USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Norwich > A history of Norwich, Vermont > Part 5
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"1 That whenever protection is withheld, no allegience is due, or can of right be demanded.
"2 That whenever the lives and properties of a part of a community
47
INDEPENDENCE RECOMMENDED BY COMMITTEE .
have been manifestly aimed at by either the legislative or executive au- thority of such community, necessity requires a separation. Your com- mittee is of opinion that the foregoing has, for many years past, been the conduct of the monopolizing land-traders of the colony of New York, and that they have been not only countenanced, but encouraged, by the legislative and executive authorities of said state or colony. Many overt acts, in evidence of this truth, are so fresh in the minds of members, that it would be needless to name them."
After referring to a resolution of Congress of May 15, 1776, in sup- port of their action, they proceed as follows :- "Your committee, hav- ing duly deliberated on the continued conduct of the authority of New York, before recited, and considering that a just right exists in this people to adopt measures for their own security, not only to enable them to secure their rights against the usurpations of Great Britain, but also against that of New York, and the several other governments claiming jurisdiction of this territory, do offer the fol- lowing
DECLARATION
"This convention, whose members are duly chosen by the free voice of their constituents, in the several towns on the New Hampshire Grants, in public meeting assembled, in our own names, and in behalf of our constituents, do hereby proclaim and publicly declare that the district of territory comprehending and usually known by the name and description of the New Hampshire Grants, of right ought to be, and is hereby declared forever hereafter to be considered as a separate, free and independent jurisdiction or state. Further- more, we declare by all the ties held sacred among men that we will firmly stand by and support one another in this our declaration of a state, and in endeavoring as much as in us lies to suppress all un- lawful routs and disturbances whatever. Also, we will endeavor to secure to every individual his life, peace and property against all un- lawful invaders of the same."
Twelve towns east of the Green Mountains were represented in this convention, the first occasion at which delegates from all parts of the Grants were present, and the men of Gloucester and Cumberland here first joined hands in a common cause with the Green Mountain boys of the western section who had so resolutely resisted from the first the
48
HISTORY OF NORWICH
arbitrary and unjust measures of the New York government, and whose determined attitude had doubtless saved them from the conse- quences of a violent collision with the authorities of that government.
The spirited action of the convention at Westminster led to the calling of another convention which met the following July at Wind- ‘ sor, where a constitution and frame of government were established for the new STATE OF VERMONT,* whose independence though assailed by powerful foes from many quarters, was maintained through fifteen years of controversy and struggle with a courage and sagacity on the part of its supporters rarely equalled, until on the 4th of March, 1791, "the star that never sets" finally took its place in the constel- lation of states forming the American Union.
*Peter Olcott and Jacob Burton were delegates from Norwich to this Convention.
CHAPTER IV
PROPOSED UNION WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE*
in pursuance of votes passed and instructions given by the towns of Newbury, Moretown, Norwich and Hartford, lying on the New Hamp- shire Grants, so called, west of Connecticut river, proposing to take some measures to be informed of the honorable General Court of New Hampshire, whether a union of the territory aforesaid can be effected with the State of New Hampshire, in consequence of their claim over the same, on terms honorable and mutually beneficial, and appointing Committees from those several towns to meet at Thetford, in order further to consult on the subject and gain information therein in such way and manner as may appear most advisable ;- The said Commit- tees being convened in consequence of the votes and instructions afore- said, after mature deliberation came to the following
RESOLUTIONS
"Resolved, that it evidently appears to be the wish and desire of the towns above named, as by their votes and instructions is expressed, and also by good information it appears to be the desire of several other towns who have not had opportunity to be represented at this time,-that the territory aforesaid, or part thereof, should be united with the State of N. H. and be under its jurisdiction, provided it can be done on terms honorable and mutually advantageous; and that we therefore think it our duty to enquire of the Sd Gen. Court of N. H. whether, agreeably to their claim aforesaid, the Territory or Grants above mentioned, or part thereof, may on such terms be united with
*In this chapter are recorded the proceedings looking towards a union of the towns of Newbury, Moretown, Norwich and Hartford with the State of New Hampshire after the failure of the Second Vermont Union with New Hampshire towns in 1782. The facts here subjoined are from New Hampshire State Papers.
50
HISTORY OF NORWICH
and become part of Sd State : and that we imagine such an union might be formed to the general benefit, well being and interest of the whole.
"Resolved, that if the Hon. Gen. Court of N. H. are disposed or de- sirous to extend jurisdiction over the territory aforesaid, or a part thereof, they be earnestly requested to signify their disposition there- for to the several towns in their said claims as soon as conveniently may be, and also manifest their ideas respecting judicial and other proceedings under the authority of Vt. (cases now pending in courts, &c.) ; and if a seasonable adjustment of these last mentioned and other necessary matters can take place, we have full reason to believe and assert, that the greater part of the inhabitants in Sd territory would readily acknowledge the authority of N. H .- Expecting doubtless at the same time, that some direction or assistance will be afforded in guarding the frontiers-
"Resolved, that the following Memorial be transmitted to and laid before the Hon. Gen. Court of N. H. together with these Resolutions, and that Abel Curtis, Esq., be appointed Agent to wait on that hon- orable Court with the same-And that Sd Agent be desired and em- powered to make and receive such further proposals, agreeable to the tenor hereof, as may then be judged beneficial and expedient.
MEMORIAL
"To the Hon. General Court of New Hampshire, to be convened at Concord in and for Sd State, on the Second Tuesday in June next, the Committees aforesaid, in the name and behalf of the Towns above named, beg leave to represent :-
"(1) That the Grantees and occupants of the greater part of the lands in the territory aforesaid were possessed of titles from the gov- ernor of N. H., and were in expectation of continuing under the jurisdiction of that Government-
"That the people in Sd territory were very unexpectedly and dis- agreeably involved in difficulties and calamities by being annexed to N. Y. by the royal edict in the year 1764 :- out of which they ever were desirous and endeavored to extricate themselves :- but without success until after the memorable American Revolution, when for their mutual benefit and protection against the efforts of internal and external foes they were impelled by necessity to form into a separate jurisdiction.
THEM # NEWTON INN
THE NEWTON INN. W. S. BOWLES, PROPRIETOR.
51
PROPOSED UNION WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE
"That necessity and necessity only induced the inhabitants of the Towns above mentioned and many others to unite and continue under the new Government [Vermont], being unjustly deprived of that jurisdiction and protection from N. H. which they had a right to ex- pect and enjoy.
"And while they have esteemed the Congress of the U. S. to be the guardians of the rights of a numerous and free people, and have been ready to stand forth in the defence of and support of the cause of America, they have for a long while looked to them for a settlement of our unhappy disputes; but hitherto to no purpose.
"That while on the one hand we view with keenest anxiety a negotia- tion on foot with the British [in Canada] greatly to the detriment of the public cause, and tending to our final ruin without a speedy remedy-which we are not at present in a capacity to obtain or afford -- on the other hand we may view our rights violated in the most fla- grant manner and our liberties trampled upon by a number, without rebuke or remorse.
"And therefore, unless a number of men be raised or afforded for the defence of these frontiers, we must view their situation to be indeed very distressed and unhappy.
"That although we do not wish to involve ourselves under greater disadvantages to obtain relief from our present troubles, we think it our duty nevertheless to inquire whether the jurisdiction of N. H. may not be as real as its claim, and whether the territory aforesaid may not be speedily united with and become a part of that State, on such principles as may be honorable, mutually beneficial and advan- tageous to the whole. Being persuaded that the Sd territory on ac- count of its fertility, &c., may greatly add to the wealth and resources of New Hampshire.
"The Committee aforesaid therefore beg that your honors would take the several matters hereinbefore suggested into your wise consid- ration, and rest assured you will pursue such measures thereupon as will eventually prove for the best good of N. H. and the territory aforesaid, whose interests ought doubtless to be inseparable.
"Signed by order and in behalf of the Committees aforesaid, this 31st day of May, A. D, 1782, and in the sixth year of American Inde- pendence.
"BILDAD ANDROS, Chairman,"
52
HISTORY OF NORWICH
The above Resolutions and Memorial bear unmistakable internal evidence that they came from the pen of Abel Curtis.
The movement of these four towns was deemed of sufficient im- portance to occasion Governor Chittenden of Vermont to despatch Col. Ira Allen to Concord to counteract the influence of Mr. Curtis with the General Court of New Hampshire.
See Governor and Council.
CHAPTER V
NORWICH AND DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Notwithstanding the fact that Norwich had for many years within its borders a collegiate institution of its own, founded and directed by its most distinguished son, the relations of our people towards the sister institution on the opposite bank of the Connecticut were always intimate and friendly.
Dartmouth College had been in successful operation for half a cen- tury when Captain Partridge first planted his Military Academy on Norwich Plain in 1820. The town and the college began their exist- ence at about the same time, and during the days of their infancy and weakness had learned to be mutually helpful. Thus the college and the community grew up together. The founders of Norwich, almost without exception, were from the vicinity of Lebanon, Conn .. the seat of Rev. Dr. Wheelock's Indian School, and were generally well acquainted personally and by reputation with the venerable founder of the College before he transplanted his school from that town into the wilds of western New Hampshire in the autumn of 1770. There is a current tradition-I know not how authentic it may be- that Doctor Wheelock would himself have preferred to locate his col- lege on the west bank of the river at Norwich instead of at Hanover, had it not been for the fact that Norwich was at that time nominally within the jurisdiction of New York, and lay therefore outside of the territorial limits of that colony which had conferred the charter and corporate existence for the new institution. However that may be, there can be little doubt that as regards its immediate surroundings the college would have been more advantageously situated at Nor- wich during its earliest years than at Hanover. By the New York census of 1771, Norwich contained 206 inhabitants. A census of
54
HISTORY OF NORWICH
Hanover four years earlier gave that town but ninety-two, and these were located chiefly in the eastern and northern portions. Norwich was dotted with settlers' cabins and little clearings while Hanover Plain was still a dense pine forest. Writing from Hanover, Dec. 7, 1770, President Wheelock says: "My nearest neighbor in town is 2 1-2 miles from me; I can see nothing but the lofty pines about me." Nor- wich had at that time both saw and grist mills in operation; and it is more than probable that whatever sawed lumber was used in the construction of the first college buildings at Hanover had been rafted across the river from Captain Hatch's or Jacob Burton's saw mills near the mouth of Blood Brook in Norwich.
Although it received its charter from Governor Wentworth in 1769, the college was not definitely located at Hanover until the early sum- mer of 1770, after eight weeks spent by President Wheelock and one or two of the trustees in a personal examination of the valley from Charlestown to Haverhill and many consultations with the leading men of the towns on both sides of Connecticut River. It was at a conference at the house of Jacob Burton in Norwich that this decision was finally reached. While the canvass for the location was going on, subscriptions in aid of the proposed college were solicited from the settlers along the river. The people almost invariably were poor. Many families had scarcely a roof to shelter wife and babies; still, out of their poverty they responded generously to the call. The Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts is said to have taxed each householder in that colony a peck of meal in 1636, for the endowment of Harvard College; but the pioneer settlers of Norwich did better than that. Their voluntary donations in land and money for the founding of Dartmouth in the summer of 1770 were as follows:
MONEY
MONEY
Acres
1
S.
Acres &
S.
d.
Jacob Burton
67
I
Daniel Waterman
24
I5
Ebenezar Ball
33
John Slafter
40
I
Thomas Murdock
33
IO
Samuel Hutchinson
2
IO
Elisha Crane
33
IO
Medad Benton
2
Philip Smith
33
I
John Hatch Samuel Partridge
2
IO
Capt. IIezekiah Johnson
80
I
2
5
John Sargent
40
2
IO
Elisha Partridge
IO
Timothy Bush
40
2
Jonas Richards
IO
Peter Thatcher
40
15 Joseph Hatch
33
I
5 5
CONTRIBUTIONS TO DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
MONEA
Acres
MONEY & s.
d.
Acres & S. d
Josiah Burton
20
Aaron Wright
I
IO
Israel Brown
27
IO
Francis Smalley
I
Daniel Baldwin
I3
IO
Joseph Ball
I
Francis Fenton
33
Jona Ball
5
John Hutchinson
I
IoSamuel Brown
2
5
Elisha Burton
I
IoSamuel Waterman
7
6
Nathan Messenger
5Samuel Partridge, Jr. IO
John Wright
I
Ebenezar Jaques
7
6
These donations amounted to 589 acres of land and 35 pounds, 15 shillings in cash. There were other gifts during the years immediately following as well as contributions of labor and materials from time to time-from such as had nothing else to give.
Nor does it appear that the infant settlement failed to endow the college in a higher sense. To Dartmouth went the bright boys of the Norwich pioneers for an education. The distinction belongs to Nor- wich of furnishing the first graduate from Vermont. No brighter intellects are found upon the rolls of the institution during the first decade of its history than those of Abel Curtis and Asa Burton. More than thirty descendants of the twenty-four families represented in the list of contributors above given have since received the honors of the college; and if we admit a dozen other families that settled in Norwich previous to 1780, the number is increased to upwards of fifty who have been thus honored.
The principal men of Norwich were in close alliance with the au- thorities of Dartmouth College in promoting an interesting political movement (the secret history of which has never been fully written)' that was industriously worked for about six years following 1776. This was a scheme to form a new state in the upper valley of the Con- necticut, to include the New Hampshire Grants on both sides of the river, whose capital should be Hanover or some town centrally located on the east or west bank, and whose intellectual and educational center should be Dartmouth College. This was by no means the visionary scheme it would now appear to be. As affairs then stood, it had much to recommend it; but the project failed in spite of the able and earnes" efforts of its supporters (who comprised a large majority of the most influential people in the river towns), chiefly because fate and Ira and Ethan Allen of the new State of Vermont were against it. It
56
HISTORY OF NORWICH
was but a natural result, however, of their mutual labors and sacri- fices for this "lost cause," that the town and the college should be drawn closer together in sympathy and in friendly offices.
Local influences, it is fair to presume, had some share in securing to Dartmouth College from the legislature of Vermont, at its session at Norwich in June, 1785, the grant of a full township of land in Caledonia County (named Wheelock in honor of the founder of the college), the rents and profits of which have ever since accrued to the benefit of the college. A few years earlier, when Vermont extended her jurisdiction over the New Hampshire Grants east of the Connecti- cut River, the district of Dresden was admitted to representation in the legislature as a distinct municipality, embracing the corporation of Dartmouth College-a privilege never accorded by New Hampshire itself.
Out of a multitude of facts and circumstances like those above noted the conviction was early established in the minds of a large majority of the people of eastern Vermont, that they and the people of New Hampshire had a common interest in Dartmouth College. The amount of patronage which Vermont has given to that institution in supplying it with students has accordingly been second only to that of New Hampshire, to the serious detriment, it must be confessed, of our own State University at Burlington. Indeed, it may be questioned whether more Vermont young men have not sought an education there than at both of our Vermont colleges. The proportion of Vermonters in the several classes of the academic department during the last fifteen years at Dartmouth, has averaged about one quarter of the whole number in attendance, while that of New Hampshire has been less than one third. In some of the classes between the years 1870 and 1880, the proportion from Vermont was from thirty to forty per cent of the whole. Of the class that graduated in 1879 not less than forty-one per cent were Vermonters.
Among the acts passed by the legislature of our State, while in session at Norwich, in June, 1785, was one granting 23,000 acres of land to the Trustees of Dartmouth College, and the President of Moor's Charity School. By this act the Governor and Council were requested to issue a charter of incorporation for the same, when so surveyed, and in pursuance of that request, that land was chartered under the name of Wheelock.
CHAPTER VI
HANOVER BRIDGE
The earliest form of transportation across the Connecticut River between Norwich and Hanover of which we have any information was the canoe of Nathan Messenger, who some time in the summer of the year 1765 established a hunting camp near the bank of the river, a few rods south of where the west end of Hanover bridge now is. In this canoe the family and household goods of John Hutchinson were brought over from the Hanover side in the late fall of the same year, at the completion of their long journey from Ashford, Conn., to their new home. This family, with that of Mr. Messenger, were the first white persons known to have passed the winter in Norwich, occupying together the log hut of Mr. Messenger. Jerome Hutchinson, a son of John, then a child of about three years, was fond in his old age of recounting his recollections of crossing the river on that occasion, some incidents of which never faded from his memory. The grotesque ap- pearance in the water of an old white-faced cow (which the family had' driven from Connecticut) as she swam behind the canoe during the passage of the river, was indelibly fixed in his mind. Mrs. Messenger, at her home on the Norwich side of the river, was first made aware of the arrival of the Hutchinsons by hearing the cry of their baby from the opposite bank, which she afterwards declared was "the sweetest music she ever heard," breaking thus unexpectedly the stillness of her solitary life in the woods.
After the founding of Dartmouth College and the settlement of ad- jacent parts of Hanover five years later, enlarged facilities for cross- ing the river were doubtless provided. The first allusion to a ferry at this point is found in the town records of 1778 when a public high-
58
HISTORY OF NORWICH
way was laid "from the Ferry place near Mr. John Sargent's to the Meetinghouse in Norwich," the building of which was commenced that year. Parties of volunteer soldiers are remembered to have crossed here in October, 1780, going to the pursuit of the Indians at the time of the burning of Royalton.
Although the west bank of the Connecticut River had been recog- nized from the earliest times as the western boundary of New Hamp- shire, the town of Norwich for many years vigorously asserted and maintained its right to one-half of the privilege of a ferry between Norwich and Hanover. The exclusive privilege or franchise of oper- ating a ferry at this place (and afterwards of building a bridge) was early conferred by the New Hampshire government upon the Trustees of Dartmouth College; but the Norwich authorities were slow to give up what they regarded their just rights in the matter. During the existence of the Second Union of New Hampshire towns with Vermont, the ferry seems to have been wholly in the possession and under the control of Norwich.
At a town meeting held March 25, 1782, it was voted "that a com- mittee of three be appointed to take the care and management of the Ferry by Mr. John Sargent's leading to Dresden, in behalf of the Town as our property, it being found that great inconveniences have arisen for want of faithful attendance. And that sd committee be desired and empowered to lease out or dispose of the same for the term of one year next coming to such person as will give good security for constant and faithful attendance. And such committee is further de- sired to engage such person the quiet and unmolested possession of the Ferry for said term of one year, and that they immediately pro- cure a boat for that purpose. The committee chosen: Capt. Joseph Hatch, Maj. Elisha Burton and Nath1 Brown, Esq." It is apparent, however, that before the end of the year the claims of the town were contested by parties in Hanover, for in the record of the annual town meeting, March 4, 1783, we find the following entry : "A letter from Capt. [Aaron] Storrs respecting the Ferry was read. And the ques- tion thereupon put by Bezaleel Woodward Esquire to the meeting, Whether the Town will agree to sell the boat put in by the town at said Ferry to Capt. Storrs? It passed unanimously in the negative." A committee was then appointed to take charge of the boat and ferry
59
FIRST BRIDGE BETWEEN NORWICH AND HANOVER
for the ensuing year, and again to offer the trustees of the college the privilege of one-half of the ferry; and in case this offer should be declined, "to lease out said boat and ferry in such way as they may judge most beneficial to the town and the public." Nothing seems to have come of these negotiations, and a year later (March 15, 1784) a vote was carried in town meeting, "that the Committee who were ap- pointed to build the boat two years ago for a Ferryboat between this town and Dresden, be directed to lock up said boat and dispose of the same to the best advantage"; and from thenceforth we hear no more of the town of Norwich attempting to hold or control the ferry.
The first bridge across the Connecticut River between the states of Vermont and New Hampshire was built at Bellows Falls in the year 1785, by Colonel Enoch Hale, of Walpole. This was the only bridge on the river north of Massachusetts until 1796, when bridges were completed between Windsor and Cornish and between Norwich and Hanover .* About the year 1794, a charter was granted by the legis- lature of New Hampshire to build a toll bridge on the river between Hanover and Norwich. That was not the first effort, however, to build a bridge at this point. More than ten years before (March, 1783), the town of Norwich appointed a committee "to act with the Trustees of Dartmouth College respecting the expediency of endeavor- ing to obtain a Lottery, for the purpose of erecting a Bridge between this town and Dresden, and [to see] whether measures may not be entered into to effect such a design." This effort was not successful and it was not till 1796 that the towns were finally united by a bridge.
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