USA > Vermont > Grand Isle County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 5
USA > Vermont > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 5
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THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
During all this time General Amherst was busily engaged in con- structing his fleet of boats, and when all was ready for action the season was so far advanced as to render impracticable an attack upon the French at Isle Aux Noix. However, Amherst did make a demonstra- tion in the direction of voyaging down the lake, but was met with such adverse weather that he returned to Crown Point and camped for the winter.
The opening of the next season, that of 1760, found the French still weaker than in the year preceding. Quebec had fallen, though that victory cost the English the life of the noble Wolfe, while to the French was lost the equally brave Montcalm. Montreal was now the only stronghold of importance in the hands of the enemy, and to this point the English forces directed their efforts, Murray, from Quebec up the St. Lawrence ; Haviland by the way of Lake Champlain; and General Amherst by the way of Lake Ontario. The latter commanded the en- tire expedition. By a similar coincidence, the three branches of the at- tacking army reached Montreal on the 6th and 7th of September. Am- herst at once laid siege to the city, but before commencing the attack, he received a flag of truce from General Vaudreuil, the French com- mander, asking terms of surrender. The proposals were made and ac- cepted ; and on the 8th day of September, 1760, the whole province of Canada was surrendered to the British. By a treaty of peace, signed at Paris February 10, 1763, the Canadian province was formally ceded to the king of Great Britain.
Thus ended the French dominion and power, not only in Canada, but in America. From the time that James Cartier first sailed up the gulf to which he gave the name St. Lawrence, in 1534, to the final treaty of Paris, in 1763, the French held possession and power in this country ; and held them by the same rights as did other nations, that of discovery and settlement. And she yielded those rights, not volunta- rily nor willingly, but under the compulsion of superior strength of the British government ; the same power and strength that had previously overthrown the Dutch dominion in the New Netherlands.
The French, during the continuance of their power in America, had acted much in the same manner, and were governed by the same gen- eral rules as were the English, with reference to their possessions of land
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
. in this country. The French king made grants of extensive areas of land, called seigniories, to divers persons, as rewards for fealty, as spe- cial favors, or for consideration, as best suited the royal inclination. And it so happened that the greater portion of the lands that now com- prise the counties of Franklin and Grand Isle were within what were claimed to be a part proper of the French possessions. As preceding pages have already narrated, the French extended their possessions throughout the entire Champlain region of country, even as far south as Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and on both sides of the lake; and throughout this vast district the French king made grants of land to va- rious persons. Had the French conquered the English in their wars for supremacy in America, then the colonists would have been brought under the government of France, and the grants of land made by the ruling king would have been recognized as of binding force, but as the French were vanquished the grants made by the king were nullified and disregarded.
It was during the long interval of peace which followed the treaty of Utrecht that the greater number of seigniories were granted by the king of France. During the years immediately following 1725, the reader will remember, the French made most extraordinary efforts at extending their line of possessions up Lake Champlain, and it was during those years that the greater part of the seigniories were created. In the year 1732, M. Angier, the king's surveyor, made a survey and map of the Champlain country, which map discloses the names of persons to whom grants were made. The whole of Grand Isle county was surveyed and mapped, but the localities of Franklin that lay remote from the lake do not appear to have come within the scope of the surveyor's labor; and, for some inexplicable reason, that which now forms the greater part of St. Albans, and a small part of the south side of Swanton, appears not to have been surveyed or granted. The seigniories, all of them, were of considerable extent, greater even than the large townships, and were measured and described by leagues rather than miles.
Concerning the seigniories within the region of the counties Franklin and Grand Isle, but little can or need be said, for it is not understood that any of them, except, possibly, Isle La Motte, were occupied or set- tled in pursuance of the grant. And in relation to Isle La Motte it may
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THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
be said that that island was occupied and a fort built thereon more than half a century before the same was pretended to be granted. The lands included within the present towns of Georgia, Fairfax, and a very small part of St. Albans, together with Milton in Chittenden county, com- prised the seigniory of M. Douville; Swanton, and possibly parts of Highgate and the towns next east, are supposed to be included within the seigniory of M. de Beauvois, jr., while a small part of Highgate was also a part of M. Lusignan's grant. That which is now Alburgh was parts of seigniories granted to M. Faulcaut and M. Lafontaine. The district now comprising the towns of North Hero, Grand Isle and South Hero, formed one seigniory, the grant of M. Contrecoeur. Isle La Motte is not designated as having been granted, but is presumed as having been the grant of La Mothe, the builder of Fort St. Anne, which stood thereon for many years.
After the termination of the French and English wars numerous ap- plications were made to the British government asking for a ratification and confirmation of the grants made by the king of France. These pe- titions were made by the grantees, and occasionally one would be con- firmed, but the greater part were nullified. This was especially true with reference to the seigniories granted within the jurisdiction of the province of New York, which included Vermont, or at least assumed to include it. The only claim the petitioner could make was an appeal to the generosity of the British government, which latter never amounted to much, but when the petition was opposed by the authorities of the New York province, the result was an almost invariable refusal.
The statement has been made, incidentally, that the province of New York assumed to exercise jurisdiction over what is now Vermont. But that claim or assumption was exercised not only with reference to the French seigniories, but with regard to the right of ownership and con- trol over the whole region of this State. This claim gave rise to a long and bitter controversy between the provincial governors of New York and New Hampshire, and in which the governor of Massachusetts be- came involved; and which controversy was continued from its com- mencement in 1749 to 1791, when Vermont was finally admitted to the Federal Union. The events of this period, in relation to that contro- versy, will be made the subject of the succeeding chapter.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
CHAPTER V.
Early Land Grants-Dispute Concerning the Boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire-Its Settlement-Conflict of Authority Respecting the First Settled Locality in Vermont-Benning Wentworth Becomes Governor of New Hampshire - Grants Made by Him-His Right Disputed by New York-Grants within the Region of Franklin County-The Claims of New York Founded on Grants to the Duke of York-Correspondence between New Hampshire and New York -- The Controversy Referred to the King-His Decree-New York Extends to Connecticut River-New Hampshire withdraws from the Controversy-Policy Adopted by New York-Resisted by the Inhabitants-The Leaders of the People-The Green Mountain Boys-Treat- ment of New York Officers-Counties Formed by New York-Albany and Charlotte Counties Embrace this Region-Progress of the Controversy-Rewards offered by New York-Proclamations on Both Sides-Events East of the Mountains-The Peo- ple United-The Massacre at Westminster.
D URING the period of the early wars between the English and French, that region of country now known by the name of Ver- mont was almost constantly being traversed by troops of armed men, on their march from the settled provinces of New Hampshire, Massa- chusetts and Connecticut to the frontier country that bordered on Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. But during that same period, or at least the early part of it, there were no substantial settlements and im- provements within the jurisdiction named, for the reason that any at- tempt at colonization and settlement would subject the pioneers to the murderous attacks of the Canadian Indians. And even the established outposts in the Connecticut Valley, however close they were to the more thickly populated districts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, were themselves the objects of Indian depredations, plunder and murder.
However, by these early wars the character of this region became known to the men of the military organizations of the southern and eastern provinces, and through their report there became a strong de- sire on the part of numerous persons to possess them. As early as the year 1724, the governor of the Massachusetts province made a grant of land in what he assumed or claimed to be the lawful jurisdiction of his province, which grant constituted a township on the Connecticut River, and within which Fort Dummer was built. But the lands in the local-
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EARLY LAND TITLES.
ity of this grant were claimed by the provincial governor of New Hamp- shire to be within his jurisdiction, and at the time of making the said grant a controversy was in progress between these respective authori- ties as to the right of jurisdiction over the territory. This controversy was not finally settled until the year 1740, when an order of the king in council fixed and determined the north boundary of the province of Massachusetts at a point some miles south of the site of Fort Dum- mer, leaving that settlement within what was understood as part of New Hampshire province. Here it may be stated that a number of past writers of Vermont history have claimed that the first settlement within the state was that at Fort Dummer, in the year 1724. In respect of this being the first English settlement within the state, the statement is quite true, but there is abundant evidence showing that civilized settlement was made within the jurisdiction of the state as early as the year 1665, in the occupation of Isle La Motte by the French officer Captain La Mothe, who built a fort on the island at that time; and soon after this time the French established posts in the localities of the counties south of Frank- lin and Grand Isle, all before the erection of Fort Dummer. But, per- haps, as to the question of permanent settlement, that at Fort Dummer may stand in the lead.
In 1741 Benning Wentworth was commissioned as governor of the province of New Hampshire ; and he assumed that the western bound- ary of his province should be the continuation northward of the western line of the provinces of Massachusetts and Connecticut, as the latter had been established by the royal determination. This assumption and claim, had it become subsequently recognized and confirmed by the king, would have brought all the territory now called Vermont within the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire province; but Governor Went- worth so considered and treated it until the royal decree of 1764, which determined the district to be a part of New York. New York, on the other hand, had always claimed that the eastern boundary of that prov- ince was the west bank of the Connecticut River; and rested that claim upon two charters and letters patent, executed by King Charles the Second to his brother James, the Duke of York, dated, respectively, the 12th of March, 1663, and June 29th, 1764, by which all the lands be- tween the Connecticut River and Delaware Bay were erected into
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
that province. The province of Connecticut was brought into being, according to the New York governor's interpretation, by virtue of an agreement made with New York about the year 1684, and afterward confirmed by King William. But as to the province of Massachusetts, it was claimed that the people therein had " possessed themselves thereof by intrusion, and through the negligence of the authorities of New York had continued their possessions, the lands not being private property." This was the statement made by the Governor of New York to Benning Wentworth, of New Hampshire, in explanation of the fact regarding the situation of those provinces within the region of the grant to the Duke of York, they being in part to the westward of the Connecticut River.
During the first ten years of Governor Wentworth's incumbency, the whole country was in a condition of agitation occasioned by the preva- lence of the French wars; and although those wars were by no means ended when that governor commenced making charters and grants of townships on the disputed territory, he had by that time acquainted himself with the character of the land and the political situation with reference to New York. So, when applications for grants were made to him, the worthy governor felt it incumbent on himself to exercise the functions of his office in this direction, and by so doing somewhat in- crease the emoluments of the executive, in the same manner as his pred- ecessor had done, and as other governors were then doing. But, a large portion of the lands within his own conceded province had already been granted, therefore he turned his attention to the territory west of the Connecticut, apparently with the honest belief that if Connecticut and Massachusetts provinces extended to a line twenty miles east from the Hudson River, his jurisdiction also must extend to the northern contin- uation of the same line.
Under this assumption, on the 3d of January, 1749, Governor Went- worth made a grant of a township, thirty-six square miles of land, near the southwest corner of his assumed province, abutting the imaginary twenty- mile line, to which he gave the name of Bennington; and im- mediately after this action, he acquainted Governor Clinton, of New York, with what had been done, for the purpose of having the boundary between the provinces, as Wentworth assumed it to be, satisfactorily
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fixed and determined. In reply to this communication, Governor Clin- ton informed Governor Wentworth that the territory within which the grant had been made was a part of New York; that the latter extended east to the west bank of the Connecticut River, and that under the New York authority grants of townships had already been made in the dis- trict. And further, he asked Governor Wentworth to recall the grant he had wrongfully and under misapprehension made. It was in the course of this correspondence, and that which followed, that there was brought to light the statements already made with reference to the provinces of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
However, notwithstanding the explanations and protests made by the governor of New York, Benning Wentworth not only failed to recall the grants he had made, but refused to do so. And it appears that he was not willing to accept as true all that Governor Clinton had to say and write concerning the extent of his province ; but, disregarding them, he continued to issue grants and charters promiscuously and indiscrimi- nately, and to such extent that by August, 1764, he had issued no less than one hundred and thirty-five of them to sets of persons or individ- uals. And the worthy governor seems not to have employed any reg- ular system in thus disposing of his claimed lands, but granted them ac- cording to the tenor of the applications, in whatever locality was sought to be acquired ; and of course in each grant to be made, a proper con- sideration moved the executive will, all of which was gratefully received, but not mentioned either in grant or charter, except in a general way.
But it must not be understood that the governor of New York quietly submitted to this disposition of lands, for such was hardly the case. On the contrary that officer kept up a constant correspondence with Governor Wentworth, protesting against his action, and finally propos- ing to submit the matter in controversy to the royal determination. At the same time, on the 28th of December, 1763, Cadwalader Colden, the lieutenant-governor of New York, issued a proclamation, " com- manding the sheriff of the county of Albany to make a return of the names of all persons who had taken possession of lands under New Hampshire grants," for the purpose of having them brought to justice and punished as trespassers and transgressors. This was met by a coun- ter proclamation, issued by Governor Wentworth, reaffirming his right
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
to make grants, defining the extent of his jurisdiction, and enjoining upon his grantees and the settlers under his charters, "to be industrious in clearing and cultivating their lands, agreeable to their respective grants ;" and further did he command all civil officers "within this Province, of whatsoever quality, as well those that are not, as well those that are inhabitants on the said lands, to continue and be diligent in exercising jurisdiction in their respective offices, as far westward as grants of land have been made by this government; and to deal with any person or persons, that may presume to interrupt the inhabitants or settlers on said lands, as to law and justice do appertain; " the pre- tended right or jurisdiction mentioned in the aforesaid Proclamation, (Governor Colden's) notwithstanding.
Such was the situation of affairs between the contesting provinces with reference to the lands on the New Hampshire grants, as the district was then called. The greater portion of Governor Wentworth's char- ters were not made until the closing years of the last French war, and it was not until after the year 1760 that any permanent settlement was made in any part of the granted townships; for had ·settlement been made earlier, the inhabitants would only have been slaughtered by the merciless Canada Indians, whose frequent expeditions brought them throughout this region more, perhaps, than any other. Of the towns granted by Governor Wentworth, the first to be settled were in the southern and southeastern portions of the state; and, although grants were made that covered a part of what is now Franklin county, but none that comprise Grand Isle, by Governor Wentworth, prior to 1764, none of these had any permanent settlement until after the close of the War of the Revolution. On the 17th of August, 1763, the towns of St. Al- bans, Swanton, Highgate and Georgia were granted. On the 18th of the same month and year, the other towns of Fairfax, Fairfield, Smith- field and Hungerford were in the same manner brought into existence. But Smithfield was afterward absorbed in part by Fairfield, and partly by adjoining towns, and is not now known to the county, while Hun- gerford is now known by the name of Sheldon.
The governors of the two provinces, having agreed to submit their controversy to the royal determination, did so, with the result that the district then and for some time afterward known by the name of the
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New Hampshire Grants, now the state of Vermont, was declared to be a part of the province of New York, the eastern boundary of which was fixed at the west bank of the River Connecticut. This decree by the king and council was decided upon and promulgated on the 20th of July, 1764, and by it, notwithstanding the frauds charged to have been practiced by New York's governing authorities in obtaining it, the ju- risdiction and authority of Governor Wentworth over the district was brought to an end. With the people on the grants at that time, it made no material difference whether they were under the jurisdiction of New Hampshire or New York, but had their preferences been consulted in the matter they would have chosen to remain a part of what they con- sidered the mother province-New Hampshire. At the decision of the crown they were greatly surprised, but not alarmed, and they quietly submitted to the authority of the province to which they were annexed. But it was when that new control attempted to dictate and order that the inhabitants should surrender their charters and purchase new ones from New York that they rebelled against the authority of that prov- ince, or its right to compel such a course of action. According to their interpretation of the king's decree, they did not understand that the de- cree was to be retroactive in its operation, but merely that they were to undergo a change of jurisdiction, and that their charter rights should be confirmed to them without repurchase ; to the change of jurisdiction they passively submitted, but they firmly refused to again pay for the lands once purchased, which they had at great expense of time and labor cultivated and improved, and upon which they had built up their homes. But the New York officers were obdurate and tyrannical, and would make no concessions whatever. To compass their ends they caused the authority of Albany county to be extended over the inhabited district of the grants, and directed the shrievalty to arrest the rebellious subjects and bring them to trial at Albany, the shire town of that county.
Thus reduced and oppressed to the last extremity, the distressed in- habitants sought the royal intervention by dispatching Samuel Robin- son to England with a petition for relief from the unjust burdens put upon them by the governing province. The result of this was that the king in council ordered and charged the governor of New York not to " presume to make any grants whatsoever, of any part of the lands de-
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
scribed, until his Majesty's further pleasure shall be known," etc. But notwithstanding the king's prohibition, the governor of New York did continue to make grants of townships, and did order the civil authorities to make arrests, issue writs of ejectment against settlers, and appointed justices of the peace in the towns, (persons, of course, who were favor- able to New York,) and other officers who were to act wholly in their interests.
Finding no substantial redress in the king's decree, the people of the several towns assembled in convention at Bennington, and resolved to support and maintain their rights by force, as law and justice were de- nied them. To this end they caused to be organized a military associ- ation, of which Ethan Allen was made colonel, and Seth Warner, Re- member Baker, Robert Cochran, Gideon Warner and others, captains. This was the incipient organization that afterward became known throughout the civilized world as the Green Mountain Boys; an organ- ization that made itself effectual not alone in resisting the oppression of New York, but one as well that rendered yeoman service during the darkest period of the revolution. Although bitterly and strenuously opposed to the New York usurpation, they never once wavered in their loyalty to the cause of American Independence; and to their efforts mainly belongs the honor of having administered the first decisive de- feat to the British arms. The Bennington convention of inhabitants, be- sides providing for the military association above referred to, also pro- vided for the appointment of committees of safety in the several towns, whose duty it was to conduct the affairs of respective localities, and in cases of violation of any of the rights of the people therein, especially in regard to their opposition to New York, and report the same to the as- sociation, whose members took upon themselves the responsibility of punishing the offenders, after their own primitive but nevertheless effect- ual manner. And cases, many of them, are not wanting in which these determined leaders of the people visited their penalties upon New York's representatives on the grants, or upon persons whose conduct was en- imical to the interests of the loyal inhabitants. In the formation of this association, and in the operations of the organization itself, there was laid the very foundation of the new and independent state; and more than that, in this body and its institutions lay the foundation of the
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Vermont constitution, the germ from which it originated and grew into existence.
The organization known by the name of Green Mountain Boys, came into existence soon after the decree was promulgated that transferred the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire grants from the mother prov- ince, and vested it in New York; and it continued in being until the ob- ject of its mission was finally accomplished, the recognition of Vermont as a state, and her admission into the Federal Union. In the course of their administration of the affairs, the Green Mountain Boys adopted the somewhat novel, though perhaps unusual means of punishment, which generally consisted of " viewing " a person, or visiting upon his naked back the impressive effects of the "beach seal," as it was called. View- ing was done almost exclusively in Bennington, where the large sign- post in front of the Green Mountain tavern afforded the best facility for the operation. By this means of punishment the offending person was placed securely in an arm-chair, and then hoisted with ropes to the top of the sign, and then left until the law was deemed to be satisfied, ex- posed to the gaze and derision of the assembled multitude. The appli- cation of the "beach seal" was the most popular method of punishment, and was executed by securing the offender to a tree or other convenient place, barring his back, and then laying on the beach rod stout and strong to the satisfaction of the judges; the judges being generally members of the military association.
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