. They hadeight children, Jesse beingthe first. (I should alsomention the second child,D a n i e l , b e c a u s e h epurchased land in Ryegate,near the Groton-Ryegate lineon present-day Route 302a n d b e c a m e J e s s e ' sneighbor.) At the age of 16,Zebediah was on the musterroll in His Majesties Services,but later became a memberof the Green Mountain Boysin the expedition againstCrown Point. With his son,Jesse, they enlisted in theContinental Army for threeyears, and were sent to ValleyForge to train in various units.During this period of the Fallof 1777 and the followingSpring, 300 men died ofdisease and cold weather. Inthe Spring, the camp wasdispersed, and the menassigned for special missions.It appears that Zebediah wasa scout. In the bookSaratoga by McCulloch, itnoted that Sergeant Heathwas sent on a scoutingmission to observe Gen.Burgoyne's advance by land,because the lower end ofLake Champlain had beenobstructed by a chain-logbarrier. The application forhis Revolutionary War pensionstated that he was killed inAugust, 1777 during the

(Continued on page 8)

Page 5GHS Newsletter

Page 4 GHS Newsletter

sioned 1st Lieutenant on the 16th

of August, 1860.The Thirteenth Regi-

ment Vermont Volunteer Infan-try with Colonel Francis V.Randall commanding was or-ganized September 24, 1862. Itwas composed of ten companiesrecruited from northern VT, andmustered into the U. S. serviceon October 3, for nine months,with 953 officers and men. Itleft for Washington D. C. on the11th, arrived on the 13th, andwent into camp on East CapitolHill, remaining there until Octo-ber 30th. They crossed LongBridge and camped one night onArlington Heights, marching thenext day to the heights south ofAlexandria, and there, in whatbecame known as “Camp Ver-mont” they were engaged for amonth in camp and picket duty,drills, reviews and in fatiguework on near-by Fort Lyon.On November 26th, theymarched towards Fairfax C. H.and late in the night biv-ouacked, then proceeded thenext day to Union Mills, where

(Continued on page 6)

The DRUM and PARADEDRESS UNIFORM of CaptainWilliam V. Peck used by the VER-MONT VOLUNTEER MILITIAwas donated to the Groton Histori-cal Society for public display byMelvin Benzie from the Benziefamily. Captain Peck was theGrandfather of Helen M. (Peck)Benzie, and the Great Grandfatherof her children, J. Willard Benzie,Ina M. (Benzie) Boucher Corthell,Melvin C. Benzie, Charlotte J.(Benzie) Fadden, and Janet H.(Benzie) Puffer.

William V. Peck was com-missioned Captain on the 23rd ofSeptember 1862. He recruitedCompany H, 13th Regiment, Ver-mont Volunteer Infantry, whichwas mustered into the UnitedStates service at Brattleboro, VT,on the 4th of October, 1862. Hewas given an Honorable Dischargeon 20th of January, 1863, due to illhealth. Captain Peck was born inWolcott, VT on the 8th of Febru-ary, 1834. Prior to his enlistmentfor Civil War duty, he served 10years in the Lafayette Artillery ofthe Vermont Volunteer Militia atCalais, VT where he was commis-

CIVIL WAR ERA MEMORABILIAestablished as there has beenno document found thatindicates when Jesse sold hisRyegate property. Recordsshow that John Cameronpurchased some of his flat land in1802. And for some reason, in Aprilof 1832, Ebenezer Chadwick,trustee for the John JonesEstate, deeded Lot 387 toWilliam Blair. The lot was thensold to John Miller ands u b s e q u e n t l y , B r a d l e yMorrison purchased the farmfrom Miller in 1840. It shouldbe noted that Brad leyMorrison purchased the GrotonCemetery from the Estate ofSamuel Clark and enlargedthe burial grounds to it'spresent size. The Town Historyof Ryegate states that five ofHeath's 15 children were born inGroton and the rest in Ryegate.In Jesse's town records it isnoted that four children wereborn in Ryegate and after1795, the remaining wereborn in Groton. This is of nohelp because the bedroom ofhis Ryegate farm was inGroton. Jesse's daughterBetsey, born in 1800, marriedher next door neighbor RobertBrown from Ryegate in 1818.In my opinion it may havebeen a two-family home.

In 1803, Jesse musthave declared his residency inGroton for in this period from1803 to 1813, he held the offices of

(Continued from page 8)Town Clerk, Lister, Selectman,School Superintendent and Justiceof the Peace, and Captain of theMilitia.

Jesse purchased hisoriginal homestead at aSheriff's sale. When theVermont Legislature voted athree cent tax per acre tobuild roads connecting allcounty seats, many chartermembers with lots in Grotonfailed to pay that tax and theland was listed for tax sale inOctober 1800. Jesse purchasedhis original Lot 20, Lot 11, Lot7, and possibly more. He builthis new framed home in 1807on Lot 20 and his original logcabin became the first schoolhouse and a meeting roomuntil 1813. Moulton, Jesse'sfifth son, bought Jesse'sGroton farm in 1810 andoperated a blacksmith shop onthe property near the Gray'sCemetery.2 The original farmbuildings burned in 1901.

Jesse Heath spent hisfinal years in Ryegate. Whenhe applied for a militarypension in 1820, he was livingthere. Eventually he did obtain afive dollar a month pension, butonly a total of $131.00 wasreceived prior to his death 19years later in April, 1839.During those times, it wascustomary that elderly parentswould spend their remainingdays with families of sons or

(Continued on page 10)

Page 9GHS Newsletter

Page 10 GHS Newsletter

daughters. Sally, Jesse's seconddaughter, married John O. Pageand they were residents ofRyegate. It is the opinion of thosecontacted, that Jesse may havespent his final days with the Pagefamily and gave the POWDER HORNto his daughter Sally. Since then,it may have been handed downto their son William and then toWilliam's son Edward (Ed) Page.It is known that Ed Page gavethe Powder Horn to his first bornLeslie (Les) Page. Les marriedElizabeth Hart and they had onechild, Geraldine. Referred to allher life as Dolly, she marriedAllen Gandin and after her death,Allen graciously donated thePOWDER HORN to the GrotonHistorical Society in her memory.

Jesse Heath's Children

Jesse had a family of 15children. Some of them remainedin the Groton-Ryegate area andhave been associated with the firstfamilies of the town:

John Heath, Jesse's firstchild, was born in 1782. Heserved in the War of 1812 duringthe border line conflict betweenCanada and the United States. Hemarried Hannah Darling in 1804.John served as Selectman, Justiceof the Peace and County Judge.He purchased several lots of landin the survey of the seconddivision and lived in West Groton.(Worthy of note: John's wife

(Continued from page 9) Hannah was the sister ofSam Darling. Sam marriedCatherine Welch and theyare accountable for 50pages of the WelchGenealogy.)

Between 1825 and1850 there was a landrush to buy properties inthe west. and around1835, John and Hannahmoved to Ohio. Threeyears later he was sellingland about 40 milesnorthwest of Columbus Ohioto Vermonters from theGroton-Ryegate area. Heand his wife Hannah wereburied in East Liberty,Ohio. They had 32 sonsand grandsons serve in theUnion Army during the CivilWar. It appears that atleast one family of Heaths ofeach generation. beginningwith John's, moved furthernorth and west to Indiana,North Dakota, Alberta andBritish Columbia. Seveng e n e r a t i o n s l a t e r ,L a w r e n c e H e a t h o fVancouver B.C., becameinterested in genealogy,sold his business andpursued the history of hisfamily. After two years ofresearch his book, Our FamilyLegacy, was published in 1991and a large portion of JesseHeath's life history was takenfrom this Genealogy.

Tom Heath the

GHS Newsletter Page 3

When the Roman Empireconquered Eng land , theybrought with them the Catholicreligion. In the twelfth century,the Norman name for Heath innorthern France was Bruarioand became the Anglo-Saxonname Heath when moving toEngland. During the 1500's theKing Henry VIII of Englandabolished the Catholic Churchand established the Church ofEngland. Those who resistedwere put to death. Until 1605the Heaths abided by these rulesbut changed to join the Puritanswho didn't agree with the Englishinterpretation of the Bible. Toavo i d p r o s ecu t i o n , t h e yremained under cover in thetown of Nezeing, England toawait a ship that would takethem to the New World. FourHeath brothers who lived therecame to the Boston areaaround 1632. How the John,William and Isaac familiesarrived is not known. However,records show that Bartholomewwas single at the time and

arrived on the Ship Lyons,the same type of ship asthe Mayflower.

Bartholomew Heathand Hannah Moyce, born inEngland, were married inNewbury, MA, later to live inHaverhill, MA. At that timetown allotments were calledplantations with a commonarea for housing and landoutside for farming. SinceHaverhill was a frontier townadjacent to the MerrimackRiver, the settlers weresubject to French and Indianraids for a period of 75 years.Bartholomew and Hannah hadeight children. Only three ofthe eight lived to become adults.The other five were killed byIndians.

Josiah Heath Sr. thethird child of Bartholomewand Hannah. was born in1651. He married MaryDavis from Haverhill in 1671and they had nine children.During the late 1670's andthrough the 1700's, Indians

(Continued on page 5)

GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY WEB PAGEEasy access from http://www.grotonvt.com/

The Heath FamilyBy Dale Brown

Page 2 GHS Newsletter

was Jesse Heath who came to Groton in1781 and his first three children, John,Susanna, and Thomas, were born here in1782, 84, and 85 respectively as reportedin the Ryegate History. Jesse Heath’sfamily was enumerated in the Ryegatecensus of 1790 and in the Groton censuses

(Continued from page 1) of 1800 and 1810. See the relatedstories in this issue written by DaleBrown. about Jesse’s Powder Horn anda brief history of The Heath Family.

Look for stories about the otherpioneers in future issues of the GrotonHistorical Society Newsletter.

Jesse Heath’s Powder Hornand its association with Groton, Vermont

By Dale Brown

The Heath familywas very active during theWar of Independence.Jesse's father, Zebediah,was with the Green MountainBoys, under the command ofSeth Warner, when theycaptured Crown Point inNew York. He and his sonJesse, age 16, served withthe Patriots at Bunker Hilland the Battle of Trenton.They enlisted in the Conti-nental Army for a period ofThree years and spent thewinter at Valley Forge. Inthe spring their unit wassent to the Lake Champlainarea to prevent General Bur-goyne from isolating the NewEngland States from the restof the Colonies. As a scout,

Zebediah went missing inaction during the battle ofHubbardton. After thebattle of Bennington andSaratoga, Jesse finishedhis enlistment at WestPoint where his unit was toresist General Howe's at-tempt to join Burgoyne. Itwas here at West Pointthat Jesse crafted his spe-cial POWDER HORN, which iscurrently in safe keeping atthe Groton Historical Society.

Allen Gandin gra-ciously donated the POW-DER HORN to the GrotonHistorical Society in mem-ory of his wife ‘Dolly’(Page) Gandin, a descen-dant of Jesse Heath. (seeThe Heath Family article)

Page 11GHS Newsletter

third child born in the Grotonterritory, enlisted during thewar of 1812 and was slain bythe enemy in 1815.

James Heath born in 1789and married Nancy Taisey, thesister of George Taisey. Georgehelped his father build thestone house on the Great Roadin Groton and made the brick tobuild his brick home onpresent-day Route 302.3

Jesse Heath Jr.married Mehitabel Paul, whosebrother Peter Paul built, ahouse in 1832 that nowserves a s th e Gro tonHistorical Society House, andis currently the oldest housein Groton.

Moses Heath, thefourth child, was also in theWar of 1812. Upon the deathof his first wife, Betsy, hee s t a b l i s h ed t h e H ea t hCemetery on his land near theintersection of the Old andNew County Roads.4 This areawas reserved when he soldthe property to JosephRicker, the founder ofRicker's Mill. After his secondmarriage to Sally Chase, theymoved to Barton. They died inBarton and their bodies wereinterred at the Heath Cemetery.It should be mentioned thatAlbert Cady maintained thisburial lot for years and he inturn was buried there.

Author's Notes:1. Jesse’s daughter

Betsey Heath had a greatgrandson who lived in Groton.He built a store in the villageand his business survived theGreat Depression to exist for40 years. The store front had asign that read B. L. Brown Meatand Groceries. This was my father'sstore. The building currently housesa small restaurant named Brown'sMarket Bistro.

2. When Sam Clarkpurchased a farm from Ira Low in1837, he set aside a portion of theland for the Groton VillageCemetery. There is a recordthat Jesse Heath surveyed andlaid out the plots for the firstsection. The date of thisstatement is in question;however, Clark's second wife,Martha Heath, may have involvedJesse in this assignment. There isreason to believe that Jesse didperform this assignment andwas awarded Lot # 4 for hiseffort. Jesse Heath died on April27, 1839 and was the first tobe buried in the Groton VillageCemetery.

Acknowledgements:The information in this briefhistory was taken fromLawrence Heath's Our FamilyLegacy; Mr. Glover's Groton;History of the Groton VillageCemetery; Indian Trails by

(Continued on page 12)

Groton Historical Society NewsletterJ. W. Benzie, EditorP. O. Box 89Groton, VT 05046-0089

GHS NewsletterPage 12

Hosea Welch; Descendantsof Edmund and JonathanWelch Genealogy ; Grotonand Ryegate Land Records;The History of Ryegate;Vital Statistics Records andthe Vermont HistoricalSociety.

Footnotes

1 The site of Jesse's housewas west of what is nowc a l l e d G l o v e r R o a d ,approximately 1.1 milesNorth of Route 302.

(Continued from page 11)2 Gray's Cemetery is located nearthe intersection of present-dayPound and Glover Roads.

3 This house is located on theNorth side of William ScottMemorial Highway (Route 302)approximately two-tenths of amile West of the Groton-Ryegatetown line. A period painting ofthe house is on display in theGroton Historical Society house.

4 The Heath Cemetery is locatednear the intersection of present-day Goodfellow and Red BrookRoads.

Return mailing label with any cor-rections and your 2006 dues of $5to the Groton Historical Society atP. O. Box 89, Groton, VT 05046.

Pioneer families living in Groton at thetime of the first census in 1790 wereenumerated as:

James Abbott 2-3-1Israel Bailey 1-0-3John Darling 4-2-5Aaron Hosmer 2-1-0Jonathan James 1-1-4Edmund Morse 2-1-2Timothy Townshend 1-0-2Robards Darling 2-1-4

The three numerals following eachhead of the household are number ofmales 16 years of age and over, malesunder 16, and females. Two otherpioneers living here before the censuswere Jacob Jenness and ArchibaldMcLaughlin as noted in the proprietorsmeeting record of 1787, but they hadleft town before the census. ArchibaldMcLaughlin was enumerated in thePeacham census, but the whereaboutsof Jacob Jenness, a relative of EdmundMorse, is unknown. Another pioneerliving here before the census and alsobefore the proprietors meeting in 1787

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GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETYNewsletter

Volume 19 Issue 1 Winter 2006Groton, Vermont 05046

GROTON’S PIONEERS

OFFICERS

President Richard BrooksVice President Deane PageSecretary Diane KreisTreasurer Joan HaskellWeb Site Editor James DresserNewsletter Editor Willard Benzie

MEETING SCHEDULE(second Tuesday)

March through November10 AM at the Peter Paul House

1203 Scott Hwy.

Contents

Groton’s Pioneers 1Jesse’s Powder Horn 2Heath Family 3GHS web address 3Civil War memorabilia 4Pictures 6

NOTICE

Don’t forget your 2006 dues

The next Newsletter will bemailed only to members in

good standing.

Apologies for missing theFall 2005 Newsletter. Ed.