USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
Connecticut.
*
1763.]
PROCLAMATIONS. 129
and pursued it with so much vigor, that at the end of the year 1763 he had, with but little show of discretion, divided almost the whole of the New Hampshire Grants into townships, and distributed them among flatterers, followers, and adventu- rers. In some cases the names of deserving men had appeared in the patents, but the proprietors were mainly speculators, who cared for little else than to sell at advanced prices the lands which they had obtained by gift.
The government of New York had for some time observed with dissatisfaction the course which Governor Wentworth was pursuing, and had to no purpose remonstrated against it. The time for more strenuous measures had now arrived. On the 28th of December, 1763, a proclamation was issued by Lieut .- Governor Cadwallader Colden of New York, declaring Con- necticut river to be the eastern boundary of that province, and commanding "all judges, justices, and other civil officers" holding commissions under New York "to exercise jurisdiction in their respective functions, as far as to the banks of Connecti- cut river." He also enjoined the sheriff of Albany county, within whose shrievalty the district in question was comprised, to return to him the names of all persons " who under the grants of the government of New Hampshire " then held or should continue to hold possession of any lands west of Connecticut river, that they might be proceeded against according to law .*
Governor Wentworth, nowise intimidated by this manifest, which he termed " very extraordinary," published a counter- proclamation on the 13th of March, 1764, for the purpose of asserting the rights of New Hampshire, and encouraging those who had begun settlements under charters from that province, " to be industrious in clearing and cultivating their lands agree- able to their respective grants." In Governor Wentworth's com- mission from the King, dated July 3d, 1741, the southern boundary line of New Hampshire was described as extending west, " till it meets with our other governments." The western limits of Massachusetts and Connecticut were within twenty miles of Hudson river. These were the limits of his Majesty's "other governments," and Wentworth declared that it was
* Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 558-560. At the date of this proclamation, the inha- bitants in the country between Lake Champlain and Connecticut river were " very few, and almost entirely confined to the townships of Hinsdale, Westminster, Bennington, and Rockingham."-MS. Deposition of Joseph Blanchard, March 1st, 1771.
9
130
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1764, 1765.
right that the western extent of the province of New Hampshire should be as great. While making these statements, he was careful to omit an important explanation. By trespass, Massa- chusetts and Connecticut had stretched their limits far beyond the line assigned them by charter. But they had acknowledged the encroachment, and by treaties New York had ceded to them the lands over which they had attempted to usurp authority.
It was evident that neither of the governors would yield. Recourse was had to the King, and the whole subject was laid before him. By an Order in Council, dated July 20th, 1764, he declared " the western banks of the river Connecticut, from where it enters the province of the Massachusetts Bay, as far north as the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude, to be the boundary line between the said two provinces of New Hamp- shire and New York." This declaration was published on the 10th of April, 1765, by the Governor of New York. As to its import, it might seem that there could have been no differ- ence of opinion. But the force of the infinitive was by no means definitive. "The government of New York supposed that the words to be gave the order a retrospective operation, and 'construed them as a declaration that the river always had been the eastern limits of New York; consequently that the grants made by the Governor of New Hampshire were invalid, and that the lands might be granted again.' On the contrary, the grantees under New Hampshire patents, understood these words in the future tense, as a declaration that the Connecticut river was to be from that time forward only, the line of division between the two provinces, and 'consequently that their grants being derived from the crown, through the medium of one of its governors, were valid.'" Thus arose a fresh dispute, which for ten years continued to excite litigation and animosity, unfavor- able to the progress of humanity, and prejudicial to the settle- ment and civilization of the disputed territory. *
At the time when the Order in Council was promulgated by the proclamation of Governor Colden, the lands east of the Green Mountains and west of Connecticut river, notwithstand- ing the numerous grants of Governor Wentworth, were but lit- tle cultivated, and very sparsely inhabited. According to some
* Doc. Hist. N. Y. iv. 570-572, 574, 575. N. Y. Colonial MSS. in office Sec. State N. Y., Monckton and Colden, 1763, 1764, vol. xcii .; Colden and Moore, 1764-1766, vol. xciii. Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 315, 316.
131
THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.
1765.]
accounts the whole number of families settled within those limits were not over sixty. Other statements raised this number to seventy, and one supposition was, that there might be a hundred. Nor were all these the families of original proprie- tors. Most of them were purchasers under some of the letters patent which had been issued by New Hampshire for very small considerations, and some were settlers under the squatter's title which had cost nothing .*
The whole of the New Hampshire Grants, although not added to, was supposed to be included within the limits of the "unlimited county of Albany," and the sheriff of that county was authorized to exercise his authority from the banks of Con- necticut river to the shores of Lake Champlain. The courts were held in the city of Albany, and hither, or to the city of New York, all were obliged to resort who wished to transact business with the officers of government. Their remoteness from these places, was an inconvenience most sensibly felt by the new set- tlers. The county of Albany appeared to them unreasonably large, and in its division they foresaw relief from the difficulties under which they labored. To effect a change, recourse was had to petitions. The first presented to Lieutenant-Governor
* Joseph Blanchard, who, in the year 1765, numbered the inhabitants from Brattleborough to Hartford, declared that on the New Hampshire Grants, east of the Green Mountains, "there were not, on a large Computation above Sixty Families settled as Claimants" under grants from that province; "that these Inhabitants were scattered in Eleven Townships lying on Connecticut River, and in three Townships lying back of the River on the Southermost Part of the whole Tract," and that even in these townships, cultivation was but just beginning, Hinsdale, Brattleborough, Westminster, and Putney being excepted, where more advance had been made .- MS. deposition, March 1st, 1771.
The opinion of Simon Stevens, one of the members of the General Assembly of New Hampshire, was, that " there were not seventy families within the limits above described ;" that these "were scattered in about a dozen townships" on Connecticut river, and that "the Chief of them " were in Brattleborough, West- minster, Putney, and Rockingham. The same views were also held by Samuel Wells of Brattleborough, one of the judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and one of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the county of Cumberland. Oliver Willard, an assistant judge in the court above named, and an inhabitant of the town of Hertford as early as 1763, stated that " the Proclamations by the Governments of New York and New Hampshire notifying his Majesty's Determi- nation of the Boundary between those Governments, were very Publickly known" at the time of their publication ; that there might then have been "about one hundred Families settled in all that Country Eastward of the Green Mountains, formerly claimed by New Hampshire," and that "those Inhabitants were scattered through about Twenty Tracts or Townships of about six miles square each, and principally along Connecticut River."-Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 693, 696, 697, 701.
132
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1765.
Colden, was dated October 9th, 1765, and was signed by Thomas Chandler, Isaac Man, David Wooster, Daniel Jones, and Robert Harpur, "in behalf of themselves and their asso- ciates, inhabitants of the northern part" of the province of New York. They proposed that the " Grants " should be divided by a north and south line, which should follow the course of the ridge of the mountains ; that two counties should be erected to the east of this line and three to the west; that the eastern counties should be divided by a line extending from the north-eastern corner of the township of Norwich to the line extending along the ridge of the mountains ; that the most southern of the western counties should be bounded on the south by the north- ern line of Massachusetts extended as far west as the mouth of the Mohawk river at Half Moon, and on the north by a line drawn east from Fort Miller to the line of the mountains; that the middle county should adjoin the last mentioned county, and extend north to a line drawn from the north end of Lake George to the mountain line; that the other county should com- prise all the land between the north line of the middle county and the forty-fifth parallel, and that the western limits of the three last mentioned counties should be left to the discretion of the governor. They further proposed that the lower county on Connecticut river should be called Colden, and that its county town, of the same name, should be located in the township of New Flamstead ; that the upper county should be called Ster- ling, and that Newbury should be assigned as its county town, in the township of that name ; that the southern county to the west of the Green mountains should be called Manchester, and that its county town should be located at Stillwater; that the middle county should be called Kingsbury, and that the county town should be situated in the township of Kingsbury ; that the last county should be called Pitt, and that its county town should be fixed at Hospital Point on the east side of Lake Champlain, near Crown Point. Having detailed these proposi- tions, they prayed that the counties and towns they had men- tioned, might be established " under the restrictions appointed by his Majesty's instructions."*
This petition was on the 15th of October followed by another, in which the petitioners, in view of the unwillingness manifested
MSS. Council Minutes, in office Sec. State N. Y., 1765-1783, xxvi. 22. Brattleborough Semi-Weekly Eagle, Thursday, September 27th, 1849. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 578-580.
133
PETITIONS OF THE NEW SETTLERS.
1765.]
by the Council of New York to erect the five counties before proposed, expressed their readiness to withdraw that request. At the same time they did not fail to assert their belief in the necessity of "some establishment" by which vice might be detected, and the inhabitants protected in recovering their just dues. To effect these results, they desired that a county by the name of Colden-might be erected, to be limited on the east by Connecticut river, on the west by " the height of land," on the north by the forty-fifth parallel, and on the south by the north line of the province of Massachusetts Bay. They further requested that the county town might be located at New Flam- stead, and that the county might be vested with such privileges as it had been usual to grant in similar cases .*
On the 22d of October, a third attempt was made to draw the attention of the Council of New York to the wants of the new settlers. "It is now near six months," said the petitioners, " since to our knowledge, we became inhabitants of this pro- vince, and have been ever since without law. Notwithstand- ing we have made application to be protected, as yet we are not answered. Should we be annexed to the county of Albany, as proposed by some, we shall still lye under such a disadvan- tage that justice cannot be had, and to appoint justices in some few of the towns, without proper officers to execute warrants, &c., we humbly conceive will never answer ye end ; and in what way any officer (if they should be appointed) can execute his office, so far as to carry a delinquent to Albany, for our part we are at a loss [to determine], as there can be no passing from Connecticut river to Albany without going thro' the province of the Massachusetts Bay, and as soon as an officer gets across the line of the province, his office leaves him, and the delinquent makes his escape; and in what way any constables can be chosen to execute any small precept, &c., till the towns are incorporated, we must confess we cannot tell." Other argu- ments favoring the establishment of a new county were adduced, backed by urgent supplications for immediate action.
The committee to whom these applications had been made, unable longer to ignore the subject, submitted a report on the day in which this last petition was received. They declared that the accounts they had received had been "very contradictory
* MSS. Council Minutes in office Sec. State N. Y., 1765-1783, xxvi. 22. Brat- tleborough Semi-Weekly Eagle, Monday, October 1st, 1849. Doc Hist. N. Y., Iv. 580, 581.
134
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1766.
and unsatisfactory ;" that the inhabitants of that portion of the province held their lands, as yet, by an equitable title only ; that they were wholly " unacquainted with the laws of the pro- vince, and the modes of dispensing justice therein ;" that Ports- mouth, the place to which they had previously resorted to attend the courts of justice, was at a greater distance than the city of Albany, and that should the committee "to suit a pre- sent convenience, advise the forming a part of the province so little known into a county, when it must shortly become expedi- ent to new model it, private property would be greatly injured, by altering the seat of the courts of justice and other places of public resort." For these reasons the committee reported adversely to a new county, but recommended the appointment of a " com- petent number of fit persons for the conservation of the peace, and the administration of justice in that part of the province."*
In accordance with this suggestion, commissions were issued on the 20th of January, 1766, and twenty-one additional justices of the peace were appointed for the administration of the laws within the county of Albany. Of this number, Thomas Chan- dler, William Gilliland, Joseph Lord, Isaac Mann, Robert Harpur, Jacob Bayley, and Samuel Wells, were assigned of the Quorum,+ and to all these newly commissioned officers, the sheriff and constables of Albany county were commanded to yield obedi- ence. By an act of the British parliament which extended over the English colonies, all civil and military officers were required to take and subscribe their names to the oaths of alle- giance, supremacy, and abjuration. Thomas Chandler, William Gilliland, and Isaac Mann, were empowered to tender and ad- minister these oaths, and a Dedimus Potestatem confirmed to them this authority. At the request of Sir Henry Moore, Governor of New York, measures were taken to ascertain the number of men between Connecticut river and the Green Mountains capable of bearing arms. According to the report of Thomas Chandler, presented on the 20th of January, there were in the southern portion of that district about six hundred
* MSS. Council Minutes in office Sec. State, N. Y., 1765-1783, xxvi. 23. Brat- tleborough Semi-Weekly Eagle, Monday, October 1st, 1849; Thursday, October 4th, 1849. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 581-584.
+ Four years previous, fifty-five justices had received commissions in Albany county. The whole number now, was seventy-six. In the same county fifteen persons had been previously appointed of the Quorum. The whole number was now twenty-two. The duties of these offices were also performed by the mem- bers of the Council and by the Attorney General.
135
NOMINATION OF OFFICERS.
1766.]
men," and in the northern portion about one half that number, answering to this description. A proposition was then made, that two regiments should be formed, and that the command of the southern one should be assigned to Thomas Chandler, and of the northern one, to Jacob Bayley. This suggestion, as far as it related to the southern regiment, was carried into effect, and military companies were formed in several towns. There is still extant a commission, signed by H. Moore, bearing date February 27th, 1766, appointing "Simon Stevens to be Captain of the Eighth Company of foot, in the Regiment of Militia whereof Thomas Chandler Esqr. is Colo. to Consist of the Inha- bitants of Springfield," and the chirography in the commission is that of the Colonel himself. The nomination of civil officers in the northern part of Albany county having been confirmed by the Governor, a meeting of the justices of the peace and quorum, was called at Rockingham, on the 27th of February, at which time constables were appointed for five of the principal towns.+ In this manner an attempt was made to preserve, at
In a letter from Sir Henry Moore, Governor of New York, to the Earl of Shelburne, dated "Fort George, New York, 9th June, 1767," occur these words : "I afterwards issued out Commissions for forming a Militia in those parts, and in some months afterwards a return was made to me of the Regiment formed there, which amounted to upwards of six hundred men. I could not help ex- pressing much satisfaction at seeing so large a Return, and expected to find that the number of families was in proportion to it, but the Officer who made it, would not impose on me, and told me in a very ingenuous manner, that a great number of Families concerned in those Lands, resided either in New England, New Hampshire, or Connecticut, and had never been upon them; that some of the most active young People out of each family were sent there to begin the Settle- ments, many of whom at the close of the summer returned to their Homes, while others more industrious, continued there in the Winter that by forwarding their improvements, they might more readily pave the way for those who did not choose to encounter all the difficultys of a New Settlement, but would rather wait till some improvements were made before they removed. The same steps could not be taken for the service of that part of the Country to the North of the County of Cumberland, for although the District was large enough to form a County of the same extent, very few Improvements had been made in any of the Townships except in that of Newbury."-Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 595.
In a passage preceding this extract, it is stated that the regiment in the new territory was formed after the establishment of the county of Cumberland. This is a mistake. The "Law for erecting the County of Cumberland," was passed July 3d, 1766. The commissions to officers in the new regiment were dated, some of them, as early as the preceding February.
+ Nathan Earll was chosen constable for the town of Chester, Joel Stone for the town of Windsor, Abiel Chamberlain for the town of Newbury, Simon Stevens for the town of Springfield, and Medad Wright for the town of West- minster .- Pingry MS. Book of Commissions in office Sec. State, N. Y., 1751-1770,
136
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1766.
least, the forms of justice. As the result of these measures, a better state of manners was observable in the new settle- ments.
Although the benefits resulting from the new system were not to be despised, yet many of the inconveniences before com- plained of still remained, nor did it appear that any of the means proposed could remove them, the formation of a new county excepted. As the road then ran, most of the inhabit- ants were distant from Albany one hundred and fifty, and some of them two hundred miles. In that city the courts and public elections were held, and thither it was absolutely neces- sary that a number of the settlers ahould annually resort. With difficulty could the sheriff of Albany county serve a pro- cess in the northern part of his bailiwick ; and not without a guard of a dozen men, could he with safety convey a prisoner or a debtor through the woods and over the mountains to the jail at Albany. There were, it is true, civil and military officers in abundance in the new district, but the latter could not assist the former, even were their assistance needed, for the power of the former was not much regarded, and there were no places of confinement or means of punishment near at hand, as a terror to the evil-doers who might be arrested. Urged on by these potent considerations, a number of those who had formerly pleaded for a county, besought the Council of New York, on the 16th of June, for the same boon. On this occa- sion their request was seconded by the Governor, and the Council of New York responded favorably to the application. A portion of the New Hampshire Grants, situated between Connecticut river and the Green Mountains, was, on the 3d of July, erected into a county by the name of Cumberland, and its boundaries were duly established .* To the inhabitants
v. 312. Brattleborough Semi-Weekly Eagle, Monday, May 6th ; Monday, May 27th, 1850. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 586.
* The boundaries of Cumberland county, as first established, have been pre- viously recited on pages 1, 2. In the act erecting the county of Cumberland, the following condition was inserted: " Provided always, and it is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any lands lie within the County aforesaid, which are held by Grants under the Great Seal of the Colony of New Hampshire, by His Majesty in Council on the 20th day of July, 1764 : such lands shall be and remain within, and be part of the County of Albany, anything herein contained to the contrary, notwithstanding." According to the terms of this proviso, the greater part of the territory comprised within the bounds of Cumberland county, would still have remained a part of the county of Albany.
137
ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS.
1766.]
were granted all the powers and privileges enjoyed by the other counties and towns in the province, excepting only the choice of members to represent the county in the Provincial Assem- bly, which privilege was withheld for the present.
In another portion of the act for the formation of the county of Cumberland, provision was made for the erection of a court- house and jail. The freeholders and inhabitants of the county were authorized to elect supervisors, assessors, collectors, a treasurer, and other county officers, in order that the "public and necessary charges " of the province might be defrayed, the poor maintained, and vagabondism discountenanced. At the meeting next after their appointment, the supervisors were di- rected to levy and collect of those residing or sojourning in the county, a sum not exceeding two hundred pounds, to be applied in constructing a court-house and jail. Chester, "being the most convenient " among the townships, and "nearest the centre " of the county, was selected as the location for these buildings, and the sheriff was ordered to compute mileage from the court-house. By another act, passed July 15th, the "judges and justices duly authorized in that behalf," were di- rected to hold "yearly and every year " in the township of Chester, a court of Common Pleas, to hear, and according to the laws of England and the province of New York, "to try and determine all suits, quarrels, controversies and differences," which might arise, in the technical language of the ordinance, between any of the "loving subjects " of the county, "above the value of forty shillings." A court of General Sessions of the Peace was also established, and the first Tuesday. in June and the first Tuesday in November in each year were selected as the days on which these judicatories were to commence their sessions. The length of each term session was limited to four days, and the two courts were authorized to sit at the same time, in order that business might be " constantly pro- ceeded in and all unnecessary attendance avoided." Com- petent men were selected as judges and assistant justices of the court of Common Pleas. Justices of the peace and other county officers were appointed, and a foundation was laid for administer- ing the law in accordance with the most approved methods .*
* New York Colonial MSS., in office Sec. State, N. Y., 1766, 1767, xciv .; Book of Commissions, 1751-1770, v. 320; Council Minutes, 1765-1783, xxvi. 61. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 587, 588, 594. Brattleborough Semi-Weekly Eagle, Thursday, June 6th, Monday, June 10th, Thursday, June 13th, 1850.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.