Person:Daniel Foote (4)

Daniel Foote grew up in Simsbury, Connecticut, leaving there for Washington and later Dalton, Massachusetts, both places clearing the forest and beginning a farm. He sold his Dalton farm to Daniel, his eldest son, and in 1773, at age 50, moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where he bought 1,000 acres of wild land, and where he lived nearly all the rest of his life.

This land was in the center of the town of Middlebury, along the road now known as "Foote Street." He built a small one story house there in 1783 in which the first town meeting was held in 1786. This may be a portion of one of the older houses still standing. He built a larger house in 1793, which still stands along with several other homes in the area, built for his children. In his barn nearby, the first church services were held.

Just to the north of these houses he intended the church and town center to be built. However with the coming of the American Revolution, and the bona fide threat of British and Indian raids, the family buried its possessions in the woods and returned temporarily to their safer former home in Dalton. We have inherited a small table which by tradition was among these buried possessions.

Upon their return in 1783 most of the commercial activity in the area began to center on the area around the falls on Otter Creek. Indeed, at this time Daniel Foote bought a large tract of land on the west side of the Otter Creek, that is now in the village of Middlebury. This property included the Frog Hollow and Park Street areas, along with the northern portion of what became the Middlebury College campus.

There he erected a grist mill and saw mill. In order to get back and forth to his home place he built the first bridge at Middlebury Falls, which itself greatly assisted the development of the village there. Others built mills on the other side of the creek and a substantial rivalry began, both among the mills, and over the location of the town center. The whole issue remained stalemated until Daniel joined his son Stillman in Canton, New York, and the present village of Middlebury was established as the town center at the falls, as his rivals had wished.

About 1801, he divided his remaining property at Middlebury among his children and went to Canton, New York, to live with his son Stillman. On the trip he contracted small-pox and died a few days after he arrived in Canton. One can easily imagine him in his 60's and 70's, a rugged, cantankerous, self-reliant, individualist, defying all comers in their attempts to thwart his plans, contributing to controversies, the memories of which persist to this day.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Foote, Abram William. Foote Family: Comprising the Genealogy and History of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn., and his Descendants; Also a Partial Record of Descendants of Pasco Foote of Salem, Mass., Richard Foote of Stafford County, Va., and John Foote of New York City. (Rutland, Vermont: Marble City Press, 1907-1932)
   p. 57-58, 1907.

   He removed from Simsbury, Connecticut about 1764 to Washington, Massachusetts and cleared away the forest and made a farm. He next moved to Dalton, Massachusetts; purchased land and brought into cultivation a valuable farm. This he sold to Daniel, his oldest son, and moved to Middlebury, Vermont and bought one thousand acres of wild land, on which he built mills, felled the forest, and resided for many years. About 1783 he bought all the land that is now in the village of Middlebury on the west side of the river and erected a grist mill and saw mill. This property was given by him to his sons, Stillman and John, the latter selling his interest to Appleton in 1792. They built dwellings and improved the property.
   
   Daniel built the first bridge a Middlebury Falls. About 1801 he divided his property at Middlebury among his children and went to Canton, New York, his son, Stillman, having moved there a short time before. In passing through Montreal, he took smallpox and died a few days after he arrived in Canton.
   
   He was a man of great industry and indominable perseverance, and particularly fitted for a pioneer in a new country. He died May 10, 1801, and was buried in an elm bark coffin. All twelve of his children were members of the church. His sons were pioneers and their children are now widely scattered over the United States.

2.   Hazen, Celeste Pember. John Pember, the history of the Pember family in America. (Springfield, Vermont, United States: C.P. Hazen, c1939)
   p. 96, 1939.

   He resided first at Simsbury, Connecticut, then cleared and occupied two separate homesteads in Massachusetts, then removed to Middlebury, Vermont, where he lived many years. He bought in Addison County 1000 acres of wild land some of which is still held by his posterity. His sons, all born in Connecticut, were Philip, Freeman, Martin, Appleton, Stillman and John, and one of his daughters married Enoch Dewey of Pittsfield. About 1783, he bought all the land on which the present village of Middlebury stands, and divided it between Appleton and Stillman. Stillman ran the "upper mills" and his property included what is now the campus of Middlebury College.
   
   In 1786 Stillman Foote built a house on Foote Street, ready for his family. The Vermont Gazeteer called it the oldest house yet standing Middlebury in 1865. Later he turned the land and mills back to his father and emigrated to Canton, New York.
   
   When the old man was 75 years of age, he set out with a party to go to Stillman in Canton. At Montreal, a stop over on the cruise, he contracted small-pox, and died May 10, 801, a few days after arrival in Canton, and was "buried in an elm-bark coffin," on the banks of the Grass River in an unmarked grave, leaving 12 children, all church members.