USA > Vermont > The Vermont lease lands > Part 9
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nature of property lines is revealed by the practice customary in Ver- mont both in land title deeds and in the leases on the public lands, of quoting the acreage as uncertain. The acreage, as an example, may be stated as "100 acres, more or less." All this was necessary in order to clear titles and establish accepted property rights.
For our purposes this general condition is of interest because the un- certainty of locations and areas affect the public lands in several ways : 1) certain of the small-sized towns have very small shares because of the total reduced acreage available in divisions23; 2) some towns lack any public lands because such towns were created later to readjust pre- viously poorly arranged towns24; 3) certain towns possess public lands different from the normal pattern and different from the specifications of their charters as a result of shifting of town lines either to adjust for bad surveying or to accommodate administrative needs to topo- graphic features25; 4) it is probable that some public lands were "lost" when surveys or settlement proved there to be insufficient land for the settlers, who were then provided for from the public shares.
The preceding analysis has referred to hazards affecting the lands granted for religious and educational benefit in the towns chartered by Benning Wentworth during the colonial period. These towns, it is true, included most of the more desirable land in the region, but by no means did they blanket the area. The new government, established as Vermont, found itself in possession of large areas not yet granted nor provided with charters for local organization. As has been said, there was a pro- nounced interest in the granting of this available acreage, and it pro- ceeded without delay. In fact, six towns possess charters dated in 1779, the year following the initiation of the new government.26 The years 1780 and 1781 saw a large number of charters granted. And it may be seen from a perusal of the charters that the period 1780-1782 wit- nessed the chartering of most of the remaining open areas.
Most immediately, this is significant for our study because it means that the post-revolutionary towns were chartered and the land grants authorized before the government would have had time or opportunity to clear up the surveying problems. Neither they nor the grantees
23. Such as Weybridge and St. George.
24. Windsor and West Windsor is an example. Although the avails were divided, there was only one set of public lands in the original charter.
25. Examples are Windham and Londonderry, Mansfield and Stowe.
26. Bethel, Derby, Holland, Isle la Motte, Norton and Two Heroes.
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could have had a properly clear idea of the location and extent of the open lands. This view is supported by the previously quoted remarks of Ira Allen.27 The result, for us, was that described with respect to the Wentworth towns. It would be well at this point, also to recall that the public shares of land were, relatively, of even more consequence in the towns granted by Vermont than in those coming from Wentworth. This, because they represented a larger portion of the total town acre- age, there being a total of one more in the Vermont reservations.
Before proceeding to consider further factors affecting the present status of the public lands, those already presented must be disposed of as influencing the later towns, granted by Vermont.
Obviously, the effects of the long-protracted New Hampshire- New York struggle had no direct consequences for the post-revolution- ary towns. There were belated or indirect effects, however-these being the juggling of some of the earlier town lines and the existence of some New York land patents covering portions of the unchartered areas of Vermont. Likewise, the fear of invasion from the direction of Canada ceased as a deterrent to immigration. It is true that the War of 1812 again raised this specter, but that was after the new state had had some twenty years in which to consolidate, and the chartering of towns had then been completed. Poor routes for travel still maintained an influence -more than might be supposed, because of the fact that the largest part of the area chartered as towns by the Vermont government was com- posed of the most mountainous and inaccessible sections of the state. Even today some of these "hill-towns," as they are commonly called, are reasonably inaccessible, over relatively primitive roads, and the town population figures reflect this condition.
Absentee ownership still existed, even for the newer towns, but on a more moderate scale, and a good proportion of the absentee proprietors were at least within Vermont, although New Yorkers continued, to some extent, to figure in the land grants. The conduct of proprietors con- tinued, for the most part, on anything but a desirable level. The condi- tions were such that the state was forced to intervene with legislation designed to require proprietors to operate as contemplated in the cus- toms of New England town establishment.28
27. Supra, p. 68.
28. In the October session of the legislature of 1791 an act was passed re- quiring that proprietors meetings be held in the respective townships except in case less than ten families had settled in the township. In such instance, meetings still
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What has just been said in connection with absenteeism has applica- bility to the problem of land speculation, which continued on a generous scale for a considerable period of time. Indeed, in the Hampshire Grants- Vermont area, the two phenomena were for the most part related, though not always. There were resident speculators of whom Samuel Robinson of Bennington was an outstanding example. (The Allens are not considered precisely in the class of resident speculators. Although they spent much time in Vermont, became so deeply engaged in Ver- mont land that it determined their ultimate fate, and were highly influ- ential in the founding of the state, they were not true residents-that is, settlers.) For our interest, the important point is that both absentee ownership and land speculation continued in the post-revolutionary period to create conditions abnormal to the accepted New England pro- cedure of town establishment and, hence, continued as hazards to the welfare of the public rights. The latter, it should be noted, were still without representation in the divisions of land and without the protect- ing eye of an agent in the occupying of the lots. It was not until 1791 that the college right was made over to the University of Vermont29 and even later that the grammar schools developed. The town school right would have no interested agents until a demand for education should arise, and the same may be said for the rights devoted to the so- cial worship of God and for the first settled minister. Possibly the last named right was the first to gain early protection in some towns by virtue of ministers arriving in such towns and laying claim to the shares. To a considerable extent, the legislature and governor continued Went- worth's practice of making grants and issuing charters for towns on the
had to be held in the county where the land was located. Laws of Vermont, 1791, p. 13. In 1794, the legislature further indicated the state of affairs in the following :
. it sometimes happens that a major part of the rights or shares of land in some towns in this state are owned by one or a few individuals, who from private views, may obstruct a division of lands in the mode already provided by law, to the great injury of the minor part of the owners. . . .
therefore there could be application by one-sixteenth part of the proprietors to the Superior Court judge, who could, if the proprietors could not show cause to the contrary, appoint a commission to divide the lands, including public rights, by the pitching system. However, if old records turned up which showed a previous pro- prietors' division, the old records were to stand. Laws of Vermont, 1794-1796, 1794, pp. 85-91.
29. Ibid., 1791, October Session, pp. 29-30. See also, ibid., 1802-1804, 1802, pp. 156-158, in which act the legislature reaffirmed the authority of the corporation to control the lands reserved for the use of a college.
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basis of estimated maps. Thus, the difficulties resulting from this prac- tice and the primitive quality of surveying continued for some time after the Revolution.30
Various other factors remain to be presented-factors which in vary- ing degree extend their influence even to the present day. But before approaching these further obstacles to a clear picture of the public lands, it is desired to offer a conclusion touching on the matters which have been covered. It must be affirmed here that this conclusion is no more than a speculation on the writer's part and would require a study in itself to provide adequate documentation. However, he is reasonably well convinced of its validity. This position is the result of manifold impressions received from the extensive and varied reading done dur- ing the course of this research. The conclusion is this: that the early factors adversely affecting the welfare of the public rights were chiefly influential because there was no effective interest in the immediate de- velopment of the practices of religion and education ; that there was a mild general interest, with a more serious interest only on the part of a very few individuals. In other words, the apparent interest in these activities was largely a lip service or at best a pious wish.
Among the speculators, who represented a large proportion of the proprietary grantees, the dominant interest was the profit to be made from the land. If they were agreeable to the inclusion of the public rights in the charter provisions it would be, mainly, as such provisions were hoped to be added inducement to settlement. Certainly they could not be happy at the resultant diminution of their own acreage in the divisions of land. Nor could they be expected to have any considerable
30. The status of land ownership had become so uncertain and precarious that the legislature in 1800 passed an act with the purpose of providing settlers some degree of security. The wording of the preamble is significant :
Whereas many persons have purchased supposed titles of lands within this state, and have taken possession of such lands, under such supposed titles, and have made large improvements on the same, who at the time of purchasing, supposed such titles to be good and valid in law. AND whereas many of such titles may prove defective by loss of records, the neglect or lapses of others in the claim of title, or from other causes, who, if the strict rules of the common law be attended to, may be turned off from their pos- sessions and improvements, so by them made at great expense, without any compensations or reward for such betterments. .
The act then provides that such persons shall not be dispossessed until the better- ments and improvements shall have been paid for. At considerable length, it pro- vides procedure. It is of particular interest to us to note that the act specifically excludes from its protection persons in possession of lands granted for public or pious uses. Ibid., 1800, pp. 5-11.
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concern in preserving the location and identity of lands falling to the public rights, particularly if such rights happened, by lot, to receive the choicer parcels of land.
The settlers, obviously, would be expected to feel more concern re- specting the opportunities for religious observance and the education of their children. But it is the writer's view that the pressure of cir- cumstances relegated such interest to a minor place. The struggle for survival among the settlers, most of whom entered the region with meager resources, was so serious and their margin so slight that re- ligion and education must needs have been regarded as luxuries when- ever they conflicted with the essentials of shelter, food and clothing. Even today, one encounters an attitude of hostility or resentment toward these sequestered lands-freed of carrying a share of the burden of property taxation-and the length of the school year is still an issue, as it may interfere with the seasonal exigencies of the farm. This is not to say that there was no interest in the development of the church and school-simply that these institutions had to defer to the more vital needs and pressures of the time. Clearly, some interest did exist, or we should not find the public rights reserved in the town charters.
In the case of the Wentworth grants the charters for the towns west of the Connecticut continued a practice familiar in the towns of New Hampshire.31 And it is noticeable that Wentworth had a particu- lar religious interest in mind. Two of the four shares specified in his charters were to the benefit of the Church of England, of which he was a member, but which was distinctly a minority religious group in this area-and remained so.32 Not only were two of the four shares specifi- cally for the sole benefit of the established church, but there could be a likelihood of three shares benefiting that faith-in any town in which the first settled minister should be an Episcopalian.
The more interesting fact is the post-revolutionary continuance by the government of Vermont of the practice of reserving land for public rights. In fact, not only was the practice continued, but the ante was raised from four shares per town to five. It has proved to be impossible in the existing records to find the immediate basis for this action. No record of discussion or debates appears to be available. It would seem,
31. Laws of New Hampshire, II, 600-636; III, 274, cited by Woodard, Town Proprietors, p. 51. For a discussion on the purpose of the grants in New Hamp- shire, see Baptist Society in Wilton v. Town of Wilton, 2 N. H. 508 (1822).
32. Clarke, "Vermont Lands," pp. 280-281; Doc. Hist., pp. 40-41, 46.
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from the general background, that the inclusion of land reservations for public rights was largely a matter of habitual thinking-a continuance of something to which those men were used.38 And it would indicate that those who led the movement for the founding of the new state were concerned for its development and believed religion and education to be significant aspects of such development.
Perhaps the most startling of the reservations is that for "a college or seminary"-a high goal indeed, for a fledgling state not yet firmly on its feet. As a supposition, it is offered that, by inversion, President Wheelock of Dartmouth College gave impetus to this provision. Dart- mouth College was possessed of an influential place in the minds of people in this area, particularly in the Connecticut Valley. He very early commenced a series of efforts aimed at securing for Dartmouth the benefit of lands in Vermont, with the proposal that the college serve as the institution of higher learning for the state. In this program he was unsuccessful except to the extent that the Town of Wheelock was granted in 1785 for the benefit of Dartmouth College and the Moor Charity School.34 It must be recalled that the leaders in the movement
33. Woodard, op. cit., pp. 125-128.
34. The Town of Wheelock is an interesting phenomenon in more ways than one. It is interesting that the new state should reserve a town for the benefit of an institution in a neighboring state. The date of the charter is 1785, and it can only be assumed that the grant was an effort to quiet the proposals of Eleazar Wheelock for Vermont lands. By this time, the proposals had expanded to the point where the Dartmouth authorities had even suggested that the college would establish several academies in Vermont-apparently branch colleges of some sort. The whole business is of such interest in illustrating the ways of the time that quotation at length is made of so much of the charter as applies to the reservation of land :
One hundred and fifty acres of Land be reserved for the use, benefit & support of the Ministry of the Gospel in said Township or precinct for- ever one hundred and fifty acres of Land for the use and support of an english School or Schools in said Township or precinct on good Tenable Lands as the Situation there will admit. and whereas the said grant of Land is for a public and Important use it is hereby Declared that the Lands and Tenements in every part of said Township or precinct shall forever be free and exempt from public taxes that is to say, so Long and while the Incomes & profits shall be actually applied by the president & Trus- tees & their successors to the purposes of said College or School as above expressed. [Vermont State Papers. Charters Granted by the State of Ver- mont (Bellows Falls, 1922), II, 219.]
A further interesting sidelight on Vermont ways was given the writer during a conversation with Mr. Harvey: He called attention to the provision of the charter exempting all the land from taxation and said that in the days when the state levied a direct tax upon the grand list a footnote is to be found in the report of the state Commissioner of Taxes that Wheelock is exempt. However, as the town developed, local government became necessary, and a revenue was needed to
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for the establishment of a separate state had to combat a sentiment among some groups that the best solution for the problem of jurisdic- tion over the region would be a junction with New Hampshire. Some of those who supported the plan to separate from New York opposed the formation of a separate state and favored, as they spoke of it, a return to New Hampshire. We find Ira Allen, and others of his per- suasion, advocating the establishment of a college or university ; and, in the absence of other convincing information, it is to be presumed that these men did not favor Wheelock's proposals, as they were felt to constitute a tie with New Hampshire which should be avoided.
In any case, the reservations were made and constitute an effort to effectuate public policy. The immediate concern of this chapter is to illuminate conditions which can be regarded as hindering or minimizing the effectiveness of the medium selected for the advancement of the policy.
And now to proceed to a review of later and continuing influences adverse to clear-cut administration of the lands authorized as public rights. A good place to start is with a factor which was of consequence very early and which may be regarded as underlying and pervading certain others to follow; namely, an odd but very evident sort of in- difference on the part of the grantees of the public lands. By this is meant that one finds evidence all through the documents and other
support its functions. So, the local authorities simply improvised a system of taxa- tion ! Mr. Harvey went on to say that he had been unable to find any law provid- ing for this taxation, and during a visit to the town, he asked the local authorities the legal basis for their taxing. They informed him that there was no legislative basis, but they had to have revenue; so they just went ahead and assessed and taxed. This conversation illustrates nicely the way in which affairs concerning sequestered lands can become obscured, particularly in view of the nature of the officials who were involved in this passage. They were incorrect in their assump- tion that there was no relevant legislation, for in 1857 the legislature passed an act providing for assessing taxes on lands for local purposes of the town. They also appear to have been unaware that the Supreme Court of the State of Vermont, by an authoritative ruling, had provided a basis for local taxation in the Town of Wheelock in 1874. The case of Morgan v. Cree, 46 Vt. 773, dealt with this mat- ter, holding that this was not an exemption from local municipal taxes, such as town, parish, district, and village taxes, assessed upon and to be expended for the use and immediate benefit of the particular municipality. In short, the court recon- ciled the terms of the charter with the terms of the legislation and the needs of the community by holding that local taxes are not public taxes. In assessing property for state and county taxes, whereon such taxes are assessed per capita, only one- fourth of the population of Wheelock is included. Laws of Vermont, 1857-1858, 1857, pp. 160-162; ibid., 1886, p. 73.
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sources that, once the rights to the lands were established, the various grantees appear to show little enthusiasm for the effort of locating the lots, disposing of them, and maintaining the requisite records for their proper administration. In isolated instances, one finds individual minis- ters displaying diligent effort to secure to themselves the lot for the first settled minister. But this was neither a concerted nor a uniform practice. In other isolated cases there has been considerable fuss and feathers raised as to the right of one congregation or another to the proceeds of the lot for the social worship of God. But with these excep- tions, the grantees have been astonishingly lackadaisical when it came to the labor of identifying the land representing their respective shares and of maintaining control over them.
It is true that the appearance of an interest can be found, but not to the extent of doing what was needed. In meeting after meeting of the annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont35 and of the trustees of county grammar schools, the minutes will contain discussions of the respective lands and adjuration that the necessary action be taken to secure the lands and the avails therefrom. One also reads frequent- perhaps it might be more accurate to say, steady and continuing-ex- pressions of dissatisfaction regarding the reports of those immediately responsible for the lands, and these remarks will be followed by resolu- tions directing that the situation be improved. The effort rarely went beyond the resolution, however, and the next year's minutes will reveal that still no adequate report is available, or that no progress has been made in securing the lands. This, in turn, will be followed by still an- other well-meant resolution. In the case of the various lands which were made the responsibility of town selectmen, one finds simply a record replete with inaction.
There are various instances, frequent enough to form a pattern, of great concern, coupled with sustained effort, in the matter of securing a confirmation of the right to the land. An outstanding example to serve as an illustration is the litigation engaged in by the Diocese for deter- mination of the rights to the glebe and the S. P. G. lots. Three suits were carried to the United States Supreme Court,36 and various other suits were fought out in inferior courts. Both the record of litigation
35. Hereafter referred to as "the Diocese."
36. Pawlet v. Clark, 9 Cranch 292 (1815) ; S. P. G. v. Town of New Haven and Wheeler, 8 Wheaton 464 (1823) ; S. P. G. v. Pawlet and Clarke, 4 Peters 480 (1830).
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and the vigorous tenor of remarks in relevant diocesan convention min- utes and commentaries would lead one to expect the Diocese to be a dili- gent and careful landlord. But once the right was established, the effort slacks off even though the good intentions remain.
Such a record is possibly to be regarded as explicable in the case of the various shares entrusted to town authorities. The selectmen and listers had little to gain by sequestration of such lands because the in- evitable result was that the total town tax must be shared by just that fewer number of parcels of land. In the case, however, of the Diocese, the University, the county grammar schools, and some church congre- gations, it is a bit difficult to fathom the failure to pursue a course of action which would long ago have secured their lands and the income therefrom. There is a real value involved, and an annual income of greater or lesser dimensions. In the instance of the S. P. G. lands per- taining to the Diocese, a rough appraisal value can be made as in the neighborhood of $200,000, and it is unexpected to encounter easy-going ways in the institutional administration of an endowment of such pro- portions. Nevertheless, it is true that such has been the case, and the policy has resulted in various losses to the grantees.
The same lack of effective interest can be seen on the part of the state government. Search has been made in vain for any serious, con- tinuing effort to oversee the proper use of the lands and their utmost utilization for implementing the policies for which they were authorized. The report rendered to the legislature in 1878 is an isolated instance only, and even it is suspect for accuracy.37
One factor which has clearly been responsible for much of the ob- scurity covering the lease lands, and which can be regarded as grow- ing out of the conditions described in the preceding paragraph, has been that, almost completely, the administration of the lands has been left to
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