History of the town of Waitsfield, Vermont, 1782-1908, with family genealogies, Part 3

Author: Jones, Matt Bushnell, 1871-1940
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Boston, Mass., G. E. Littlefield
Number of Pages: 1102


USA > Vermont > Washington County > Waitsfield > History of the town of Waitsfield, Vermont, 1782-1908, with family genealogies > Part 3


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


1820


Amos Tinkham


John S. Poland


Jacob Tinkham


1823


Robert Bates Rodolphus Bates


James Heaton, a native of Swanzey, N. H., but from early childhood a resident of Shelburne, Mass., came to town in 1793, and purchased a six hundred acre farm, consisting of lots 119, 120, 121 and 122, in the northwest corner of the town, although portions of this large tract were conveyed by him at an early date, so that his home farm was substantially identical with that now occupied by George W. Folsom.


Moses Heaton was a physician, probably the first to settle in the town. He located on the south half of lot 123, now a portion of the Julius I. Palmer farm, and in 1794 was elected first Town Clerk. What became of him we do not know, except that he left town in the winter or spring of 1796.


22


HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.


John Heaton, a brother of the two preceding,. was connected by marriage with the Riders and some others of the Northwest District. He lived in Moretown, but was closely associated with Waitsfield, and at one time petitioned that his farm might be incorporated within the limits of the town. His son, John, jr., was the builder of the first mills erected in Waitsfield. They stood in the extreme southwest corner of lot 138, and after a few years passed into other hands.


Stephen Pierce, who was a family connection of the Heatons, came from Charlemont in 1795, and was both farmer and physician, although it is in the latter capacity that he is best remembered by our older inhabitants.


The Barnards, John and Samuel, were from Shelburne, and came to this town about 1792. John was a member of the Shelburne Committee of Safety in 1777, and Samuel saw active service in the American forces in 1779. The former settled on the northerly portion of lots 119 and 120, while the latter took up lot 118. Both farms were in the hands of their descendants until within a few years. John Barnard was the first treasurer of the town and it was largely through his efforts that a church was gathered in 1796. He became its first deacon and con- tinued in the office until his death in 1813.


Daniel Witherbee Wilder was another of the Shelburne contingent and came in 1795 with his sons, Levi, Enos, Asa and Francis. His farm of two hundred acres; purchased from James Heaton, takes in the south portion of lots 121 and 122 and is today occupied by his great-grandson.


Next comes Daniel Taylor, also from Shelburne. He settled in Waitsfield in 1792 on lot 114, now the Prentis farm, and during the following winter, his log cabin gave shelter to the family of a relative, Salah Smith, who had just come from the old home and purchased lot 116. Mr. Smith was the first school teacher in the town, held numerous town offices and was through- out his life a leader of thought in the community.


Elijah and Moses Smith, brothers of Salah, followed in 1794 and 1798 respectively. The former was a farmer and purchased a small tract of land from his brother and Daniel Taylor. The latter was a blacksmith and set up his forge not far distant from the present site of Chipman's blacksmith shop at Shepherd's Brook. The buildings probably stood near the present residence of Mr. Chipman.


23


EARLY SETTLERS.


In 1794 came Eli Skinner who was joined by his brothers, Jared and Amasa in 1795 and 1798. This family was from Colchester, Connecticut, but had for some years lived in Shel- burne. All were farmers, although Amasa is called a clothier in the early deeds. Jared, who had held many offices of trust in Shelburne, purchased lot 124 and the south half of lot 123, and occupied the farm until his death in 1838. Elijah settled on lot 109, within which lies a portion of the farm later known as the David Phelps place. He removed later in life with some of his children to Gouverneur, N. Y., and still later to Illinois where he died. He alone of these brothers has descendants now living in Waitsfield.


Amasa Skinner settled on lot 72 just at the base of Bald Mountain and became a man of some prominence, having been Representative five times between 1808 and 1815. His wife was a sister of Doud Bushnell, a native of Saybrook, Conn., who followed his relatives to Waitsfield in 1798 and took up the ad- joining lot (73), which lay well up on the slope of Northfield Mountain. He was a cobbler and was also extremely deft as a mechanic, a characteristic which has been strongly developed among his descendants, as indeed it has been in other branches of this family. Several of his sons became pioneers to the Western Reserve and to Wisconsin but others remained in Waitsfield and have been closely identified with its activities.


In 1796, John Burdick settled here and two years later, his brothers, Shubel and Ira, were in town. The family came from Shelburne by way of Canaan, N. H., and Moretown, where John had been town clerk in 1795. He was a farmer and a housewright, but better known as the local lawyer, or pettifogger, in which capacity he had no competitor for many years. In church he officiated on the bass viol. His sons were pioneers to Michigan and one became the founder of the present city of Kalamazoo. John Burdick leased the Ministry Lot 127, and his brother Shubel, whose stay was short, settled on the adjoining lot (129), which he divided with his father-in-law, Captain John Wells.


The latter came to Waitsfield as an old man, apparently to live near his daughters. No man had been more prominent than he in Shelburne, Mass. He was the first selectman of the first board elected there in 1768 and had held many other important offices. His declining years were spent in the family


24


HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.


of a son-in-law, Gaius Hitchcock who had lived in town since I794.


In the same year, and also from Shelburne, came Moses Fisk, a leader in the church and deacon from 1801 until his death in 1847. He first settled on lot 118, but in 1810, bought from Rev. William Salisbury the north two-thirds of lot 112.


From Saybrook, Conn., by way of Windsor, Vt., came in 1794 Dr. Simeon Stoddard, who farmed and physicked in the southerly portion of the town on lot 139. He had a large family, many of whom stayed in Waitsfield and not less than seven of his grandsons enlisted from the town during the Civil War.


About the same time, Jonathan Palmer, with his sons, Jonathan, jr., William and Benjamin, appeared from Alexandria, N. H., where he had lived since 1773, a grant of land in that town having been given to him if he would settle there, presumably because he was a blacksmith. William and Benjamin stayed but a few years and our present families of the name all trace their descent to Jonathan, jr., who gave his name to "Palmer Hill."


From Hebron, Conn., by way of Middlefield, Mass., arrived Bissell Phelps, in 1795 or 1796, with several sons, who settled around him far up under the eastern mountains on lots 79 and 80 and a part of 107. From the first he was a leader and during his long life held many town offices.


Samuel Stow Savage removed from Windsor in 1794, and settled on lot 105, from which he gave the town two acres in the northwest corner to form a portion of the Common. .


Joseph Hamilton had been a neighbor of Benjamin Wait in Brookfield, and was a son-in-law of Samuel Pike. These ties seem to have brought him hither from Cornish, N. H., soon after 1792. He lived on lot 56, well up on Palmer Hill, while Elijah Grandy, his son-in-law, from Reading, Vt., lived on an adjoining farm that lay in lots 81 and 83.


Other members of the Windsor contingent were Ezekiel Hawley and Samuel Bailey. The former had been a soldier under General Wait, and in 1794 removed to Waitsfield and purchased lot 95, upon which his descendants lived for many years. Bailey, who came in 1795, tarried in Waitsfield but a few years, and the same is true of William Joiner, who came from Royalton before 1795. The latter owned lot 103, and also had a saw mill on Sherman's Brook (now called Clay Brook) near the "high bridge."


ーーーーーーー


25


EARLY SETTLERS.


Aaron Minor was a native of Woodbury, or Brimfield, Conn., and settled on lot 90 in 1794. With him were three sons, of whom Frederick T. was a physician and settled in the North District. The whole family, after some forty years of residence within the town, removed to McHenry County, Illinois.


In 1797 came the first of the Jones tribe, Ezra and Jennison, followed, a year later, by their younger brothers, Matthias Stone and Henry. The latter settled on the east side of the mountains and became identified with Northfield, but the other brothers were from the start active in the affairs of the town as their descendants have since been. All of them held numerous town offices and Jennison and Matthias S. were Justices of the Peace for thirty-six and thirty-five years respectively. This family came from Claremont, N. H., their father having been an early settler of that town and a proprietor of Waitsfield. Ezra settled on lot 106 and Jennison on lot 76, while Matthias S. found a poor location on lot 58 which he soon traded for a better farm in lots 84 and 86, although in later life, he resided in the village.


Following the Joneses came the Joslins in 1797-98. They were originally from Lancaster, Mass., but had lived for some twenty years in Weathersfield, Vt. Joseph Joslin and his seven sons were a sterling group whose descendants form, without doubt, the most numerous as they are one of the leading Waits- field families. The father, who did not come to Waitsfield until his family was well established there, settled on lot 82 and his sons procured good farms nearby.


Some three years later (1801) Jonathan Wallis, a brother- in-law of Joseph Joslin, sr., was resident here. He was a native of Woodstock, Conn., but had lived in Weathersfield, Vt., since 1785. With him came a negro, Sam, who had been his father's slave in Woodstock, Conn., but was now classed as free under the Vermont Constitution. It is said that upon coming to Vermont, old Sam, then nearly eighty years of age, was told to go, as he was free, but he replied: "No, you have eaten old Sam's flesh, now you may pick his bones."


Treading closely upon the Joslins came the Richardsons (1802) from Tolland and Stafford, Conn., another of our strong and numerous families. Roderick was a saddler and harness- maker like his father, Lemuel, but active in many forms of business and best known as a successful merchant. He settled


26


HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.


first on lot 108, just north of the Common, but some years later acquired a large portion of the Wait farm and erected a dwelling and store within the limits of the present village. Frederick, the first to settle here, was a doctor. His residence faced the Common just south of the old church. Ira, another brother, removed to Fayston, where he was, during the re- mainder of his life, a leading man. His descendants have returned to Waitsfield and preserve the best traditions of the family. Roswell, who did not come to Waitsfield until 1827, removed some twenty years later to the town of Warren.


In 1802 John and Josiah Campbell, from New Boston, N. H., settled in town, first of the sturdy Scotch-Irish strain that came among us.


Edmund Rice, from Charlestown, N. H., cabinetmaker and early merchant, came in 1803 and was immediately and con- tinuously prominent until his death in 1829, in fact there were few duties of the primitive community calling for some degree of mental training that he was not called upon to perform. Not only was he called upon to serve as selectman, town clerk and representative, but in the early days divided with John Burdick the duties of local pettifogger, using the word in its old and honorable sense. Occasionally also, he turned his hand to surveying and the plan which he made in 1816 of the original lotting of the town is now the oldest to be found.


Later by some fifteen years were the Polands, John S. and Benjamin, from Alstead, N. H., also Jason Carpenter (1818) from Sharon, Vt., a leader in the town throughout his life.


Roswell Horr (1816), blacksmith and captain of the militia company, came like the Durkees (1810) from Pomfret, Vt., but removed after some years to Ohio. His son, Roswell G., who was for many years Representative in Congress from the Saginaw District in Michigan, was born in Waitsfield a short time before the family departed.


Garinter Hastings came from Swanzey, N. H., soon after 1820, and for many years, was the proprietor of the tavern just north of the old center of business on lot 131.


12.0


119 Beriah


Daniel Mathews


Greenl


TZE


Willard


121 James Hawley


123


124- Enoch Emerson


Amas


Signal


126 Luther


125 Joseph


Richards Far ASwor


128 Edward


127 Minist


Whitman


130


Town


129 Johny Stroni


School


132 Roger Enos


Christo


Yor


12


x 40 links


A Plan of Waitsfield, Drawn by Edmund Rice March 1816


Moretown South 46° 30' East 6 Miles 12 Chainst 25 Untis.


1


12.0


119 Derich


118 Ephraim Groen Smith


117 Joseph York


70


69


Grammar Charles Solomon School


Kingsbury


Strong


67 John W. Dana


24 AmpGA Brown


2.3 Jolin Marsh


22 Jain25


2.1 Denja.


3


Mathews Burtch


4


Eli Willard


Brown


115 Charles Nelson


72 Daniel King


71


66 Stephen Enoch Maine


67 John Beniamin


63 Solomon 5amucl Burh Treat


27 Zebulon La e


18 Charks Kingsbury


John Hodges


9 10


126 12.5 Luther Joseph


112


=


76


75 Amos Bignal


62 John Beane


61 Aaron Whipple


59 Wm. Lathrop


32. Ezekiel Rooks


31 Samuel Harris


14 Isaac Maine


13


14 15


Stephen Keyes


16 17


130 Town School


129 John


108 Solomon Strong


107


80


79 Lbenezer Brown


58 Ezra Jones


57 34 Barnabas Daniel Spencer


Brown


33 Noadiah Bissel


12 Stephen Jacob


isaac Maine


20


132


Che'stopher) York


106 Ezra Jones


105 John Fay


82 Josiah Averint


81 Stephen Maine


$6 Benja. Walt


55 Isaac Dana


36 Amml Currier


35 Grammar School


10 Stephen heyes


9


21 22 23


134 Samford Kingsburg


133 Deering Spear


104 Benajah Strong


103 wm. Strong


84 Roger Enos


83 Gilbert Wait


54 Josiah Averill


53 Nathan Eddy


38 Isaac Dana


37 Daniel King


8 Joel Matthews


7 Gilbert Hodges


25


26


136 Gilbert Wait


195 Ephraim Smith


102


101


86 John Strong


85 John Fay


51 52 George Beriah Denison Green


49 Ephraim EWy


42 Roger Enos, Jr.


41 John Hodges


4 Town School


3 Joseph Fay


30


Willard


Matthews


88 Zebulon Lee


87 Moses Leavit


50 Nathan Eddy


48 Paschal Enos


47 Cenajah Strong


44 Gideon Lewis


43 Amasa Brown


2.


1


31


140


139


9B


97 John W Dana


90 Joseph Fay


Strong


142 Stephen Jacob


141 wm Lathrop


ص ب


95


Ministry!


91 Egra wait


46 Charles Nelson


45 Moses Leavit


140 James


150


John


Matthew. Benjamin


47


50


10


146 Charles Millan, Jr


145 College


סל


(+ 7


4, 5


t+


75


74


South 4,4º West 5 Miles and 27 Chains


Northfield


Fayston North 41° East 6Miles 67 Chains of 40 links/


=


12


Richards far nsns


13


12.8 Edward Whitman


127 110 Ministry Joseph


109


78


77 John Barret


60 Gilbert Hodges


30 ABron Whipple


29 Rouben


16 Daniel Spencer Matthews


17


8


124 Enoch Emerson


123


114 113 Christopher Ephraim York


74 Ezra wait


73 Ammi Currier


65 26 25 Luther Charles John Emerson Beane Richards Killam, Jr.


20 John Barrett


19 6 Reuben Spencer 7


5


121


Amas Bignal


Eddy


Minister Ebenezer Theophilus Brown Clark


Ba-labas Pascha! P. Strong Enos


York


18


19


Solomon Burk


24


27


29


138 John Marsh


137


100 Stephen Tilden


99 Joel


89


Edward Sanford Roger


Whitman ningshry Enos, Jr


34


143 144 Andrew Andrew Spaulding Spaulding!


94 Limes I Hawley


93


147 Decring! Gideon Spear


148 Benjs Wait


Lewis


Samuel


George Denison


Harris


37


Theophilus Barnabas clark Spencer


North 61º West 6 Miles Marrin


39 Stephen |College Tilden


6 Joseph Farnsmm


5 Benja Burch


40


Minister Ezekiel


Roohs


Noadiah Samuel Bissel Treat


Strong


Enos


15 wym. Strong


Danie! Mathews


116 James Daniel Hawley


28


27


CHAPTER III.


SURVEYS, DIVISIONS, ROADS AND BRIDGES.


Although, as we have seen, the town was chartered early in the year 1782, the state surveyors were unable, for pressure of business, to run the town lines until the summer of 1787, and this accounts for certain references and dates found in the description of the town set out in the charter that would other- wise occasion some surprise.


The first meeting of the Proprietors, who were in large measure residents of Windsor County, was held at the dwelling house of Capt. Alexander Parmalee in Windsor, Vt., on August 28, 1788 .. General Roger Enos served as moderator and the other officers chosen were: Stephen Maine, clerk; Isaac Maine, treasurer; Zebulon Lee, collector. It was voted that the township be lotted "into two divisions of 150 acres each," the usual allowance for highways included, and a committee of five was chosen to direct the survey, which was to be com- pleted by the first day of November following.


The work was undertaken by William Strong, and pro- ceeded at once. Supposed to contain 23030 acres, it was found that there were actually within the limits of the town, .23850 acres. The report of the surveyor has already been referred to. It, together with the plan of the lots, was submitted to the Proprietors at a meeting held at the dwelling house of Capt. Timothy Lull in Hartland, Vt., on the fourth day of November, 1788, on which occasion 656, 4s., was voted as compensation for the work. It is stated by the surveyor in his notes that his chain did not agree with the survey of the state officials and his work was, in fact, extremely inaccurate, although tradition has it that the fault lay not so much in the surveyor's chain as in the contents of sundry jugs that formed a portion of his impedimenta.


The ranges of lots varied greatly in width. Some lots contained as many as two hundred acres and others as few as one hundred and fifteen, a situation that caused some trouble in later times, especially with land drawn on the public rights,


28


HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.


a portion of which was later leased out by town officials for a term that was to extend "so long as grass grows and water runs."


The survey was also incomplete in that certain undivided land in the form of gores wasleft along the easterly and southerly lines of the town and it was not until May 9, 1795, that Stephen Maine lotted this common land into seventy-five small lots containing thirty-six acres each.


At the meeting of November 4, the lots of the first division were drawn by the proprietors and in June, 1795, the lots of the second division were drawn in the same manner. The result of these drawings appears in the following table:


First Division Lots


Second Division Lots


Roger Enos


132 & 84


29


Benjamin Wait


56 & 148


64


Daniel Matthews


16 & 120


44


James Matthews


22 & 149


66


Ephraim Edey


49 & 11 3


IO


Nathan Edey .


50 & 53


6


Barnabas Strong


89 & 109


I


Aaron Whipple


30 & 61


I 2


Ezekiel Rooks


32 & 101


37


Charles Nelson


115 & 46


49


Daniel Brown


116 & 34


43


Amasa Brown.


24 & 43


35


William Lothrop


59 & 141


2


Luther Richards


26 & 126


25


Sanford Kingsbury


139 & 134


3


Charles Kingsbury


69 & 18


18


Reuben Spencer


19 & 29


16


Barnabas Spencer


95 & 57


4


John W. Dana


67 & 97


38


Ebenezer Brown


III & 79


3I


Samuel Harris


I & 31


14-


Samuel Treat .


80 & 28


45


Edward Whitman .


128 & 140


13


Ezra Jones


58 & 106


52


Joseph York


117 & IIO


8


Gideon Lewis


147 & 44


53


Moses Levet


45 & 87


20


Christopher York


114 & 131


34


Enoch Emerson


66 & 124


24


John Benjamin


150 & 64


51


John Strong


86 & 129


30


Theophilus Clark


76 & 96


58


Joel Matthews


8 & 99


67


-


29


SURVEYS, DIVISIONS, ETC.


First Division Lots


Second Division Lots


Andrew Spaulding


143 & 144


22


Ammi Currier


73 & 36


21


Solomon Burk


9 & 63


7


Benjamin Burch


5 & 21


72


Benajah Strong


47 & 104


28


William Strong


15 & 103


23


Stephen Jacobs


12 & 142


27


Joseph Farnsworth


125 & 6


39


Ephraim Smith


118 & 135


32


Beriah Green .


119 & 51


65


Stephen Tilden


40 & 100


40


John Marsh


138 & 23


73


Solomon Strong


108 & 68


57


Isaac Dana


38 & 55


50


Charles Killam, jr.


146 & 25


62


John Hodges .


17 & 41


9


Gilbert Hodges


7 & 60


46


Amos Bignal


75 & 123


33


Roger Enos, jr.


42 & 98


68


Isaac Maine


II & 14


4I


Stephen Maine


71 & 81


71


George Denison


2 & 52


6I


Zebulon Lee


88 & 27


56


Paschal P. Enos


48 & 78


19


Noadiah Bissell


33 & 107


48


John Barret


20 & 77


I5


Daniel King


72 & 37


74


Stephen Keyes


10 & 13


75


Gilbert Wait


136 & 83


II


Joseph Fay


3 & 90


55


Ezra Wait


91 & 74


54


James Hawley


121 & 94


70


John Beane


65 & 62


26


Dearing Spear


93 & 133


5


Josiah Averill


54 & 82


63


John Fay


105 & 85


59


Eli Willard


137 & 122


17


College Right .


39 & 145


60


Grammar School


35 & 70


42


Minister Right


102 & 112


36


Ministry Right


92 & 127


47


Town School


130 & 4


69


A formal plan of the town had not been prepared at the date of the first drawing, but at a meeting of the proprietors held at the Court House in Woodstock, June 2, 1789, a plan was presented and accepted. So far as appears, this was the last


-


ـيوجـ


30


HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.


proprietors' meeting held outside the town, for, on September 23, 1789, a vendue of land of delinquent proprietors was held at the house of Benjamin Wait in Waitsfield.


Many proprietors, especially those who had ill fortune in the drawings, became weary of their bargain and allowed their rights to lapse. 1£, Ios. was the prevailing price at this vendue for a proprietor's right, which carried two lots of 150 acres each. A large number of these shares were bid off by General Wait, who became, from that time, the controlling factor among the Proprietors, who beyond occasional vendue sales and the meeting in 1795 to provide for the survey of the second division, seem never to have taken further action as a body.


As the town developed it became clear that the mountain range which traversed it from northeast to southwest formed a practical barrier to business and political union between the two sections. At the March meeting in 1815 it was voted "That the land on the east side of the mountain be set off as a separate township, provided the legislature will pass an act for that purpose." This, so far as can be ascertained, was the first consideration of the question, and resulted in the passage of an act by the General Assembly of Vermont on November 7, 1822, by which three tiers of lots of the original division, and all of the second division lots that lay along the eastern boundary, were set off to Northfield. This act proving faulty, another was passed November 3, 1823, under the terms of which four tiers of lots on the easterly side of the town, including one tier of the small lots, and all the small lots on the southerly side lying east of lot 150, were annexed to Northfield.


This was only a half-way measure, and it occasions no surprise to find that fourteen years later at the March meeting in 1846 it was voted: "the convenience and accommodation of the occupants and owners of land lying east of the mountain range require that those lots, 16 in number, and being Lots 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 66 and 38, should be annexed to Northfield." The selectmen were instructed to cooperate with the selectmen of Northfield to bring this about, and on October 26, 1846, the Legislature passed the necessary act.


That portion of the town east of the mountains was- slow in development, and had so little in common with the remaining section that only occasional reference will be made to it and its early settlers in the following pages.


---


مهسبميـ


31


SURVEYS, DIVISIONS, ETC.


At an early day the annexation of Fayston was agitated and on January 24, 1804, at a town meeting called "To see if the town will agree to join with the Proprietors of Fayston to Petition the General Assembly next to be holden at Winsor in January 1804 to have Fayston Annexed to Waitsfield by the name of Waitsfield to enjoy the Privileges as though they were separate," it was voted 41 to 39 to agree in the proposed action. The opposition was determined, however, and no actual steps to bring about the union seem to have been taken.


One who is unfamiliar with old records, especially those of our small country towns, can scarcely appreciate the difficulty of determining therefrom with any degree of exactness the boundaries of any given lot of land or the course of any given highway. At first it might appear to be a mere question of mathematics, but when one finds the survey of a highway "beginning near the south corner of Thomas Green's cornfield" he soon realizes that the uncertainties of life extend even to the surveyor's art.


In general, however, one may trace the courses of early surveys, and to the local historian it is a matter of no small interest to follow the development of a town as shown by the laying out of its roads and the construction of its bridges.


The first road -- if it may be termed a road-which traversed our valley was doubtless an Indian trail following the river; but that certainly did not avail to accommodate the settlers, for at the second meeting of Proprietors, on November 4, 1788, we find that William Strong, the surveyor, was allowed 3£ for clearing a road to Waitsfield. This can have been hardly more than a bridle path, and probably only a footpath down the valley from Kingston. That it was but temporary appears from the fact that the same meeting made choice of Sanford Kingsbury, Esq., Lieut. David Currier and Mr. William Sweetser as a committee "to look a road into Waitsfield." This com- mittee was assisted by General Wait, and reported, on June 2, 1789: "we have looked three ways that we were directed, and found the way through Warren Hollow will accommodate the settle of the town best. We find there may be a road to North- field that will accommodate the settlement of the east part of the town. The road through Warren will strike Waitsfield south line near the fifth range line, from Fayston, thence keeping on that line through said town to the north line, and then turning




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.