Justice Committee Investigation Part 2
By Dee Hodges
“We will never love one another if we don’t recognize the humanity of everyone.”
This clipping is from a 1786 copy of the Vermont Gazette, and appears in the book The Problems of Slavery in Early Vermont, 1777-1810.
We can only imagine what was in the hearts and minds of the early settlers. Did the men who chose to “plant a stake” and build their homes in Middlebury really believe the indigenous peoples who were here before them had fled to Canada?
As we continued to research the history of our people and our church, members of the Justice Committee took turns going through old church documents. Our investigation now focused on the system of colonialism in the Post Revolution period and we began to better understand the true meaning of white privilege.
In one of the old Episcopal Registers, Paul found On The Village Green: A History of Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Consecrated October 1827.This little booklet was compiled and edited by Ceil Murdoch in 1977 for the 150th anniversary of St. Stephen’s Church. From this, and EIizabeth Allison’s monograph, To Have A Bishop of Our Own, we learned what the colonial Episcopalians were up to. As early as 1794 the colonists were organizing town meetings to consider building a meeting house. Before that, religious meetings were held in barns, barrooms and people’s houses. The original charter of the town gave one share of land to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) and one share as a Glebe for the Church of England. A Glebe was land set apart for the use of the church at the settling of the country. For the early Episcopalians, securing income from the Glebe lands and the SPG lands was essential to support the growth of the church.
As Allison points out, securing income from these lands was a struggle that lasted over 30 years. In 1790 the first Diocesan Convention of Vermont took action without success. A lawyer holding a Power of Attorney to leased land could go to court and try and get seizure of land from the tenant or seizure of rent for support of the church. Such attempts were resisted by the state (they wanted the money for schools).
At one point, it was decided by Daniel Webster in favor of the church. The state afterwards confiscated and took possession of most of these lands.
In 1810 St. Stephen’s parish was organized. Previously, we learned that the Town Green was deeded to the town in 1799 with the stipulation that it could be used for public and religious buildings. The Episcopalians formed a “Society” for the purpose of erecting an Episcopal Church. One look at the list of names tells us that it was white, landowning, Christian, males leading this endeavor. Lawyers, judges, politicians and clergy of superior qualifications served on the committee. A location for the building was chosen and approved by Eben W. Judd, Rufus Wainwright, Hastings Warren, John Steward and James Jewitt . While Horatio Seymour was Senior Warden, the committee drafted a plan for a church building and the Society raised money to hire The Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith. The building of St. Stephen’s church was completed in 1826. Allison concludes that in 1832 the Diocese Convention was held at St. Stephen’s, supported with income from the SPG lands, and John Hopkins was elected Bishop of Vermont.
We were curious about African American’s living in Vermont during the colonial period. An article by Jane Williamson, director of Rokeby Museum, provided a valuable resource. Her investigation focused on the black population in the Champlain Valley from 1790 to 1860 and included all of Addison County, Hinesburgh and Charlotte. Her census data revealed a total of 104 names for that time period. Was there any hope for improved race relations for these migrants? Many were born slaves in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and came to Vermont with their owners and then gained freedom; others came on their own after emancipation. Most of them worked as domestics and farm laborers, but there were a few who ended up owning property. Records show that Middlebury had one African American landowner Prince King, who purchased 70 acres in 1841. He had a mortgage on his farm and paid it off. Another landowner , Jeffrey Brace, settled in Poultney, Vermont. He was not treated as well as Prince King. His white neighbors harassed him and tried to drive him off his land.
Main Street looking northeast, 1891. Stewart-Swift Research Center at the Henry Sheldon Museum, Averill Collection
A member of the Selectboard even attempted to indenture two of his children against his will.
Williamson describes a strategy called warning out, used by white New Englanders to rid themselves of unwanted blacks. Selectmen were allowed to “warn out” any newcomers they thought might become a drain to the town and did so frequently until 1817, when the law was changed. Williamson found nine African American heads of household warned out of five Addison County towns.
Racial prejudice was the norm in Vermont, but there weren’t enough African Americans to pose a threat to their white neighbors in Addison County. Williamson concludes, “The size of Addison County’s African American population was both a blessing and a curse. Too small to call down the wrath of whites, it was also too small - and critically, too scattered - to create a viable community.”
