The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 42

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064

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Signed, PAUL SPOONER, Chairman.

The aforesaid report was read and ac- cepted, and

Resolved, That there be and hereby is granted unto Col. Timothy Bigelow and company, being sixty in number. a town- ship of land, by the name of MONTPELIER,

*In October, 1780, the month in which the grant of Montpelier was asked, a British party passed through that town, on their way to attack Royalton .- See B. HI. Hall's Eastern Vermont, p 383.

+ Vt. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. II. pages 36, 41 -44, 66-69.

* Ms. Assembly Journal, 1778-1784, p. 128. t Same Assembly Journal, p. 130.

+ Ms. Journals of Council, 1778 to 1780, p. 313.

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situate and lying in this State, bounded as follows, viz : lying east of and adjoining Middlesex, on Onion river, and partly north of Berlin, containing 23040 acres : And the Governor and Council are hereby requested to issue a Grant or Charter of incorporation of said township of Montpe- lier, under such restrictions, reservations, and for such considerations, as they shall judge best for the benefit of the State. '

IN COUNCIL,

Saturday, 2Ist Oct., 1780. 5

The Governor and Council, to whom was referred the stating the fees for the grant of land made this day, by the General As- sembly of this State, having had the same under their consideratiou, have stated the fees aforesaid at four hundred and eighty pounds for the sd. Iand, being one town- ship by the name of MONTPELIER, in hard money, or an equivalent in Continental Currency, to be paid by Col. Timothy Big- elow or his attorney, on the execution of the Charter of Incorporation, on or before the 20th day of January next.

Attest, JOSEPH FAY, Secy.

£480.t

Although the sole condition of the grant was the payment of £480, in specie or an equivalent in Continental Currency, by the 20th of January 1781, the first charter was not granted until the 14th of August of that year, when a very imperfect charter was drawn-probably by Thomas Tolman, one of the grantees and Deputy Secretary of the Governor and Council-and execu- ted by Governor Chittenden. In this char- ter no boundaries were given to the town ; the customary five rights reserved for edu- tional and religious purposes were not in- serted, but were referred to as in the char- ter of the town of Ripton ; and two onerous conditions were imposed, to wit : first, that within 3 years after the circumstances of the then existing war would permit, 5 acres of land should be planted or cultivated, a house at least 18 feet square on the floor be erected, and one family settled, on each respective Right, on penalty of forfeiture of the land ; and, second, reserving all Pine Timber suitable for a Navy to the use and benefit of the Freemen of the State. As this is not the charter of the town, another having been substituted for it, and granted to the original and a few other grantees,

in 1804, it is omitted in this paper, and the reader is referred for a copy to Hon. Daniel P. Thompson's History of Montpe- lier, published in 1860, pp. 21 and 22.

Notwithstanding the imperfection of the charter of 1781, the proprietors proceeded to allot and organize the town under it, be- gınning with a warning dated June II, 1784, which was less than three years from the date of the original charter, and four- teen months after the close of the Revolu- tionary War, by Gen. Washington's proc- lamation of Apr. 19, 1783. Before noticing the proprietors and the record of their meetings, it is best to give a list of the proprietors, which is embraced in the per- fected and now actual charter of the town, that was authorized by a special act of the General Assembly, passed Feb. 1, 1804, and executed on the 6th of the same month.

THE CHARTER OF MONTPELIER.

[L.s.]

The Governor of the State of Ver- mont, to all People to whom these Presents shall come, GREETING :

Whereas, the Legislature of the State of Vermont, at their adjourned session, hold- en at Windsor, on the first day of Febru- ary A. D. 1804, was pleased to pass an act entitled 'an act authorizing the Gov- erernor of this State to issue a new charter of Montpelier,'-

Now, therefore, Know Ve, that I, Isaac Tichenor, Governor within and over said State, and in the name, and by the author- ity of the same, and in pursuance of, and by virtue of the act aforesaid, Do, by these presents, give and grant the tract of land hereafter described and bounded, unto Tim- othy Bigelow, and to the several persons hereafter named, his associates, in equal shares, viz :

Ebenezer Waters, Ebenezer Upham, Elisha Wales, Elisha Smith Wales, Joel Frizzle, Bethuel Washburn, John Wash- burn, Elijah Rood, Thomas Chittenden, George Foot, Elisha Smith, Jedediah Strong, James Prescott, Jacob Brown, Gid- eon Ormsbee, James Mead, John W. Dana, Timothy Brownson, Gideon Horton, Mat- thew Lyon, Samuel Horsford, Ithamer Horsford, William Smith, Jacob Spear. Jonas Galusha, Mary Galusha, Noah Smith, Moses Robinson. Moses Robinson, Jun., John Fassett, Jun., Jonas Fay, Abiathar Waldo, Thomas Tolman, Timothy Stan- ley, Joseph Dagget, Ira Allen, Lyman Hitchcock, James Gamble, Alanson Doug-

* Ms. Assembly Journal, 1778-1784 p. 138.

t Ms. Journals of Council, 1778 to 1780, p. 315.

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lass, Adam Martin, the heirs of Isaac Nash, Jonathan Brace, Howell Woodbridge, James Brace, Henry Walbridge, Jun., Jo- seph Fay, William Goodrich, Sybil Good- rich, Thomas Matterson, Amos Waters, David Galusha, Jacob Davis, Ephraim Starkweather, Shubael Peck, Jacob Davis, Jun., Thomas Davis, John Ramsdell, Issa- cher Reed, Isaac G. Lansingh, Ebenezer Davis, Asa Davis, Levi Davis, Ebenezer Stone, and Samuel Allen, --

Which, together with the five following Rights, reserved to the several public uses, in manner following, include the whole of said tract or township, to wit: One Right for the use of a Seminary or College, one Right for the use of County Grammar Schools in said State, lands to the amount of one Right to be and remain for the set- tlement of a Minister or Ministers of the Gospel in said Township forever, lands to the amount of one Right for the support of the social worship of God in said Town- ship, and lands to the amount of one Right for the support of an English School or Schools in said Township,-which said two Rights for the use of a Seminary or Col- lege, and for the use of County Grammar Schools, as aforesaid, and the Improve- ments, Rents, Interests and Profits arising therefrom, shall be under the control, or- der, direction and disposal of the General Assembly of said State forever.

And the proprietors of said Township are hereby authorized and empowered to locate said two Rights justly and equitably, or quantity for quantity, in such parts of said Township as they, or their committee, shall judge will least incommode the gen- eral settlement of said Tract or Township.

And the said proprietors are further em- powered to locate the lands aforesaid, amounting to three Rights, assigned for the settlement of a Minister or Ministers, for their support, and for the use and sup- port of English Schools, in such, and in so many places, as they, or their committee, shall judge will best accommodate the in- habitants of said Township when the same shall be fully settled and improved, laying the same equitably, or quantity for quan- ity,-which said lands, amounting to the hree Rights last mentioned, when located is aforesaid, shall, together with the Im- rovements, Rights, Rents, Profits, Dues nd Interests, remain inalienably appropri- ted to the uses and purposes for which hey are respectively assigned, and be un- er the charge, direction and disposal of he inhabitants of said Township forever. Which tract of land, hereby given and ranted as aforesaid, is bounded and des- ibed as follows, to wit :

Beginning at a Basswood Tree on the

North Bank of Onion River marked MID- DLESEX CORNER, JULY, 13, 1785 ; thence North 36° East, six miles to a Beech Tree marked MONTPELIER CORNER, JUNE 14, 1786; thence South 54° East, six miles and a half, to a Maple Straddle marked MONTPELIER CORNER, JUNE 17, 1786 ; thence South 36° West, five miles and five chains, to a Basswood Tree in Barre North line, marked JUNE 19, 1786; thence North 67º West, one mile and sixty seven chains, to Onion River : thence down said river as it tends to the first bound.

And that the same be, and hereby is in- corporated into a TOWNSHIP by the name of MONTPELIER.

And the inhabitants that do, or shall hereafter, inhabit said Township, are de- clared to be enfranchised, and entitled to all the privileges aud immunities that the inhabitants of other towns within this State do, and ought, by the laws and Constitu- tion thereof, to exercise and enjoy.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said granted premises, as above expressed, with all the privileges and appurtenances thereunto be- longing, unto them and their respective heirs and assigns forever.

In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of our State to be hereunto affixed.

Given under my hand at Windsor, this 6th day of February, A. D. 1804, and of the Independence of the United States the twenty-eighth. ISAAC TICHENOR. By His Excellency's command,

DAVID WING, JR., Secretary of State.

It will be observed that the boundaries are stated ; that all conditions are omitted, the town then being fully organized and well settled, having a population of about 1000; and that the list of grantees and proprietors numbers 65 persons instead of the original 60. The additional names are the five first following that of Timothy Big- elow. It appears from the record of a pro- prietors' meeting, held in January 1787, that Joel Frizzle (one of the additional five) owned the original right of James Gamble, and his pitch was confirmed to him. Prob- ably the other four became proprietors in the same way-by purchasing original rights. The explanation of retaining in the new charter the names of original gran- tees who had sold their rights to the five new grantees in that case is, that it was done out of abundant caution, to make the title of the purchasers unquestionable. The original charter is not now to be found,

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and probably it was destroyed on the issu- ing of the new charter, in which case it was fit that the five persons then holding orig- inal rights by purchase should have their names recorded in what was thereafter to be ·the charter of the town. The town record indicates that the copy of the original char- ter has been cut out, and the new charter substituted for it.

THE ORIGINAL PROPIETORS OF MONTPELIER.

The list of grantees is remarkable for the number of the influential men of the State embraced in it, to wit: Thomas Chitten- den, Governor ; Moses Robinson, Judge of the Supreme Court, Governor, and U. S. Senator ; Jonas Galusha, Judge of Supreme Court, and Governor; Ira Allen, State Treasurer, Surveyor-General, Agent to Congress, and the man of all sorts of work in surveying, road-making, financiering, and State politics at home, and in sharp statesmanship and diplomacy abroad ; Jo- nas and Joseph Fay, Secretaries, and Thomas Tolman, Deputy Secretary, and all authors of State papers, the first-named Judge of the Supreme Court, and the first two, agents to Congress, and employed in the Haldimand correspondence ; Matthew Lyon, Clerk of the General Assembly, Member of Congress, and an energetic and heroic man in politics and business en- terprises ; and John Fassett, Jr., and Noah Smith, the first a Councillor, and both Judges of the Supreme Court. With such proprietors, residing in Western Vermont, and most of them remote from Montpelier, it is not surprising that a deep interest was felt in the town, and a powerful influence exerted for its early prosperity in quarters where naturally it would receive little sym- pathy or favor.

THE "FOUNDER" OF THE TOWN.

The first grantee of Montpelier, who in the Pedigree of the Lawrence family of Massachusetts is styled " Founder of the town of Montpelier, Vermont," was Col. TIMOTHY BIGELOW, of Worcester, Mass., born August 12, 1739. He was a distin- guished officer in the American War for Independence ; a Major under Gen. Ar-

nold in the expedition against Quebec, in 1775-6 ;* Commander of the 15th Conti- nental Regiment at the capture of Bur- goyne and other battles ; and a Member of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775. Washington said, when reviewing Col. B.'s soldiers,-" This is discipline indeed." His son Timothy was one of the most distinguished lawyers of Massachusetts, for thirty years a mem- ber of one or the other branch of the Leg- islature, and Speaker of the House for eleven years ; and his grand-daughter Katharine, daughter of the second Timo- thy Bigelow, married the late Abbott Law- rence, LL. D., Representative in Congress, and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of St. James .; The " founder " of Mont- pelier died May 31, 1790, ten months be- fore the town was organized, and doubtless his rights to lands in the town all passed to other persons previous to the organiza- tion, the deeds of which will probably be found in the records in the Orange County, Clerk's office. The author of the pedigree of the Lawrence family of course had the tradition that Timothy Bigelow was the founder of the town, and perhaps full and authentic testimony to the fact.

The writer of this paper can only con jecture the ground on which the chie honor, as founder, should be conceded to Col. Bigelow; but the conjecture is so reasonably founded as to leave no doubto its accuracy. The original petition o Timothy Bigelow and others for the gran bore the names of at least three of th Davises who were, with Joel Frizzle, th first settlers in the town ; and the Davise were all from Worcester County, Mass of which Timothy Bigelow was a resident

"Arnoid's field officers were Lient. Coi. Christophe Greene, (the hero of Red Bank, on the Delaware Lieut. Col. Roger Enos, [afterwards General Con manding in Vermont, under the authority of tl State,] and Majors [Return J.] Melgs, [of Connect cut, afterwards of Ohio, and father of the Governor Ohio, and U. S. Postmaster General of that name and [TIMOTHY] BIGELOW .- Lossing's Pictorial Fie Book of the Revolution, Vol. I. p. 190. Lossing recor that on the expedition, Maj. Bigelow ascended a hl mountain, then covered with snow, hoping to gall sight of Quebec; for which feat the name "Mou Bigelow " was given to it, and is still retained.

t New England Genealogical Register, Voi. 10, 18 facing page 297. Blake's Biographical Dictiona states that the second Timothy Bigelow above nam during a practice of 32 years, "argued not less th 15,000 cases." A later biographer reduced the nu ber to 10,000. His death at 54 is not surprising.

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At the session in Oct. 1779, the legisla- ture of Vermont established a form of town charters, and appointed Ira Allen to visit sundry states to further the interests of the State .* The Vermont Ms. State Papers contain many petitions for lands granted in 1779, made on a uniform printed form, which was most probably furnished by Allen (then Surveyor-General ;) and many petitions in 1779 and 1780, of land com- panies formed in Massachusetts, Connecti- cut and New Hampshire, and in some cases of officers and men in the continental army. These, it is most reasonable to presume, were among the fruits of Allen's mission, which clearly was to make an in- terest for Vermont in as many states as possible, and also in the army.

The conjecture then is, that Col. Big- elow was the head of one of these land companies, as Gen. William Prescott, of Massachusetts, certainly was of another. Gen. Prescott was with Col. Bigelow at the capture of Burgoyne, and their resi- dences in Massachusetts were in the same region-the one at Groton and the other at Worcester. At the head of such a company, Col. Bigelow would have been the most active and influential man in forming it, and by his influence, and pos- sibly by his aid, the Davises were en- listed, who were the foremost men at work upon the ground; and their associates, most of them from Worcester and Ply- mouth Counties, Mass., were by the same influence led to become settlers. Certain it is that many of the early settlers were from that part of Massachusetts. To this day a Montpelier man cannot visit Wor- cester, Rochester, New Bedford, Yar- nouth, and Edgartown, without finding n each town names that were familiar in Montpelier sixty years ago-such as Davis, Clark, Stevens, Burgess, Hatch, Bennett, Hammett, and Nye. The writer is confi- ent that the original petition for the grant, ould it be found, would prove that the ompany was chiefly composed of Massa- husetts men, such as Col. Bigelow would lost fitly head, and so make him justly

entitled to the credit his descendants have claimed for him.

PROPRIETORS' MEETINGS.

On application of more than one six- teenth of the proprietors, a warning was issued June 11, 1784, for the first proprie- tors' meeting, " at the house of Eliakim Stoddard, Esq., inn-holder, in Arlington, [Bennington county,] on Tuesday the 17th day of August [then] next, at 9 of the clock in the forenoon," for the pur- pose of choosing moderator, proprietors' clerk, and treasurer, and to see what the proprietors would do respecting a division of the township. A meeting was holden accordingly, composed of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, Hon. Timothy Brownson, Maj. Gideon Ormsby, Jonas Galusha, and Thomas Tolman, esquires, and Mesrrs Joseph Daggett and John Ramsdell-who acted for themselves, and for others by power of attorney. Of these seven per- sons a majority were men of the highest worth and influence in the State: Gov- ernors Chittenden and Galusha ; Timothy Brownson, President of the Board of War, and Councillor from 1778 to 1795, and "one of the most trusted and confidential advisers of Gov. Chittenden during the whole period of his perilous and successful administration ;"* Maj. Gideon Ormsbee, who was then and for many years a repre- sentative of Manchester in the General Assembly, and Thomas Tolman, Deputy Secretary to the Governor and Council. The officers elected by the meeting were : Gideon Ormsbee, moderator; Thos. Tol- man, clerk ; and Jonas Galusha, treasurer. It was voted to lay out a first division of lands in the town, in lots of 150 acres each, and a committee of six was appointed for the purpose, to wit: Thomas Tolman, . Samuel Horsford, Gideon Ormsbee, Jonas Galusha, Joseph Daggett, and Samuel Beach-all but Mr. Beach being propri- etors, and he was the surveyor.

The meeting adjourned to the first Monday in April, 1785, but there was no meeting at that time, and, under a new warning, the next meeting was at Arling-

* Vt. Hist. Coll., vol. I, p. 405.

* Hiland Hall's Early History of Vermont, p. 458.

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ton, Jan.' II, 1786, of which Col. Timothy Brownson was moderator. The appoint- ment of Mr. Tolman as clerk and the order for the first division were ratified, provid- ing that 5 acres should be added to each lot or right, as an allowance for highways, and that the division should be laid out in good form and as near to the centre of the town as might be. Col. Jacob Davis of- fered to complete the survey for £1 3S. Iod. per right, and this was accepted. A new committee for laying out the division was then appointed, consisting of Col. Jacob Davis, Ebenezer Waters, (or, on his failure, Caleb Ammadon,) Samuel Hors- ford, Col. Samuel Robinson, and Capt. Abiather Waldo.

By adjournment, the next meeting was held at the house of the clerk, Thomas Tolman, in Arlington, Jan. 9, 1787. In the absence of Col. Brownson, Col. Jacob Davis was appointed moderator. The members of the committee to lay out the first division, who were present, were sworn before Gov. Chittenden to a faith- ful discharge of their trust, and then sub- mitted a return, plan and survey-bill of the division, which was accepted and or- dered to be recorded. A " draft," or drawing by lot, was then made, in the presence of the meeting, as the law re- quired, and a lot or right in the first di- vision was in that way assigned to each proprietor. Accounts were allowed, £77 9s. to Col. Jacob Davis for laying out the division-£5 to Thomas Tolman for clerk's fees-and 15s. to the collector for expense of advertising the first tax. A tax on each proprietor's right, of {1 5s. was then laid, out of the proceeds of which treasurer Galusha was directed to pay the above ac- counts. Joseph Daggett was appointed collector, and was directed to collect the tax in time for a vendue sale of lands, in default of payment on any right, on the 2d Tuesday of the succeeding June. It was represented to this meeting that Joel Friz- zel had become an actual settler, and had made his " pitch " as owner of the right of James Gamble ; whereupon it was voted that his pitch be granted and confirmed to him on the right of Gamble, and a lot of

103 acres, (the three as an allowance for highways,) was thus allowed to him, and located on the Winooski, at the S. W. corner of the town, adjoining Middlesex, subsequently known for many years as the John Walton farm, and now owned by Col. Elisha P. Jewett, and known as the Jewett farm. It was also voted to lay out a second division of lands but excluding pine lands, to contain 66 lots, excluding the rights of James Gamble, (provided for in Frizzel's pitch,) Jacob Davis, Jacob Davis, Jr., and Thomas Davis, who, in lieu of rights to be drawn, were allowed to select two lots of 186 acres each, within the second division, convenient for a saw- mill and a grist-mill. It was then voted to make a third division, called the ‘ Pine Pitch Division," lying between Frizzel's pitch and the second division, being the land reserved in the second division, and this was to be divided into 70 equal lots. This division was small, 17 acres and }, or à of an acre to the proprietor of each right. It was on the hill west of Green Mount Cemetery, and Thompson stated, on the authority of the late Simeon Dewey, Esq., who sawed the greatest part of the pine on this division, that the trees were of the most splendid northern sort, not ex- celled elsewhere in Vermont, or in New Hampshire, or even Maine. The condi- tion of the first charter, then existing, as to pine suitable for a navy, received ar interpretation most liberal to the propri- etors of the town, many of whom solo their right to Col. Davis, and most of the lumber unquestionably went into vessel: that were securely anchored on dry land The State was not a loser by this appro- priation, however, since the pines fron that hill sheltered many a man who had served his State and country on sea and land in the revolutionary struggle, and who gave sons and grandsons to serve them il the war of 1812 and in the last and great est struggle of all. Col. Davis was em ployed to survey these two divisions of the same terms as for the first division and Ebenezer Waters, surveyor, Col. Ja cob Davis, Parley Davis, Nathan Wald and Joel Frizzel were appointed a com

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mittee to lay them out. After other formal business, the meeting adjourned to the second Tuesday of the next June, at the house of Capt. Elisha Wales, in Arlington.

June II, 1787, the proprietors met per- suant to adjournment, Col. Timothy Brownson in the chair. Ebenezer Wa- ters, Col. Jacob Davis, and Nathan Wal- do, of the committee to lay out the second and third divisions were sworn, and then submitted their report, which was accep- ted by a unanimous vote. A drawing was then made, " the same being done deliber- ately, correctly, and in open meeting," by surveyor Waters, so as to allot the land in the second and third divisions equally to each proprietor. On the 12th, the ac- counts for surveys, &c., were allowed and a tax voted ; Col. Jacob Davis and Parley Davis were appointed a committee to lay out and make the necessary highways ; and the meeting adjourned to the second Tuesday in January, 1788. On the same day, June 12, 1787, a vendue sale of pro- prietors' lots took place for non-payment of taxes, and the sales were recorded, and rules for redemption adopted. About half of the original proprietors' rights to the first division were sold, and mainly to Col. Jacob Davis, and the proprietors' clerk, Thomas Tolman.

The meeting at Arlington in January, [788, extended the time for completing roads until the succeeding June ; assessed tax of 3s. per right for making roads ; llowed the accounts of its officers, and ad- burned to the first Wednesday of June allowing, at the house of Jonas Galusha, 1 Shaftsbury.

June 4, 1788, the proprietors met ac- ording to adjournment ; accepted the re- ort of the committee appointed to make ads ; allowed their accounts, and assessed additional tax of 19s. per right for the nstruction of roads.

The next proprietors' meeting was held, due warning, at Montpelier, Aug. 28, 92, of which Clark Stevens was mod- tor, and David Wing, Jr., clerk-both Montpelier. The meeting ordered the rth and last division of lands to be rde under the direction of Col. Jacob

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The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 42

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press Number of Pages: 1064

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064