USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Windsor > The birthplace of Vermont; a history of Windsor to 1781 > Part 2
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while to Harvard, his alma mater, through his initiative and influence came an appropriation of money from the Province of New Hampshire.
During his long term as governor of New Hampshire, Ben- ning Wentworth did nothing brilliant: he was not a brilliant man. He believed that those of the largest financial interests were the best fitted to govern, and his appointments reflected that view. His belief that "public office is a public trust" he elaborated and illuminated by the ever-popular amendment that public office is also a private opportunity. In this he was honored by the emulation of his eminent contemporary and rival, Doctor Cadwallader Colden, lieutenant-governor of the Province of New York, while Doctor Benjamin Franklin, as clerk of the legislative assembly of Pennsylvania, afforded to both an example upon which they grandly improved. Viewed in the light of the above-mentioned amendment, Benning Wentworth's career as royal governor of the Province of New Hampshire was a success.
It was not until the ninth year of his administration as gov- ernor that Benning Wentworth determined to stretch the word- ing of his commission to the limit of its breadth, to seek the utmost personal advantage from its terms, and to begin that policy which made his name very important in the history of Vermont. Chancing it that he might possibly justify an asser- tion of jurisdiction to within twenty miles of the Hudson River (which would be to a line running northerly approximately in extension of the present western boundaries of Connecticut and Massachusetts), he proceeded on January 3, in the winter of 1749-1750,1 to grant to several Portsmouth neighbors of his and some others, not forgetting Benning Wentworth, a township six miles square, comprising what is now Bennington. The township was called Bennington in the text of the grant and was named so, as the historians delight in telling us, by the governor himself, with special reference to his own preno- men. There is a popular belief, also, that he invented or "coined" the name, but he cannot be credited with invention or originality in that particular, since already there were two Benningtons in England.
1 January 3, 1749, old style.
Courtesy of the State Department, New Hampshire
BENNING WENTWORTH GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE From a painting in the State-house, Concord, New Hampshire
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It is pretty obvious that Benning Wentworth made this grant for political and personal reasons. It is possible also that he had in mind making a test case to establish the extent of his jurisdiction. The locality of the grant was a wilderness, and, as before stated, settlers did not move into Bennington township until nearly a dozen years later. The Bennington grantees had no desire to leave their homes and seclude them- selves in the backwoods. Already there were settlers along the west bank of the Connecticut as far north as the present town of Westminster who had acquired lands under the supposed authority of Massachusetts Bay, who desired to have their titles confirmed and who might well have claimed his first attention; but he chose to plant his surveyor's stakes first as far west as he dared to go. All the circumstances attending Benning Wentworth's grant of the township of Bennington and the correspondence relating to the subject, so far as such correspondence has been preserved, are of interest.
The location of the new Bennington seems to have been planned by Governor Wentworth some months in advance of the date of the grant; for it appears that in the autumn of 1749 he personally sent one Mathew Clesson with an assistant and several chainmen to survey the lines for a township on the ground where the grant was subsequently made. Clesson's monuments are mentioned in the description of the Benning- ton grant and the report of his survey is attached to the charter. That Benning Wentworth must have had some doubt as to how the Province of New York would view the matter is fairly to be inferred from the fact that as early as May 23, 1749, Governor George Clinton of New York had reported to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations that "the Boundary between this Province & New Hampshire is dis- puted." 1 The doubt is fully disclosed in Wentworth's letter to Governor Clinton under date of November 17, 1749. In this letter, after mentioning that his commission authorized him to grant townships and that he was receiving applications for township grants, Governor Wentworth stated that he con- templated granting townships near the border of the Province of New York and would therefore like to be advised how far
17 Lond. Doc., 507-510.
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
east the Province of New York extended and what grants had been made by that province to the northeast of Albany. He closed his pleasantly phrased and fairly spelled letter with a diplomatic offer to accommodate any of Governor Clinton's friends who might wish to become New Hampshire proprietors, and he enclosed a copy of that part of his commission which described the bounds of the Province of New Hampshire. No answer having been received in the meantime, Governor Went- worth informed his Council on January 3 that Colonel William Williams and others had applied for the grant of a township in the western part of the province, whereupon the Council immediately voted that the application was entitled to the Governor's favorable consideration and the grant of Benning- ton, bearing date January 3, 1749 (old style), was signed by the Governor. It was recorded eight days later.
The Honorable George Clinton, royal governor of the Prov- ince of New York and an admiral of the British navy, should not be confused with the Revolutionary patriot, George Clin- ton, who became governor of New York after the assumption of American independence. The former was a son of the sixth Earl of Lincoln, was an easy-going gentleman without busi- ness training and had secured his colonial appointment for the double purpose of having a pleasant time and making a for- tune. "The good-natured Governor Clinton," as he was called by that competent critic, Doctor Cadwallader Colden, was at a great disadvantage when it came to dealing with a thrifty New Hampshire trader like Governor Benning Wentworth. That portion of the correspondence between these two royal governors which has been preserved may be found in the fourth volume of the Documentary History of New York.1 A study of it is almost essential to an understanding of the famous controversy over the New Hampshire Grants.
Not before January 92 did the Honorable George Clinton
1 See also The New York Narrative of 1773, Appendix; Dr. Samuel Williams's Rural Magazine ; Slade's Vermont State Papers ; Bouton's New Hampshire Prov- ince and State Papers, vol. X; Governor and Council, vol. VIII, Appendix I.
2 No letter of this date has been preserved, but it is referred to in the record of the correspondence. Slade, in his Vermont State Papers, substitutes for the refer- ence a reference to a later letter. Slade's version was adopted in the New Hamp- shire State Papers and in Governor and Council.
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get around to acknowledging Governor Wentworth's commu- nication of the previous November. What Governor Clinton wrote on that day is not known. The letter did not reach Governor Wentworth until about ten days after the Benning- ton grant had been signed and delivered. On April 3 it oc- curred to Governor Clinton that it would be wise to place Governor Wentworth's letter of November 17, 1749, before the New York Provincial Council. That body was not slow to see that the letter required an answer, and ordered that Governor Clinton acquaint Governor Wentworth with the in- formation that the Province of New York was bounded on the east by the Connecticut River, "the letters patent from King Charles the Second to the Duke of York expressly granting all the lands from the West side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware bay." This reply Governor Clinton trans- mitted on April 9, 1750, and thus made the great issue which, with changing shapes and changing parties, finally brought forth the State of Vermont.
Governor Wentworth received the news without emotion. He calmly replied under date of April 25 that New York's po- sition would have been satisfactory to him if the Colony of Connecticut and the Province of Massachusetts Bay had not extended their respective western boundaries many miles west of the Connecticut River. Under such circumstances Gov- ernor Wentworth observed that he considered himself equally entitled to push New Hampshire's claims westward and he confessed to having already made the grant of Bennington. He begged to be told by what authority Connecticut and Massachusetts had asserted claim so far to the west, but pend- ing the arrival of the answer he promised that he would make no further grants in the disputed territory. Governor Clinton wrote on June 6, explaining that in the case of Connecticut an agreement with New York had been arranged in or about 1684, had been confirmed by King William, and that the lines were run and boundaries marked in 1715. As to Massa- chusetts, Governor Clinton presumed that its western claims rested merely on "intrusion" and the negligence of the New York government. Remarking on his surprise that Governor Wentworth should have made the grant without waiting
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
longer for an answer to the letter of November 17, he sug- gested that unless the grant could be recalled he would feel constrained to report the matter to the King.
The withdrawal of the Bennington grant Governor Went- worth thought impossible, but with seeming candor and busi- ness sense he wrote to Governor Clinton on June 22, proposing that both governors report the matter to His Majesty and abide by whatever decision should be obtained from the Crown. If the decision should be adverse to his contentions, Governor Wentworth admitted that the Bennington grant "will be void, of course." His apology for issuing the Ben- nington grant so precipitately he based on the plea that he thought he had given to Governor Clinton enough time by writing on November 17 and by passing the grant on Janu- ary 3.
The proposal of a reference to the King was agreeable to Governor Clinton, who further suggested that they exchange copies of the arguments to be submitted. In this Governor Wentworth concurred and promised that as soon as he had sent his statement of the case to England he would send a copy to Governor Clinton. This promise, as the New York officers charged, Governor Wentworth failed to keep. In fact, the first news the New York authorities received of Governor Wentworth's having submitted his case (which he did under date of March 23, 1751) came by letter from England. Ac- cording to a statement in Governor Tryon's proclamation of December 11, 1771, the New York side of the case was sub- mitted to England "about the close of the year 1751."
The correspondence between Wentworth and Clinton shows one slip on Wentworth's part in the following italicised admis- sion with regard to the Bennington charter: "There is no pos- sibility of vacateing the grant as you desire, but if it falls by His Majesty's determination in the government of New York, it will be void of course." A slip on the part of Governor Clin- ton was greater and more disastrous: from his trust in his dis- tinguished correspondent he neglected to get from him a writ- ten stipulation that no more grants should be made in the dis- puted territory until the King's decision. Nor was this omis-
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sion on the part of Governor Clinton remedied by his subse- quent proclamation in 1753, warning officials of New Hamp- shire against attempting to exercise jurisdiction in the disputed territory.
CHAPTER IV CADWALLADER COLDEN
FROM the time of the interchange of letters mentioned in the preceding chapter a controversy was on-a controversy that was finally settled only by Vermont's admission to the Union in 1791. No one book gives anything like an exhaus- tive history of this conflict, but, taking all things into account, perhaps the best sketch yet written may be found in Thomp- son's Vermont. It is not within the scope of this history of Windsor to cover in detail the narrative or legal history of that struggle, yet since Windsor and the men of Windsor played important parts in the controversy, and since upon it depends so largely the historic fame of Windsor, it will be necessary and perhaps not uninteresting in this and subse- quent chapters to follow fairly closely upon its course.
In the beginning it should be understood that Governor Benning Wentworth had some ground for believing that his jurisdiction extended sufficiently far to the westward to in- clude the township of Bennington. Commissioners from the Province of New York and the Colony of Connecticut in the year 1715 had fixed a boundary near where now runs the present boundary between the States of New York and Con- necticut, and in that settlement there was what seems express recognition of the fact that the domain of the Province of Massachusetts Bay extended as far west as the western boun- dary of Connecticut. Moreover, in 1744, the King's Council had adjudicated that Fort Dummer was not within the juris- diction of Massachusetts but was within the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, and Fort Dummer was west of the Connecti- cut River and north of the northern boundary of Massachu- setts. There were also several published maps that gave color to the Wentworth claim. None of these points was made by Governor Wentworth in his correspondence, although all three were made much of by the Vermont advocates in later years.
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These points, however, were by no means conclusive. Grant- ing that the western boundaries of Connecticut and Massa- chusetts had been conceded by New York, it did not follow that New York had conceded to New Hampshire a boundary equally far to the west. Nor was the adjudication respecting Fort Dummer necessarily final as to New York. That adjudi- cation came solely as the result of a dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Therefore New York, not having been a party to the case, might well assert that the decision should not be binding as to her.
There doubtless was, as the historian Jeremy Belknap ob- serves, from as early a date as 1740, when the boundary be- tween Massachusetts and New Hampshire was settled, a pop- ular belief on the part of New Hampshire colonists that New Hampshire's territory extended as far west as a line twenty miles east of the Hudson River.1 Yet popular beliefs, then as now, should not always be treated as sound. Without at- tempting to decide the question of New Hampshire's lawful western boundary, it is worth while to note that according to at least one enlightened contemporary opinion in Massachu- setts, the Connecticut River marked the western limit of New Hampshire's domain. In a letter written by the learned Doc- tor William Douglass of Boston to Doctor Cadwallader Colden under date of May 12, 1740, the writer says: "We are advised that our [Massachusetts] Province line with New Hampshire is lately determined at home very much to our loss. . . New Hampshire having obtained out of our claim a very large tract of land reaching to New York E line and is about 60 miles from N to S, its N line 65 miles, its S line about 90 miles." 2 It was therefore the understanding of Doctor Doug- lass that New Hampshire had obtained by the decision of the Crown a slice off Northern Massachusetts of a maximum length of ninety miles from east to west. Since along the present northern boundary of Massachusetts from the Atlan- tic seaboard to the Connecticut River is a distance of ninety miles, it is clear that Doctor Douglass thought that "New York E line" was at the latter point.
1 Belknap's History of New Hampshire, vol. II, p. 133.
2 N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 19 18, p. 204.
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Although Governor Benning Wentworth's letters were ad- dressed to the governor of the Province of New York, and al- though the governor of that Province signed the letters in reply, it is a reasonable conjecture that a larger historical figure than either of them was Governor Wentworth's real New York opponent. Had this opponent been in full com- mand in 1749 and 1750, the history of Vermont might have been very different. Though then behind the scenes, he came to the front and was in the open a few years later, and in him Governor Benning Wentworth found an adversary worthy of his most serious and respectful attention.
Scotsman, born in the year 1688, graduate of the University of Edinburgh in 1705, physician by profession and one of the really learned men among the American colonists, Doctor Cadwallader Colden came from Pennsylvania to New York at the invitation of Governor Robert Hunter in the year 1718, and almost directly was installed as surveyor-general of the Province. In that office for forty-five years, as a member of the Provincial Council from 1720, as President of the Council from 1760, and as lieutenant-governor from 1761, he served under the following royal governors: Robert Hunter in 1719, William Burnet from 1720 to 1728, John Montgomerie from 1728 to 1731, William Cosby from 1732 to 1736, George Clin- ton from 1743 to 1753, Sir Danvers Osborn in 1753, Sir Charles Hardy from 1755 to 1757, General Robert Monckton from 1761 to 1765, Sir Henry Moore from 1765 to 1769, the Earl of Dunmore from 1770 to 1771, and William Tryon from 1771 to the American Revolution. During the frequent absences of his superiors after the death of Lieutenant-Governor DeLancey on August 4, 1760, and between the terms of their successive tenures, Doctor Cadwallader Colden was the acting governor. Even before the date last mentioned there is much to indicate that on account of his long acquaintance with the province domain his was the firmest hand in territorial matters affect- ing the Province of New York. In touch with England and with affairs at home, exercising a masterful control in the Pro- vincial Council of New York, he had the ear of the King and the King's Council and succeeded in strengthening his own position by royal authority to a degree that made him more
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than a match for Governor Benning Wentworth or those in- terested under the Wentworth titles.
Colden's correspondence shows him a man of resource and assurance, vigilant, prompt, grasping, and plausible. He had friends at the Court of St. James's whom he did not hesitate to enlist in his behalf. Vermont historians assume him to have been unscrupulous. Perhaps he was. He promoted as per- sistently as anybody the policy of harshness and injustice with which his province treated the holders of New Hampshire titles. But if one reads dispassionately the letters of Cad- wallader Colden there may well arise in the candid reader's mind the doubt whether Colden could not ably have defended himself against most of the charges with respect to Vermont. At the risk of being rebuked by some heated Hiland Hall of the future, the writer of this book, departing from the usual custom of Vermont historians, will not heap abuse on Doctor Cadwallader Colden.
To literature and science Colden was a large contributor for his time. His correspondents included the learned and schol- arly men of the world. With Benjamin Franklin he exchanged letters on scientific and philosophical subjects of mutual in- terest. To him Franklin wrote under date of November 4, 1743: "I cannot but be fond of engaging in a correspondence so advantageous to me as yours must be." In politics an un- bending royalist, defiant of popular clamor, daring as would no modern candidate for office to express his distrust of popu- lar votes, Cadwallader Colden stands as the type from which Alexander Hamilton developed-a type too bold, too rigid, too extreme for his time or for the years that followed.
To two men-Benning Wentworth and Cadwallader Colden -Windsor and the other older Vermont towns may look back as at somewhat hard masters, essential factors in bringing forth Vermont, wise in their day and generation, entirely human, by no means always sympathetic with the people they governed yet not wholly lacking in charity. They were figures of distinction in the days of Vermont's infancy. They stand, next to King Charles the Second, as responsible for the exist- ence of Vermont. However little we of to-day may be dis- posed to thank them, it is not displeasing to reflect that they
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were personages of character, of abilities; picturesque and full of interest. It is regrettable that American histories have given such scant notice to those men among the leading Colonial characters who did not happen to become champions of Ameri- can independence.
CHAPTER V THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANT OF WINDSOR
ALTHOUGH it was at Governor Wentworth's suggestion that the difference between himself and Governor Clinton was re- ferred to the King, and although Governor Wentworth advised Governor Clinton that the New Hampshire Council "were unanimously of the opinion not to commence a dispute with your Excellency's Government respecting the extent of the western boundary of New Hampshire until His Majesty's pleasure should be further known," the businesslike Benning Wentworth did not feel himself obliged to suspend the grant- ing of townships west of the Connecticut River pending the decision of the case. While not immediately attempting to grant more townships as far to the west as Bennington, he did grant, in the next five years, without further instructions from England and without further communication with the Prov- ince of New York, no less than sixteen more charters for towns within the present State of Vermont. These were for Halifax in 1750, Marlborough and Wilmington in 1751, Westminster and Rockingham in 1752, Putney, Fulham (Dummerston), Brattleboro, Hinsdale (Vernon), Fane (Newfane), Townshend, Stamford, and Woodford in 1753, Thomlinson (Grafton), Flam- stead (Chester), and Guilford in 1754. It is doubtful if the issuance of these sixteen grants became known to the New York authorities for some years. War between Great Britain and France involved the American colonies in 1754, and the region of the grants having become again exposed to invasion by the French from Canada and no longer attractive to set- tlers, investors, or speculators, the demand for grants within the territory completely ceased. So the question of province boundaries was temporarily and unfortunately neglected by the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic until after the conquest of Canada in 1760, and not a single additional town- ship grant, save one, was made until July 4, 1761.
The one exception was the grant of the town of Pownal in
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
January, 1760, and in some respects it was notable. According to Thompson's Vermont there were, at the date of this grant, four or five Dutch settlers within the Pownal limits, claiming under the ancient New York "Hoosick Grant" of 1688. Their presence under claim of a New York title and the fact that a New Hampshire grant in that locality, bounded "West on New York Line," would make a corner with the northwestern corner of Massachusetts, and so define the extreme southern and western lines of his claims of jurisdiction, may have in- duced Governor Benning Wentworth to make a grant at that place at that time. It has been stated that this township was named for Governor Thomas Pownall, of Massachusetts, but it is worth noting that the secretary for the Lords Commis- sioners for Trade and Plantations in England, a body which exercised large control of affairs in the Colonies and which was the very body to advise the King in the matter of the pending boundary question, was one John Pownall, and, furthermore, that on February 13, 1755, this same John Pownall had certi- fied a map of the British and French dominions in North America on which was indicated by dotted line a boundary between New Hampshire and New York, running north from the northwestern corner of Massachusetts to Lake Champlain. This dotted line would place both Pownal and Bennington within the Province of New Hampshire. Surely, therefore, an influential man in England who had certified such a helpful map and was in a position to lend aid to the New Hampshire contention was worthy of a compliment from Governor Ben- ning Wentworth. But the governor took no chances with so slight and unsubstantial a tribute as a mere compliment. With great worldly wisdom he provided in the grant of the township not only one share for Governor Thomas Pownall, of Massa- chusetts, but another for Secretary John Pownall, of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
Historians seem to agree that the building of the Crown Point Road and its use for military purposes brought a wider knowledge of the Vermont country, and, thereby, on the sus- pension of hostilities in 1760, created a new demand for town- ship grants in the region. This road, which was built by Colonel John Goffe and a New Hampshire regiment under
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