The Town of Hartford Agricultural Narrative

Scott Derkacz

October 2009

 

    

The Town of Hartford, Vermont is located in the eastern part of the state along the Vermont-New Hampshire border. The town lies within the borders of Windsor County and borders the Town of Norwich to the north, the Town of Pomfret to the west, and the Town of Hartland to the south. It also shares a small boundary line on its southwestern corner with the Town of Woodstock. As a Certified Local Government, the Town of Hartford contains seven historic districts that hold clues to the townÕs past and history. Evidence of an agricultural industry within the town is especially apparent from the histories of these historic districts. Of these seven historic districts, three served as prominent centers for agriculture within the town: the Quechee Historic Mill District, the Jericho Rural Historic District, and the Christian Street Rural Historic District. A recent historic agricultural barn survey in Hartford conducted by University of Vermont Historic Preservation students confirms these areas as major agricultural centers based on the high concentration of barns photographed and documented in these historic districts. Historic district brochures issued by the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission also indicate that these three areas were major agricultural centers within the Town of Hartford.

There are few primary sources existing that document Hartford's agricultural history. The earliest published town history that is known is William Howard Tucker's History of Hartford, Vermont 1761-1889. Published in 1889, this town history outlines the settling of Hartford and provides other historic facts of the town up until 1889. Within this town history, Tucker does provide some information on Hartford's 18^th and 19^th century farmers. Under one of his sections titled Soil and Production, Tucker describes the condition of the agricultural soil in Hartford:

The soil of the town is in general, a sandy loam. Still there is a variety of soil. The soil of the interval lands, is an alluvial deposit, thrifty and productive of large crops of corn, and other cereals, grass and garden vegetables. The alluvial deposit is however, not much in excess of one foot, and is underlaid by an admixture of coarse sand, and pebble stones, which render deep ploughing impracticable on account of the leachy nature of the subsoil; consequently top-dressing is becoming a very common system on other than clayey lands.[1]

 

Based on Tucker's description, we can assume that the cultivation of crops posed some challenges for Hartford's early farmers as fertile soil lied only in the first foot of the earth. In terms of what type of agricultural industry predominately thrived in Hartford is difficult to determine from Tucker's history of the town. He does provide some mention  of dairy farming within the town. He writes "The hill farms afford the very best of pasturage, and something profitable is done in the dairy business on most of the farms in the town, as well as in stock raising."[2]

            When determining what agricultural industries thrived the most in Hartford's history, it is of significant value to analyze the Agricultural Censuses of the town produced by the U. S. Census Office. The Agricultural Censuses can be accessed at the University of Vermont's Bailey/Howe Library. The Agricultural Censuses of 1860 and 1880 were examined to provide a better understanding of Hartford's agricultural history. In the livestock section of the 1860 Agricultural Census, there is considerable recording of the number of sheep raised by each farmer. By tallying the number of sheep at the end of each page from the 1860 census, it is determined that Hartford farmers in the 1860s had approximately 9,928 sheep.[3] The pounds of wool produced from these sheep is also provided on the 1860 agricultural census, with this amount totaling at 38,664 pounds.[4] Based on the numbers of sheep recorded from the 1860 Agricultural Census, it can be asserted that sheep farming and the production of sheeps' wool was the dominant form of agricultural business in the Town of Hartford. Sheep farming can also be viewed as the dominant form of agricultural industry when compared to the numbers of other livestock found within the town. The second largest number of livestock recorded in the town next to sheep were dairy cows. Labeled as "milch cows" in the 1860 Agricultural Census, the total number of milking cows comes to 592, a considerably smaller number than the number of sheep.[5] The milk production of dairy cows in Hartford is recorded not by the number of gallons of milk produced in the 1860 census, but by the pounds of butter and cheese produced. From the 1860 Agricultural Census, there were 44,965 pounds of butter and 17,765 pounds of cheese produced.[6]

            The common practice of sheep farming within Hartford can certainly be traced back to William Howard Tucker's own written history of the town. Within his work he provides an excerpt from an anonymous writer describing a common spinning wheel found in almost every Hartford home during the late 18^th century:

In each house might be seen a foot wheel, or two, for spinning the flax, and as many large ones for spinning wool; a pair or two of hand-cards for the tow, a hatchel, and in every two or three houses a loom. The women manufactured the cloth with which they and their families were clothed, and made up the same into garments. They made their own fine white diaper table cloths and towels, their fine white underlining, their striped gowns, checked handkerchiefs and aprons, clean and well-ironed, and in which dress they were fitted out for any company in any place. They also manufactured their husbands' and sons' white summer shirts, frocks and trousers. They knit stockings for themselves and for the family besides, and leggings for their boys—as boots for boys were not then known—and did their own housework.[7]

 

As is explained in this passage, it was commonplace to find a spinning wheel for converting wool and other fabrics into necessary garments and other items of clothing. The spinning of wool at this early point in time was used as a necessity for Hartford's early farmers and settlers. In the 19^th century, wool would be sold to nearby mills within the town's borders and spun as a commercial industry. Many of these woolen mills were located in and around what is today the Quechee Historic Mill District (See Figure 2). Tucker describes one of the first woolen mills in his book, known as Dewey's Mills. Dewey's Mills were constructed in 1836 and were located approximately one mile south of Quechee Village. Due to a financial downturn, the mills did not become operational until 1840 when "Reuben Daniel of Woodstock conceived the idea of converting or reducing soft woolen rags to fibre, denominated 'rag-wool.'"[8] Tucker's information on Dewey's Mills and other woolen mills near the Quechee Village portray the evolution of sheep farming from a necessity in providing clothing for pioneer families to a prominent industry within the Town of Hartford.

Figure 2: An 1855 Hosen Doton Map of Quechee Village, the location of many woolen mills and gristmills during the 19th century.

            As compared to the 1860 Agricultural Census, the 1880 Agricultural Census contains much more information on the farmers' livestock and the crops grown on the land. For instance, the 1880 Agricultural Census lists how many of a particular livestock a farmer has raised during that year and also includes how many offspring were born, how many were sold, how many were slaughtered, and how many died of illnesses or diseases. This is just one difference between the 1860 and the 1880 Agricultural Censuses. In terms of the more specific differences between Hartford's Agricultural Censuses of 1860 and 1880, there are several variations that are noticeable. The number of sheep within Hartford dropped from 9,928 in 1860 to 7,926 in 1880.[9] It could be assumed that because of this drop in the number of sheep, which was a dominant farming industry in 1860, the total weight of wool produced would also drop. However, this correlation was not true for the year 1880. In fact, the total weight of wool produced in 1880 was 44,582 pounds, a 5,918 pound increase from twenty years earlier.[10] While the number of sheep in the Town of Hartford declined, the number of dairy cows in the town increased from 592 in 1860 to 1,162 cows in 1880.[11] What is most astonishing from the 1880 Agricultural Census from Hartford is the tremendous increase in dairy production. In 1880, Hartford farmers produced 153,101 pounds of butter, more than tripling the amount of butter produced in 1860.[12] Cheese production in 1880 seemed to have dropped from 1860 as only 7,525 pounds of the product was manufactured.[13] This is a significant drop from the amount of cheese produced in 1860, which totaled 17,765 pounds. The reason for this decrease could perhaps correlate with the idea that more dairy farmers used their milk production to produce butter. It could also be related to another factor that was included in the 1880 Agricultural Census, but not in the 1860 census. This recorded aspect was the gallons of milk sold to factories for butter and cheese production. The earlier figures that were mentioned included the production of butter and cheese made on each farm. In addition to the records of butter and cheese that were made on each farm, the 1880 Agricultural Census began to record the gallons of milk sold to factories that produced dairy products. This figure in 1880 in the Town of Hartford was 12,812 gallons of milk.[14]

            The variations found between Hartford's Agricultural Censuses of 1860 and 1880 can be connected to what the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission claims within their historic district pamphlets. According to the Jericho Rural Historic District brochure, there was an increased demand for dairy productions, which forced many farmers to substitute their traditional sheep farming business for dairy farming. Sheep farmers also converted their sheep barns into dairy barns for cows.[15] The 1880 Agricultural Census of Hartford begins to portray this rise in demand for dairy products as more farmers began to raise cows. There is also a considerable increase in the production of certain dairy products such as butter, which soared in 1880. Although there were still more sheep than cows in Hartford in 1880, a trend seemed to be emerging within the town as that number had decreased from 1860. This trend of increased dairy farming, as assessed by the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission, is certainly verifiable from the Agricultural Censuses. 

            Other livestock found on the Hartford farms of the late 19^th century were animals that mainly served working purposes in the fields and around the farmland. These animals were recorded in both the 1860 Agricultural Census and the 1880 Agricultural Census and include horses, oxen, and other cattle. Other livestock that were also raised on Hartford farms were pigs and poultry. Vegetables grown on Hartford farms during this time were not of a wide variety and the only real staple crop of vegetables grown in large numbers were potatoes. Potato amounts are recorded by the bushel in both the 1860 and the 1880 Agricultural Census. Hartford farms also produced cereals or grains grown in the fields and included wheat, rye, Indian corn, and oats. These grains are all measured by the bushel in both censuses.[16] William Howard Tucker shares his insight on the use of these grains in his book. He writes:

Tradition informs us that our grandmothers sometimes pounded corn and wheat in mortars to a consistency for hominy, and in certain exigencies boiled both kinds of grain in a whole state, which was called, when cooked, 'firmaty.' Their drink was coffee made of roasted rye and wheat boiled in water. Tea was made of dried raspberry leaves. Rye was much used for bread, and buckwheat for warm cakes, but wheat and corn were the staple articles of food, and when the lands were at first cleared they bore abundantly of both these cereals.[17]

 

Tucker's passage suggests that these grains were essential rations for the early farmers of Hartford, as they were used for a variety of reasons. During the late 1700s, Tucker notes that these grains and cereals would be sold outside of the personal farm and sent to gristmills in the Quechee Village area.[18] Hay was also produced for feeding livestock and is measured by the ton for each farmer in the 1860 and 1880 censuses.[19]

Maple syrup, the most renowned provision of Vermont, is also recorded in the 1860 and the 1880 Agricultural Censuses. Few farmers in the Town of Hartford produced maple syrup according to the censuses, but its production by the pound was made available in both censuses (See Figure 3).[20] Tucker considers the manufacturing of maple syrup as an important process in Hartford's agricultural history and provides a separate section on its production in his book History of Hartford, Vermont 1761-1889. Tucker explains the fascinating process utilized by the early Hartford farmers:

The process of making maple sugar was unlike that of the present time, in some respects. Instead of boring into the trees, and inserting spiles of sumach to conduct the sap from the tree into tin or wooden buckets, they were boxed with an axe, making an incisions in the tree from which the sap was conducted to troughs cut out of soft wood. The sap was boiled in the same kettles that were used in making potash.[21]

 

Figure 3: A maple syrup house located in the Jericho Rural Historic District at 4026 Jericho Street Hartford, VT.

 

The Town of Hartford's history cannot be explained without including appropriate information on the town's agricultural past and the early farms that dotted its land. Farming was an essential way of life for many of Hartford's inhabitants during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. This factor is evident from two primary sources documenting the agricultural history of the town. These sources include William Howard Tucker's History of Hartford, Vermont 1761-1889 and the 1860 Agricultural Census as well as the 1880 Agricultural Census conducted by the U. S. Census Office. Based on these sources, it has been determined that the first dominant agricultural industry within the town was sheep farming. The raising of sheep and the shearing of their wool was the principal form of agriculture that would later give way to dairy farming towards the end of the 19^th century. Other agricultural duties were also known to have existed within the Town of Hartford such as the planting and harvesting of grains sold to gristmills as well as the production of maple syrup. While these forms of agriculture were once necessary forms of agriculture within the town, they have all but died out today. In the Jericho Road Rural Historic District, the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission has noted that by the 1950s, farming became a lifestyle of the past as Hartford residents learned other ways of producing a yearly income.[22] The University of Vermont Historic Preservation graduate students conducting the barn survey within Hartford could certainly justify this fact as many of the remaining farms appeared inactive (See Figure 4). Even though Hartford's farming industry has all but disappeared, the remaining barns and other agricultural structures still standing help to provide clues to Hartford's agricultural past.

Figure 4: This agricultural structure located on Stetson Road is in danger of collapse and shows how many farms throughout Hartford are inactive.