USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 12
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* MSS. in connection with a deposition made by Israel Williams, June 29th, 1786. Deposition of Joseph Blanchard, dated Amherst, N. H., August 7th, 1787. Petition of Joseph Bryant, dated August 11th, 1766, in Colonial MSS., Land Papers, office Sec. State, N. Y., vol. xxi. To the MS. "Records of the public Proceedings of the Town of Dumerston, alias Town of Fullham," the annexed account of the circumstances attending the early history of that proprietary is prefixed as an " Introduction."
"The tract of land called Dumerston is a part of the tract of land on the west side of Connecticut river, formerly granted to Connecticut government as an equivalent for some lands which the province of Massachusetts Bay had granted to their planters, which upon inquiry was found to be within the government of Connecticut: in order to secure the property of ye soil to the Massachusetts planters, that government granted to Connecticut the property of sundry tracts of their province land, one of which was the tract here mentioned, which the government of Connecticut sold to sundry private gentlemen, among whome were the late Honourable Wm. Dumer & [Anthony] Stoder, Esq., whose heirs are now the proprietors of one half of the whole tract on Connecticut river, supposed to contain 48,000 acres. The said Wm. Dumer being the oldest pro- prietor, the tract was called after him. The name is now kept up in acknowledge- ment of the title from the original grant of the Massachusetts government, which is the title the land is now held by. On the settlement of the jurisdictional line of the province of Massachusetts Bay with that of New Hampshire, the tract of land here mentioned fell within the limits of New Hampshire government, which incorporated the whole into three townships, including in the middle townships, the greatest part of the lands belonging to the heirs of Wm. Dumer & [Anthony] Stoder, and called the name of it Fullham, by virtue of which the privileges of a town are now held : besides the town of Fullham, what is known by the name of Dumerston includes nearly one half of the town of Putney."-Records, 1773, 1774, p. 10. Appendix to Deming's Catalogue, p. 142.
109
TOWNSHIP OF CHESTER.
1750-1770.]
His eldest daughter was taken prisoner by the Indians. For two years and a half he knew nothing of her fate, but at the end of that time she returned home, Col. Peter Schuyler having " paid a ransom of four hundred livres for her redemption from captivity."
In the year 1752, a ferry was established between Westmore- land, New Hampshire, and the proprietary of Dummerston, and about the same period a similar method of communication was arranged between the latter place and the town of Chesterfield. The settlement, although much disturbed by the war, was not allowed to die, and a few years after the restoration of order, John Kathan and his eighteen associates with their families were rapidly subduing the forests of Fulham, and accomplish- ing the conditions of their charter.
To John Baldridge and others the lands now comprised in the township of Chester, were granted on the 22d of February, 1754, by the name of Flamstead. Under this first New Hamp- shire charter no settlements were made, and by this neglect the proprietors no doubt forfeited their rights. A second charter to Daniel Hayward and his associates, issued by the same province on the 3d of November, 1761, gave to the town the name of New Flamstead, and divided it into seventy-four equal shares. Under this charter the proprietors held a num- ber of meetings, but none in Chester until about the year 1764. Their first appointed clerk was John Goulding, who held that office from 1761 to 1763. In the latter year, Thomas Chandler Sen., who being interested in the settlement of Walpole, New Hamp- shire, had been appointed a selectman of that town, turned his attention towards the colonization of New Flamstead. His son, Thomas Chandler Jr., was chosen to succeed John Goulding, and was clerk until the year 1767. During the year 1763, the elder Chandler, with his sons John and Thomas Chandler Jr., removed to New Flamstead, and was followed by Jabez Sargeant, Edward Johnson, Isaiah Johnson, Charles Mann, William Warner, Ichabod Ide, and Ebenezer Holton, from Woodstock, Connecticut, and Worcester and Malden, Massachusetts. The first birth in the town was that of Thomas Chester Chandler, on the 26th of December, 1763. By a third charter issued by New York on the 14th of July, 1766, Thomas Chandler Sen. and his associates became proprietors of the town, and its name was changed to Chester. Under this patent the town was organized in June, 1767, and by authority derived from it, lands in Chester are now held.
110
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1750-1770.
The town of Guilford was chartered by New Hampshire on the 2d of April, 1754, to fifty-four proprietors, principally from Massachusetts. The account of the early civil and political con- dition of this town, given by Thompson in his "Gazetteer of Vermont," is in the words following :- " When granted, the town was a perfect wilderness, yet by the charter, the grantees were to hold their first meeting for the choice of officers, etc., on the 1st of May, 1754, and on the first Tuesday of March ever after- wards. It seems the town was first organized by and under the very grant itself. Power was given to the grantees to tran- sact the business of the town as a majority should see fit, subject only to the control of the Parliament of England. This little enterprising band, composed of Samuel Hunt, John Chandler, David Field, Elijah Williams, Micah Rice, Ira Car- penter, and others, having little to fear from the nominal power of Parliament, in the wilderness of Vermont, assumed the title, which was virtually created by their charter, of a little independent Republic. By the records of their first meetings, they appear to have been governed by certain committees, chosen for the purpose of surveying the lands, laying out roads, drawing the shares or lots, taxing the rights, etc., but their greatest object was to procure and encourage settlers. Their meetings were held at Greenfield, Northfield, Hinsdale, or Brattleborough, until 1765, when their first meeting was held at Guilford. There was a condition, which, if not performed, went to defeat the grant. The grantees were to settle, clear and cultivate, in five years, five acres for every fifty in said township. Although much time and money were spent in making roads and clearing lands, yet on the 20th of March, 1764, the grantees, by a special committee chosen, petitioned the Governor of New Hampshire for a confirmation of their grant, and an extension of the time, stating that the interven- tion of an Indian war had made it impracticable for them to fulfil the conditions of the charter .* Their prayer was granted, and the time for settling the town extended to the 1st of January, 1766. From the time the charter was confirmed in 1764, the town began to be rapidly settled by emigrants from Massachusetts and other New England provinces. Through
* The charter of Guilford was renewed and extended on three different occa- sions. The first extension was dated July 6th, 1761, the second, March 20th, 1764, and the third, June 7th, 1764.
111
TOWNSHIPS OF GUILFORD AND GRAFTON.
1750-1770.]
the policy of the original proprietors, the first settlers began upon lots of fifty acres, in order to fulfil the condition of the grant. So rapid was the increase of population, that the town soon became the largest in the state as to numbers. Yet there was not a single village in the township, or rather, the whole township was a village-all the hills and valleys were smoking with huts."
In this township, three hundred and fifty acres constituted a share. The usual reservations for public purposes were made, but the governor's right was located upon the only mountain in the township, from which circumstance the elevation has since been known as "Governor Mountain." Although the conduct of the proprietors was in general fair and generous, yet in one instance love of gain appears to have predominated over scru- pulous honesty. Not content with obtaining good prices for the land contained within their grant, they located and sold "one whole tier of hundred acre lots, north, beyond the extent of their charter," and to this day these lots are comprised with- in the limits of the town. The first land was cleared in 1758, by Jonathan and Elisha Hunt, on the farm since occupied by the Rev. Asa Haynes. The first settlement was made in Sep- tember, 1761, by Micah Rice and family, on the place since occupied by Jeremiah Greenleaf. These adventurers were fol- lowed by Jonathan Bigelow, John Barney, Daniel Lynds, William Bigelow, Ebenezer Goodenough, Paul Chase, Thomas Cutler, John Shepardson, and others. "They came into town by the way of Broad Brook. Beginning at the mouth of that stream on Connecticut river in Vernon, and passing up on its banks, they found their way into Guilford." This road, although the only one by which the town could then be reached, was im- passable with teams, and the settlers, for some time, were com- pelled either "to boil or pound their corn, or go fifteen miles to mill with a grist upon their backs." Such are some of the circumstances pertaining to the early settlement of Guilford.
The town of Grafton was granted, on the 8th of April, 1754, to Jonathan Whitney, William Holt, Nathaniel Harris, and sixty-one associates, by the name of Thomlinson, and was the last town chartered by New Hampshire previous to the breaking out of the French war. On the 9th of July, 1761, the time for fulfilling some of the conditions of the charter was extended. A new charter was granted on the 1st of September, 1763, to the same persons who had held the former one, and the old name
112
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1750-1770.
was retained. In the year 1768, a Mr. Hinkley and his family, with two other families, removed to the township, and began a settlement on what was afterwards called Hinkley Brook. They soon abandoned their undertaking, and from that time there was no permanent settlement within the borders of the town until the year 1780. The name Grafton was substituted for that of Thomlinson on the 31st of October, 1791.
Hartford, the first township granted by New Hampshire east of the Green Mountains after the close of the French war, was chartered on the 4th of July, 1761. The original grantees, sixty- four in number, were principally from Lebanon, Connecticut. Prince Tracy, James Pinneo Jr., and Jonathan Marsh consti- tuted the proprietors' committee. Within a few months after the charter was obtained, sixty-four fifty acre lots were laid out, one of which was given to each proprietor to hold in severalty. In 1763, the township was surveyed, and proper marks were placed at the corners, and between the corners at the end of every mile. At the same time allowance was made for highways, and some of them were partially prepared for use. These im- provements occupied a part of the summer, and were made by ten of the grantees. In the summer of 1764, the same persons renewed their exertions, and in that year, Elijah, Solomon, and Benajah Strong emigrated with their families from Lebanon, Connecticut, and made the first permanent settlement. They were followed during the next year by twelve other families, and on the 8th of March, 1768, the town was regularly organized. The first child born in town was Roger, son of Ebenezer Gillett. This event occurred on the 6th of August, 1767. From the time the town was chartered until its organization, the proprie- tors displayed much energy in effecting a settlement, and by their strenuous efforts the requisitions of the charter, under which they held, were faithfully fulfilled.
On the 4th of July, 1761, under a patent from New Hamp- shire, the township of Norwich was granted by the name of Norwhich, to Eleazer Wales and his associates, and was organ- ized in Connecticut on the 26th of August following. In 1762, the township was apportioned by lot. Although at that time the neighboring country was for miles around covered with untrodden wildernesses, yet this did not deter the advance of civilization. A few years later, cottages and cabins had sprung up in Norwich; and at Lebanon and Hanover, in New Hamp- shire, patches of cleared ground bore witness to the presence of
113
1750-1770.] PLYMOUTH, READING, WINDSOR.
the sturdy pioneer. The first settlers in Norwich were Jacob Fenton, Ebenezer Smith, and John Slafter from Mansfield, Connecticut, Jacob Burton and Asa, his son, from Stonington, in the same province, and the Messenger and Hutchinson families. In 1766, a saw mill was built by the Burtons, a little west of Norwich plain, and from that period the growth of the town was constant and certain .*
Plymouth, the next town chartered by New Hampshire, was granted to Jeremiah Hall, John Grimes, and sixty-two other proprietors, by the name of Saltash, on the 6th of July, 1761. The township, although early surveyed and divided under the original charter, was regranted by New York on the 13th of May, 1772, to Ichabod Fisher. No settlement was commenced within its limits until the year 1777, and the town was not organized until ten years later. On the 23d of February, 1797, the name of Saltash was superseded by that of Plymouth.
The township of Reading was chartered by New Hampshire on the same day on which Saltash received its patent, but could not boast of any inhabitants until the year 1772, when Andrew Spear and his family moved thither from Walpole, New Hamp- shire. For several years they were the only residents in the place. The original grantees were Zedekiah Stone, Israel Stowell, Jonathan Hammond, and their associates to the num- ber of fifty-nine. On the 6th of March, 1772, the township was granted by New York to Simon Stevens and others. It was organized on the 30th of March, 1780. A saw mill was built during the same year, and Reading became a thriving settle- ment.
Windsor, the date of whose charter is the same as that of the two preceding towns, was granted to Samuel Ashley, Jacob Cummings, and fifty-seven other persons, who immedi- ately organized as a proprietary body, and "proceeded to sur- vey, make a plan of, and allot the town." The first permanent settlement was commenced by Capt. Steele Smith, who with his family removed from Farmington, Connecticut, in August, 1764. In the following spring, " Major Elisha Hawley, Capt. Israel Curtis, Deacon Hezekiah Thompson, Deacon Thomas Cooper, and some others " became inhabitants of the town, and before
* A statement of the opinions which obtain respecting the first settlers of Nor- wich will be found in Thompson's Vt., Part III., p. 130, and in Powers's Coos Country, pp. 137-141.
8
114
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1750-1770.
the close of the year 1765, the number of families in the new settlement amounted to sixteen. Before the arrival of Capt. Smith, Solomon Emmons and his wife had built a hut within the town limits, where they resided, although they " had not purchased the land, nor made any improvements with a view to a permanent settlement." * Windsor was granted by New York to David Stone 2d, and his associates, on the 7th of July, 1766. On the 2d of March, 1772, it was regranted by the same province to Zedekiah and David Stone, and their associates. A third and last grant of the township was made by New York to Nathan Stone, and twenty-two other grantees, on the 28th of March, 1772. The first settlers of the town regarded the Stones with high respect. Upright in character, they were fully entitled to be held in estimation. By their exertions and enterprise they increased the wealth and pros- perity of Windsor, and rendered it at an early period one of the most flourishing and popular villages on the "Grants."
Pomfret, although chartered on the 8th of July, 1761, was not settled until the year 1770. Its original proprietors were sixty-six in number, of whom Isaac Dana was the principal person. Most of the proprietors were inhabitants of Pomfret, Connecticut. The name of Israel Putnam stands conspicuous in the list, but except as one of the grantees, he appears to have had no share in the settlement of the township.t
The township of Hartland was originally granted by New Hampshire to Samuel Hunt and his associates, by the name of Hertford, on the 10th of July, 1761. Its settlement was com- menced in May, 1763, by Timothy Lull, who had been pre- viously living at Dummerston. Having concluded to remove to Hertford, he purchased a log canoe, and taking with him his
* " Mrs. Emmons was the first, and for some time the only white woman who resided in the town." She was very useful to the early inhabitants, being for a long time the only midwife within many miles around. During the latter part of her life she was supported by the town. Her death occurred in the year 1833. To Samuel Smith, a son of Capt. Steele Smith, is accorded the privilege of primogeniture among the children born in Windsor. His birth took place July 2d, 1765. He died in 1842, aged seventy-seven years .- Thompson's Vt., Part III., p. 194. Appendix to Deming's Catalogue, p. 201.
+ On the 3d of July, 1766, John Stark applied to Governor Moore of New York, for a grant of 3000 acres of land in the south-east corner of Pomfret. Accompanying his request was a certificate from Thomas Gage, signed September 6th, 1765, stating that Capt. John Stark served under Capt. Rogers during the war .- New York Colonial MSS., Land Papers, July 3d, 1766, vol. xxi.
115
HARTLAND AND WOODSTOCK.
1750-1770.]
family, which consisted of a wife and four children, and such furniture as they needed, paddled up Connecticut river. Arriving at the mouth of a certain stream in Hertford, he anchored his boat and landed his family. Taking then a junk bottle, he broke it in the presence of his wife and children, and named the stream Lull's Brook-the name by which it has ever since been known. Proceeding up the brook about a mile, lie came to a deserted log-hut, situated near the place now called Sumner's village. Here he commenced a settlement. For many years he suffered privations and hardships, " but possessing a strong constitution and a vigorous mind, he overcame all obstacles, accumulated a handsome property, lived respected, and died generally lamented." His son Timothy was the first child born in the town .* The settlers who followed Mr. Lull were mostly emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 1765, thirty was the number of the inhabitants in the town. On the 23d of July, 1766, the charter of the town was confirmed by New York to Oliver Willard, and the grantees associated with him. The first town meeting was held on the 11th of March, 1767. Much inconvenience having arisen from the similarity between the name of Hertford and that of Hartford the adjoining town, Hertford was, by an act of the Legislature of Vermont passed June 15th, 1782, altered to Hartland, which name is still retained.
Woodstock was established by charter from New Hampshire, on the 10th of July, 1761. The grantees were David Page, and sixty-one associates. On the 5th of September, 1766, a representation was made to the Colonial Assembly of New York, by Page and Jonathan Grout of Petersham, Massachu- setts, by which it appeared that they, in company with a few of the original grantees, purchased of the rest ten thousand acres of land in Woodstock, soon after the charter was issued, and divided the purchase into lots. For these reasons they requested that the land might be confirmed to them by charter. The fate of this petition is not known, but on the 28th of Febru- ary, 1771, New York granted the township to Oliver Willard and others, and a charter to this effect was issued on the 3d of June, 1772. The first settlement in the town was commenced by James Sanderson, who removed hither with his family in
* His birth took place in December, 1764, and on this occasion, " the midwife was drawn by the father from Charlestown, upon the ice, a distance of twenty- three miles, upon a handsled."-Thompson's Vt., Part III., p. 88.
116
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1750-1770.
the year 1768. In the year 1772, there were only forty-two inhabitants in the place .*
The charter of the town of Thetford was signed by Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire, on the 12th of August, 1761. The first settlement within its borders was made by John Chamberlain, familiarly known as "Old Quail John," who removed hither from Hebron, Connecticut, in 1764. On the 13th of December in the same year, his daughter Susannah was born. This was the first birth in the town. During the year 1765, the Baldwin and Hosford families removed to Thet- ford. The town was organized on the 10th of May, 1768.+
To John Taylor and sixty-one associates, the charter of Sharon was issued by New Hampshire on the 17th of August, 1761. 'The settlement of the town was commenced by emigrants from Connecticut, in 1765. Robert Havens and his family were probably the first persons who spent the winter within its limits. But little is known concerning any of the pioneers who succeeded in planting a colony in this part of the New Hamp- shire Grants. In a civil point of view the right of primogeni- ture belongs to Elias Marsh, who was born on the 25th of March, 1768. The town was organized on the 8th of March in the same year.
In the year 1753, before the commencement of the French war, and eight years previous to the date of the charter of the town of Springfield, Daniel Sawtell, Jacob Sawtell, Oliver Sawtell, Combs House, Samuel Douglass, Oliver Farnsworth, Joseph Douglass, Noah Porter, Nathaniel Powers, Simeon Powers and Simeon Powers Jr., "being poor and indigent, and unable to purchase lands in any of the inhabited towns of his Majesty's provinces"-while the lands in said Springfield " lay in the open wilderness, waste and until'd, without yield- ing any revenue to his Majesty, or profits to his subjects"-" did, for his Majesty's profit," as well as for the support of themselves, their wives, and their children, " enter upon, till and improve part of the lands in said Springfield." During the war they
* In December, 1766, Lord Townshend and his associates petitioned Governor Moore of New York for a grant of the township of Woodstock by the name of Raynham Hall, promising to settle and cultivate it. The request appears to have been dismissed .- New York Colonial MSS., Land Papers, December, 1766, vol. xxii.
+ A number of entertaining incidents relative to the early settlers of Thetford may be found in Powers's Coos Country, pp. 144-162.
117
1750-1770.] THE EARLY SETTLERS OF SPRINGFIELD.
defended their possessions "at the peril" of their own lives, and by the loss of the lives of some of their "friends and neighbours," and " were as a guard to those places," located further down the river, which " were exposed to the rage of an heathen and savage foe." After the reduction of Canada, and the defeat of their "Popish enemies," they renewed their labors with greater energy, and succeeded in establishing a prosperous and attrac- tive settlement. The first charter of the town was issued under the seal of New Hampshire, on the 20th of August, 1761. In the same year John Kilburn purchased of the proprietors one right containing three hundred and sixty acres, and shortly after "did enter upon, clear, cultivate and till said lands, according to the conditions of the charter under which the lands were then held, and also erected thereon a dwelling- house." In 1762, Simon Stevens became an inhabitant of the town, and by his example and individual efforts, did much to alleviate the wants, and add to the happiness of the settlers.
The governors of New Hampshire and New York, in grant- ing lands on the New Hampshire Grants, were not always actu- ated by the purest principles in the choice of grantees. In the case of the early settlers of Springfield, their conduct was espe- cially worthy of reprobation. At the conclusion of the war, Daniel Sawtell and his associates petitioned Governor Went- worth for a patent of the lands which they had improved, or for " such part thereof as he should think fit." From some unaccountable reason, the Governor refused to assent to their request, and on the 20th of August, 1761, gave a charter of the whole township to Gideon Lyman and sixty-one associates. Not one of the original settlers was named in this instrument, and thus they were placed entirely at the mercy of men who were at liberty to dictate whatever terms they might deem most subservient to their own interests. " Without any regard to the great dangers and hard labour" which the early settlers had undergone in maintaining possession of, and preparing for culti- vation the lands which they had so long considered their own, the New Hampshire grantees sued out writs of ejectment, and obtained judgments against them. Executions were then issued, their possessions were taken, they themselves were threatened with imprisonment in default of the payment of the costs and charges of the suits which had been decided against them, and their families were "thereby brought to dis- tress and want." Meantime the decree of the King in Council,
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