USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 15
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138
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1766.
To increase the facilities of communication between the dif- ferent towns of the new county, the Legislature, on the 19th of December, passed an act "for laying out, regulating, and keeping in repair, common and public highways." By this act, the "freeholders and inhabitants " of the county, were au- thorized to choose at their annual town meetings, three free- holders in each town to serve as commissioners for laying out and regulating highways, and as many persons for surveyors and overseers of highways, as the majority of voters should deem best. Those chosen, were required to accept of the offices given them. To each overseer a portion of road was allotted, of which he was to have especial charge. The com- missioners were empowered to construct such roads as they judged necessary, and in case of dispute as to the most conve- nient routes or the connection of roads between town and town, were instructed to call in three commissioners, one from each of the neighboring towns not interested, who were to determine where the road should run. If any road proved inconvenient, the commissioners of the town or towns through which it passed, were allowed to alter it or lay out another. The commissioners were not allowed to run a road through any person's land without his consent, and all disputes as to land damages were to be settled by certain fixed regulations which were detailed in the act. Any one who should " alter, stop up, or lessen " any road laid out by the commissioners, without their consent, forfeited forty shillings, to be applied by the surveyors towards repairing the roads. Public roads were not to be under two or over four rods in breadth. The breadth of private ones was fixed at twenty feet. Persons by or through whose lands public roads ran, were "obliged to clear and maintain the same, by cutting down the wood, clearing and stubbing up the brush," and " digging up the stones " that could be carried off, to the width of one rod. The limbs of the trees overhanging the road were also to be lopped and taken away.
The inhabitants of each town were required to work on the roads six days in the year, or for as long a time as was sufficient to keep them in repair. For each day's neglect of this service, a penalty of four shillings was incurred. In road work, "a carriage and a man to manage it," were deemed equal to three days' work of a single person. The fine for neglect when a man was ordered out with his team, was fixed at twelve shil- lings per diem. Workmen were obliged to furnish "spades,
139
NEW SETTLEMENTS.
1766.]
axes, crows, and pick-axes," or such tools as the surveyors might direct. In making road repairs, permission was given to use the trees "standing on the roads." When a highway "from any town or plantation to any meadows, mills or common landing places," ran through any person's land or meadow, he was allowed, by the approval of the town commissioners or the "major part of them," to "place and hang good, easy-swinging gates, on such highways," and keep them in repair at his own cost. By other regulations, it was enacted that an account of the highways "laid out, altered or stopped up," should be cer- ยท tified by the commissioners and entered in the county records ; that each commissioner should be allowed six shillings per diem, when engaged in official duties ; that the surveyors should, within eight days after having received notice to that effect from a justice of the peace, warn the people to work on the roads, and that in case the surveyors should neglect to perform this duty, they should be mulcted forty shillings each. All fines were to be applied to the repair of the highways. The term of this act was limited to four years. The principles em- bodied in its paragraphs served as the foundation of the town regulations of this nature, which now obtain in the state of Vermont .*
The affairs of the new county having been satisfactorily arranged, Governor Moore directed his attention to the settle- ment of the adjacent country. With the approbation of the Provincial Council, a township was laid out for him and others associated with him, situated twelve miles distant from the north line of Cumberland county, " on a spot neither granted by New Hampshire, nor claimed by any persons."+ He then announced his intention of giving the land comprised within this township to the families who would agree to colonize it, provided they would manufacture yearly a certain amount of potash, and plant a certain number of acres with hemp. On the fulfilment of these conditions, he declared that the fee of the land should be vested absolutely in the possessors. As soon as these terms were made known, applications were made by different persons for grants, and before the middle of the year 1767, fourteen families had settled in the new township,
* Act of 7th George III., in Laws N. Y., Van Schaack's ed. 1691-1773, pp. 487-490.
+ Reference is undoubtedly had to the township of Bradford. A brief account of the early settlement of this place may be found on pages 123, 124.
140
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1767.
and land had been allotted to ten other families in the city of New York, and to several persons in Connecticut and Massa- chusetts. At this stage of the undertaking, Governor Moore ordered a saw mill and a grist mill to be built for the use of the settlers, and a church to be erected, with a farm attached as a glebe for the minister who should occupy its pulpit. In aid of religion and education, a township was laid out and placed in the hands of trustees " for the use of the ministers of the gospel according to the communion of the Church of England," and another was set aside for the benefit of King's now Co- lumbia College. While Governor Moore was in this manner. studying to advance the interests of his subjects, many of them, who had formerly obtained land under New Hampshire titles, applied to him for confirmatory grants. These were in many instances bestowed, and the proprietors were quieted in their possessions by a secondary payment of fees. By the New Hampshire charters, a certain quantity of land in each town- ship was reserved by Governor Wentworth for himself. These shares had in most instances remained uncultivated and un- improved. Care was now taken that this gubernatorial privilege should be no longer allowed, and the Governor's rights, as they were called, were by the confirmation charters of New York accorded to those who should clear and cultivate them.
Although it might have been supposed that the educated men in England, in the middle of the eighteenth century, would have been sufficiently acquainted with the topography of the English colonies in America, to have enabled them to speak and act with discrimination on matters pertaining to that sub- ject, yet such was by no means the case. It was then custom- ary for those occupying places of power and distinction, to apply to his Majesty for large grants of land in the colonies These applications were generally received with favor, and the governors in the American colonies were then ordered to locate the amount of land which had been granted, in such places as the grantees might choose. By this mode of procedure, most extravagant demands were often made of the colonial governors, sanctioned by royal authority, and had these demands been in all cases satisfied, the result would have been pernicious in the extreme .*
* As instances of the manner in which lands were bestowed by the Crown, the following facts may be cited. On the 20th of September, 1765, "Walter Patterson in behalf of the Right Honorable Stephen Fox, Earl of Illchester; the
141
CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
1767.]
Although the Council of New York judged themselves authorized to dispose of the territory between Connecticut river and Lake Champlain, they were still willing to hear the remon- strances which were frequently made by those in possession under New Hampshire grants. Various petitions had already been presented for tracts of land on the west side of Connecticut river, which had been previously granted in townships by the government of New Hampshire. The Council conceived that it would be improper to reply to these petitions, until they should be apprised of the interests which would be affected by the answer they might give. They therefore decreed, on the 12th of Febru- ary, 1767, that all proceedings on the petitions which had been offered, should be suspended, "until the appearance before his Excellency in Council, of such principal proprietor or proprie- tors of each respective township duly authorized to sue out a grant for the same in behalf of all the persons interested therein, and sufficiently prepared to give the fullest information to the Board respecting the shares of the several claimants."*
Meantime, the act by which the county of Cumberland was established, had been, agreeable to the laws and statutes of England, " transmitted to his Majesty for his royal approbation or disallowance." Whether the act itself was informal, or whether the formation of a county without first consulting the home government was regarded as an encroachment on the kingly or parliamentary prerogative, does not appear. It is plain, however, that the conduct of the Governor and Council in this instance, was not viewed with favor. The lords of the Privy Council for plantation affairs reported adversely to the act, and pursuant to their advice, the King, on the 26th of June,
Right Honorable Henry Fox, Lord Holland; Charles Lee, Esq. ; Clotworthy Upton and himself," petitioned Governor Henry Moore of New York, that the 20,000 acres of land which "His Majesty in Council" had been "graciously pleased to order to be granted to each of them in the Province of New York," might be located as follows :- 20,000 acres in the townships of Fulham and Putney, 20,000 acres in the townships of Weathersfield and Windsor, 20,000 acres in the townships of Hertford and Hartford, 20,000 acres in the townships of Brattleborough and Guilford, 20,000 acres in the township of Fairlee, and between that and Newbury. Sir Henry Moore, who had lately been appointed Governor, did not arrive in New York until the 12th of November following, and Lieut .- Gov. Colden, in whose hands the administration of affairs was then placed, did not deem it expedient to obey the royal order, and the petition was laid aside .- N. Y. Colonial MSS., Land Papers, vol. xix.
MS. Council Minutes, in office Sec. State, N. Y., vol. xxix. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 588, 589.
142
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1767,1768.
declared it "void and of none effect." This decision was com- municated to the Governor of New York, and by him was pub- lished to the inhabitants of the province, on the 3d of December following. This proceeding was shortly after followed by another equally unfavorable to the interests of New York. Owing to a number of representations which had been made by parties in- terested in the lands which had lately been declared to be part of that province, the committee of the Council for plantation affairs counselled the King to command the Governor of New York, by " the most positive orders," to desist from making any grants of that part of the territory lying west of Connecticut river, which had been chartered by Governor Wentworth. An order in Council to this effect was accordingly issued on the 24th of July, and his Majesty's "highest displeasure" was denounced against the Governor, in case he should fail to observe these instructions .*
When the repeal of the act by which the county of Cumber- land had been established, became known, numerous applica- tions, representing "the distress and great inconveniences" under which the inhabitants of that part of the country were laboring "through the want of a due administration of justice," were again made to Governor Moore, and relief was sought for in terms which could not well be denied. The subject was referred to the provincial Council, and as the result of their deliberations, the Governor was advised, on the 10th of Febru- ary, 1768, to direct the Attorney-General to prepare a draft of an ordinance for erecting the lands which had been comprised within the former county, into another county of the same name. In accordance with the royal will, letters patent esta- blishing the county of Cumberland were soon after presented to the Council, and after amendment were, on the 18th of March, ordered to be engrossed. To this instrument the "Great Seal" of the province of New York was affixed on the 19th, and the county of Cumberland was again a fact.t On the inhabitants were bestowed all the "powers, privileges, and immunities" enjoyed by the inhabitants of the other counties in the province, and permission was given them to erect at their own charge a court-house and jail to be located in the township of Chester, which being nearest to the centre of the county, was declared
* Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 608-611. MS. Council Minutes, in office Sec. State, N. Y., xxvi. 116; xxix. 250.
t The boundaries of Cumberland county under the second charter, have been previously recited on page 2.
143
LAWS RELATIVE TO FELLING TIMBER.
1768.]
to be "most convenient for that purpose." To carry out the provisions of the new charter, courts were established on the same basis as before ; civil officers were nominated to manage the affairs of the county ; and with the approbation of the Council of the province, commissions were issued on the 7th of April, to those who had been selected for office .*
During the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the atten- tion of the Board of Trade in England had been particularly directed to the evil results which would be likely to follow in case the inhabitants of the province of New York should be inhibited in the use of certain kinds of timber which to them were of especial value. " One of the methods already thought of for making this province more useful as to naval stores," wrote the learned Cadwallader Colden, in the year 1723, "is a severe prohibition of cutting any white pines fit for masts. No doubt the destroying of so necessary a commodity ought to be prevented, and it would be difficult to frame a law for that end with many exceptions or limitations, which could be of much use. On the other hand, when the literal breach of the law be- comes generally unavoidable, it must lose its force. The lands of this province are granted, upon condition that the grantee, within three years after the grant, effectually cultivate three acres for every fifty granted, and it will not be supposed that it is the intent of the law to put a stop to cultivating the land, which, however, cannot be done without destroying the timber that grows upon it. One at first is ready to fear that the poor planter is under a sad dilemma. If he does not cultivate, he cannot maintain his family, and he must lose his land ; if he does cultivate, he cuts down trees, for which he is in danger of
* Book of Commissions, in office Sec. State, N. Y., 1751-1770, v. 363, 374 : Council Minutes, 1765-1783, xxvi. 116, 118, 119. Laws of N. Y., 1768, p. 469. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 611.
Little is known concerning the court and county records of Cumberland county before the year 1775. That there were such records, there can be no doubt. On a deed which is still extant, made by Thomas Chandler of Chester to Ebenezer Holton, is inscribed this technical endorsement: ' Received for Record, January ye 8th, 1770, and Recorded in the Records of Deeds for the County of Cumberland, Lib. A. Folio 79, and examined. John Chandler, Clerk." The Hon. Harry Hale of Chelsea, Vt., in a letter to the author, dated December 1st, 1852, conveys the following information on this subject :- " In 1833-4-5," he writes, "I was county clerk of Orange county, and recollect seeing some curious records of the old Cumberland county in the clerk's office, where they may, pro- bably, now be found." Further enquiry has elicited no new facts on this subject, and it is doubtful whether the " curious records" are now in existence.
144
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1763-1768.
being undone by prosecution and fines. The inhabitants can- not build houses without pine for boards and covering, nor send vessels to sea without masts. It cannot surely be the intent of the Legislature to put the inhabitants under such extreme hardships by denying us necessary timber while we live in the midst of such forests as cannot in many ages be destroyed-and the more that the King for whose use these trees are reserved, does not, nor has not made use of one tree for many years in this province.
" But suppose," continued this prudent adviser, " the people could be restrained from cutting any white pines, it will not answer the end for which it was designed, for if the King were to send people to cut down masts in the place where they grow, and to transport them to such places where they can be carried by water, the charge will amount to treble the sum they might be bought for at New York, if the carrying of them were left to the inhabitants themselves. The King in this case must have a great many hands and overseers in constant pay. He must buy horses, oxen and carriages, and maintain them or hire them after the most chargeable manner, whereas the country people carry these trees in the winter upon the snow and ice when they cannot labor in the ground, and are glad to make a little profit at any rate."*
With such reasoning as this, did one in whose mind were ever uppermost the interests of the province of which he was a citizen, and over which he was subsequently stationed-with such reasoning as this, did he strive to hinder the passage of a law whose evil effects he plainly foresaw and correctly foretold. Notwithstanding these efforts, the restriction was promulged, and became afterwards a favorite measure in the short-sighted policy of the home government towards the American colonies. In the charters which were subsequently issued by Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire, in the King's name, granting by townships the land lying between Connecticut river and Lake Champlain, a special condition was inserted, by which "all white and other pine trees" fit for masting the royal navy, were to be " carefully preserved for that use," and none were to be " cut or felled" without special license. In case of disobe- dience, the right which the grantee might have in the township where the offence was committed, was to revert to the King, and the offender was also declared "subject to the penalty of
* Doc. Hist. N. Y., i. 719, 720.
145
1763-1768.] CONDUCT OF GOVERNOR WENTWORTH.
any act or acts of Parliament" which were then or might there- after be enacted. A similar clause was inserted in the confir- mation and other charters which were afterwards issued by the province of New York. To the "Surveyor-General of his Ma- jesty's Woods" was entrusted the enforcement of this restriction, and the prosecution of those who should disobey it.
In answer to the proclamation of Lieutenant-Governor Colden, issued on the 28th of December, 1763, asserting the right of New York to jurisdiction as far eastward as Connecticut river, founded on the grant of Charles II. to the Duke of York, Go- vernor Wentworth, as has been before stated, had published a counter-proclamation, on the 13th of March, 1764, declaring that the grant to the Duke of York was obsolete, and that the western bounds of New Hampshire were co-extensive with those of Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut. When by a special Order in Coun- cil, under date of July 20th, 1764, the title of the Duke of York was confirmed, and Connecticut river was fixed as the dividing line between New York and New Hampshire, Wentworth, in his gubernatorial capacity, submitted to the decision. In his private conduct, however, he showed especial favor to those who still acknowledged the jurisdiction of New Hampshire over the " Grants," as the territory west of the Connecticut was called. John Wentworth, who, on the 11th of August, 1766, succeeded his uncle, Benning Wentworth, as Governor of New Hampshire, succeeded him also in the office of "Surveyor-General of His Majesty's Woods in all and singular His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in North America." The former Governor, as Sur- veyor-General, "had been charged with neglect of duty, and with indulging his deputies in selling and wasting the King's timber." The new Governor, unwilling to incur a similar imputation, de- termined to pursue a different course. For the purpose of becoming acquainted with the condition of the wooded land, with the care of which he as surveyor was charged, " he fre- quently traversed the forests," and thus obtained the informa- tion which he needed, by personal examination. But the spirit of malice which had actuated the uncle in his conduct towards those settlers on the "Grants" who acknowledged the jurisdic- tion of New York, was not wanting to the nephew. The proof of this will hereafter appear .*
* Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 558-560, 570-572, 574, 575.
Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 337, 338, 345. Thompson's Vt., Part II. p. 224.
10
146
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1763-1768.
The township of Windsor had received its first charter from the province of New Hampshire, on the 6th of July, 1761. After the passage of the order in Council of July 20th, 1764, another charter had been granted by New York, on the 7th of July, 1766, and with it eight hundred acres of land additional. Although the second patent had been bestowed on the motion of some of the most influential citizens in the place, yet many of the inhabitants were opposed to the jurisdiction of New York, and denied the authority of the courts which were afterwards established by that province. In this township, situated on the west side of Connecticut river, and in the township of Cornish, situated on the opposite bank, there were growing, in the year 1768, the finest forests of white pine trees to be found on the borders of that stream. The owners of the land whereon these forests grew, being for the most part friendly to the jurisdiction of New Hampshire and opposed to that of New York, found it easy to obtain from the Surveyor-General or his deputies, certi- ficates permitting them to fell certain trees " unfit for his Ma- jesty's service," and to appropriate them to their own use. Thus were they busy, day after day, in cutting and putting into the river, timber which was afterwards to be floated to the most convenient markets. Among those who refused to join with their neighbors in denying the authority of New York, were Capt. William Dean and his sons, Willard Dean and William Dean Jr. Wishing to procure some pine timber, not reserved by law, and observing with what ease certificates were obtained, Capt. Dean applied to Daniel Jones, a justice of the peace, re- siding at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Benjamin Whiting of Newbury, and others of the Surveyor-General's deputies, to survey some trees for him and give him a permit to cut such as they might deem unfit for his Majesty's service. These appli- cations were in all cases accompanied by the customary offering of fourteen shillings, proclamation money, per diem.
After vain solicitations on the part of Capt. Dean, at various times during four months, for a written permission, Whiting gave him verbal leave to cut such white pines as were unfit for the King's use. Dissatisfied with this license, Capt. Dean re- paired to Governor Wentworth, the Surveyor-General, informed him of the efforts he had made to procure a proper certificate from the deputy surveyors, and of the ill success he had met with, and desired that a special deputy might be appointed to make the necessary examination and grant his lawful request.
147
PROSECUTION OF THE DEANS.
1769.]
Whiting, who was present on this occasion, promised Capt. Dean in the presence of the Governor, that he would survey the timber for which he had applied, and give him a certificate within a fortnight from that time, specifying the trees which he might deem unfit for the King's use. On returning home, Capt. Dean found that his sons, in consequence of the verbal license obtained from Whiting, had felled seventeen trees, much inferior in size to many which had been cut by his neighbors, and to all appearance unsuited for naval purposes. Information of this circumstance having been carried to Governor Wentworth, he immediately set out for Windsor, for the purpose of punishing the Deans. On his way thither, "he rode through a pine forest in Cornish and dined in the midst thereof at the house of Samuel Chase, Esq., and must thereby have had a view of the notorious destruction of the same, as the pines, felled, lay on the ground on each side of the road, and around for many acres." Still these sights did not withdraw his attention from the end which he had proposed. The friendship of the Deans towards the government of New York was to him a graver offence than that suggested by the evidences of destruction which surrounded him, and the opportunity of satisfying a grudge by the use of apparently legal means, was too good to be postponed to causes which should have demanded his most serious attention.
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