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 OME FACTS ABOUT 
 THE EARLY HISTORY 
 OF WHITINGHAM 
 VERMONT 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924028838682 
 
Conwll Unlvwalty Library 
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SOME FACTS ABOUT 
 
 THE EARLY HISTORY 
 
 OF WHITINGHAM 
 
 VERMONT 
 
SOME FACTS ABOUT 
 
 The Early 
 
 History of Whitingham 
 Vermont 
 
 By 
 Hon. a. Augustine Butterfield 
 
 BSATTLEBOBO 
 
 The Vi«MONT Printing ConfANT 
 IQ16 
 
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The Early 
 
 History of Whitingham 
 
 COLUMBUS discovered some islands 
 of America in 1492. When he first 
 made known to Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella of Spain his discovery of land in the West, 
 they were disposed to claim all the territories 
 which might be found in that part of the world; 
 the King of Portugal, however, informed them 
 that he considered even the West Indies, as be- 
 longing to his crown, inasmuch as his subjects 
 had first visited the Azores. The question was at 
 last submitted to the Pope, who gravely decided 
 that Portugal should have all the lands and terri- 
 tories that might be discovered within a thou- 
 sand miles of Europe, and Spain all that should 
 be discovered beyond; but neither England nor 
 Holland nor even France was disposed to con- 
 sent to this authoritative partition of the newly 
 discovered regions of the West; and these powers 
 subsequently took possession of different parts of 
 
6 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 North America, supporting their respective pre- 
 tentions by long and bloody wars. The claims 
 advanced by England were founded on the dis- 
 coveries of John Cabot and his son Sabastian, 
 Italian navigators residing in England, who 
 were sent in quest of new countries, with an ex- 
 pedition fitted out by the king, very soon after 
 the discovery of the West Indies by Columbus. 
 John discovered Newfoundland in 1494 and in 
 1497 Sabastian coasted from the northeastern 
 part of the Continent nearly to the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico. The French laid claim to Nova Scotia, on 
 the ground of its having been visited and taken 
 possession of in the name of their king, thirty 
 years afterward, by an Italian navigator in his 
 service named Verranzano. The first settlement 
 attempted by them was in 1540 which was un- 
 successful. The Dutch claim to the country 
 about the mouth and along the course of the 
 Hudson River was founded on the discoveries 
 made by Hendrick or Henry Hudson who 
 while in the service of the King of England, ex- 
 plored these regions in 1609. During this year 
 and previous to the discoveries of Hudson, Sam- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 7 
 
 uel de Champlain went down the west side of 
 the lake which bears his name and was the first 
 white man to see the mountains of Vermont. In 
 1620 the "Plymouth Council" was incorporated 
 by King James I of England, and in that year 
 the first Pilgrims came over and landed at 
 Plymouth, Mass. Plymouth remained a sepa- 
 rate colony until 1692, when it was united with 
 "Massachusetts Bay." In 1628 the Plymouth 
 Council granted the land between the Merri- 
 mack and Charles Rivers and three miles north 
 of the Merrimack and south of the Charles, and 
 extending westerly to the "South Sea." Just 
 where it was supposed that the South Sea was I 
 cannot tell, but some writers call it the Pacific 
 Ocean, and as the waters from these two rivers 
 flowed into the Atlantic, of course on this theory 
 they must flow from the Pacific Ocean. Mr. 
 Endicott came over with three hundred persons 
 to prepare for a still larger number and estab- 
 lished themselves in Salem and Charlestown. At 
 one time New Hampshire and Massachusetts 
 were united under one governor, but in 1741 the 
 line of separation, not having been previously 
 
8 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 ascertained, by order of the king in council it 
 was to be run, beginning at a point three miles 
 north of the mouth of the Merrimack and run- 
 ning westerly in a similar curved line to the 
 river and three miles northerly thereof until a 
 point was reached three miles north of the great 
 falls, thence due west until his Majestie's other 
 provinces were reached. Much discussion has 
 been had as to the "Great Falls" intended. Had 
 the northern falls been taken, Brattleboro, Ben- 
 nington and Whitingham would have belonged 
 to Massachusetts. This survey was run by Rich- 
 ard Hazen, and had he followed his orders — due 
 west from the point he took north of Pawtucket 
 Falls, Colerain and North Adams would have 
 belonged to Vermont now — but Hazen, when at 
 a point three miles north of Pawtucket Falls run 
 a line west 10° north. Vermont at this time was 
 an unknown wilderness, inhabited by savage 
 beasts and still more savage Indians, except a 
 fort or two had previously been builded, and a 
 small settlement around each in the southeast 
 part of the state, then supposed to be in Massa- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 9 
 
 chusetts, and along some streams, lakes and 
 ponds where wild grass grew. 
 
 In 1741 Benning Wentworth was appointed 
 governor of the Province of New Hampshire. 
 It must not be forgotten that England and 
 France were ancient enemies and had frequent 
 wars: these wars usually disturbed the peace of 
 the American Colonies, as the French were then 
 established in Canada. A war, known as King 
 George's war began in 1744 and ended in 1748. 
 
 In January, 1749, Governor Wentworth 
 chartered a town six miles square in the territory 
 now Vermont, in which he never had any right 
 or authority whatever, and named it in honor of 
 himself, Bennington: and the fees and emolu- 
 ments were such that his cupidity was stirred. 
 In 1750 he chartered Halifax, in 1751 Wilming- 
 ton and his avarice was such that when he was 
 stopped by the decision of the king in 1764 he 
 had chartered somewhere 130 towns and this, 
 too, in face of the claim of the governor of the 
 Province of New York and his protest thereto. 
 
 War was again declared by England against 
 France in 1756, though in fact the English and 
 
10 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 French people in America had really begun the 
 war in 1754. This war lasted until 1763, and is 
 known as the French and Indian War, though 
 sometimes one or two of the preceding wars 
 were known by the same title and name. The 
 formal treaty of peace was signed at Paris, Feb- 
 ruary 10, 1763. During this and former wars 
 incursions were made through this territory into 
 Canada and the soil and timber became known 
 to the people of Massachusetts, New Hampshire 
 and Connecticut. As the army was disbanded 
 there was no further need of many of the officers : 
 these were reduced, and in October, 1763, the 
 king in council ordered that ungranted lands 
 be granted to these reduced officers. At some 
 time, probably under the direction of New 
 Hampshire the township of Cumberland had 
 been surveyed, but we are unable to learn that 
 any charter had ever been granted by that name 
 or lands granted in that territory by that prov- 
 ince. Many of these reduced officers petitioned 
 to have their land set out there. A captain seems 
 to have had three thousand acres, a first lieuten- 
 ant two thousand and a second lieutenant one 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 1 1 
 
 thousand. Some of these officers expressed anxi- 
 ety to have their lands set out in Cumberland or 
 elsewhere. We are told a large number asked 
 for land in Cumberland. Nathan Whiting made 
 his request as follows: 
 
 "To THE Honorable Cadwallader Colden, 
 
 Esq., his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and 
 Commander in Chief of the Province of New 
 York and the Territories depending thereon in 
 America. 
 
 The Petition of Nathan Whiting late a cap- 
 tain in one of his Majesty's Independent Com- 
 panies of Foot 
 
 Sheweth That your petitioner served in Amer- 
 ica during the late war, and being entitled to 
 the Bounty which his Majesty has been gra- 
 ciously pleased by his Royal Proclamation of 
 the 7th October, 1763, to extend to such reduced 
 officers as have so served in America. 
 
 Your Petitioner therefore prays his Majesty's 
 grant to him and his Heirs of the quantity of 
 three thousand acres of a certain Tract of Vacant 
 land vested in the Crown lying on the west side 
 of Connecticut River adjoining to the present 
 Line between this Province and the Province 
 of Massachusetts Bay and formerly laid out into 
 
12 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 a Township by the Province of New Hampshire 
 by the Name of Cumberland Township, but 
 which has been since vacated and the Land re- 
 assumed, under the Restrictions prescribed by 
 the said Royal Proclamation. And your Peti- 
 tioner shall ever pray &c." 
 
 N. Whiting." 
 
 New York, Ilth June, 176^. 
 
 Certificate of General Gage. 
 
 "These are to certify to all to whom it May 
 Concern, that Captain Nathan JVhiting, hath 
 served in America during the war, Gf is now a 
 reduced officer. 
 
 Given under My Hand at Head Quarters in 
 New York this 1 8th Day of April, 1 764. 
 
 Thos. Gage." 
 
 Indorsed 
 "11 June 
 
 Petition of Capt. Nathan JVhiting for 
 JOOO Acres of Land in pursuance of the 
 King's Proclamation, 176^, July 8." 
 Read in Council and Granted." 
 
 Nathan Whiting also made another petition 
 of the same date as the other as follows: — 
 
 "To THE HONOBLE CADWALLADER COLDEN, 
 EsQR., his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 13 
 
 Commander in Chief of the Province of New 
 York and the territories depending thereon in 
 America. 
 
 The Petition of Nathan Whiting in behalf 
 of himself and nine other persons humbly 
 
 Sheweth That there is a Tract of Vacant un- 
 patented Land Vested in the Crown lying on the 
 west side of Connecticut River adjoining to the 
 present Line between this Province and the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay and formerly 
 laid out into a Township by the Province of 
 New Hampshire by the name of Cumberland 
 Township but which has since vacated and the 
 Lands reassumed. That your Petitioners intend 
 if they can obtain a Grant of Ten thousand acres 
 of the said Tract of Land to make a speedy and 
 eflfectual settlement thereon 
 
 Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray 
 that Your Honours will be favorably pleased by 
 his Majesty's Letters Patent to grant to each of 
 them respectively and to their respective Heirs 
 and Assigns the Quantity of one thousand Acres 
 of the Tract of land above described under the 
 Quit Rent Provisions Limitations and Restric- 
 tions prescribed by his Majesty's Instructions. 
 
 And Your Petitioners will ever pray &c. 
 
14 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 New York, nth June, IjdS- 
 
 N. Whiting in behalf of himself and the rest 
 of his associates. 
 (Indorsed) 
 "nth June, lydS- 
 
 Petition of Nathan Whiting and nine 
 others for I0,000 Acres of Land in the 
 County of Albany No. Q Cumberland." 
 
 It turned out that there was not 10,000 acres 
 at that time ungranted, or voted to be granted, 
 although the Council voted to grant this 10,000 
 acres. The 3,000 acres and a patent afterward 
 issued to Nathan Whiting on his personal peti- 
 tion, in the southeast corner of the town 178 
 chains north and south and 178 chains east and 
 west, 2,000 acres were granted to James Edding- 
 ton west of Whiting's patent — 178 chains north 
 and south and 1 18 1/2 chains east and west, 2,000 
 acres to Thomas Gamble west of Eddington of 
 the same size and shape, 1,000 acres in the north- 
 east corner of the town to Thomas Etherington 
 59 chains north and south and 178 chains east 
 and west, 2,000 acres south of the last above to 
 John Nordburg 118 chains north and south and 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT IS 
 
 178 chains east and west, 3,000 acres to John 
 Walker west of the two last named patents, 177 
 chains north and south and 178 chains east and 
 west, 2,000 acres to Dennis Carleton west of 
 Capt. Walker's patent 169 1/2 chains north and 
 south and 124 chains east and west. Some very 
 reputable people have protested that these grants 
 were not valid, notwithstanding this territory 
 had been decreed to belong to New York in 1764, 
 because of the king's prohibition of 1767; but 
 all these lands had been petitioned for, the peti- 
 tions presented to the Council, referred to a 
 committee which had reported favorably and the 
 Council had voted the patents, for all the land 
 in this town before the king's prohibition 
 reached here. 
 
 WHITINGHAM. 
 
 On the 27th day of January, 1767, a petition 
 was presented to the Lieutenant Governor of 
 New York by Nathan Whiting, Samuel Fitch, 
 Eleazer Fitch, James Smedley, David Baldwin, 
 Andrew Myers, Samuel Whiting, Robert Alton, 
 Amos Hitchcock and Nathan Haines Whiting 
 
16 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 for a grant of a township which was referred to 
 a committee, who reported favorably and the 
 petition was granted. The patent was ordered 
 to issue but for some reason the matter was de- 
 layed for nearly three years. On the 26th day 
 of January, 1770, Col. Nathan Whiting renewed 
 the petition in behalf of himself and his asso- 
 ciates, setting forth that the lands prayed for 
 were vacant and had never been granted. The 
 following is the second petition of Col. Whiting 
 and the one on which the grant was made and the 
 patent issued. — Jillson's Green Leaves. 
 
 PETITION. 
 
 To THE Honorable Cadwall.^er Colden, 
 
 Esquire, his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor 
 and Commander in Chief of the Province of 
 New York and the territories depending thereon 
 in America, 
 
 In Council. 
 
 The Petition of Colonel Nathan Whiting in 
 behalf of himself and his Associates Humbly 
 
 Shcweth That your petitioner and his Asso- 
 ciates on their former petition obtained an order 
 of his Excellency Sir Henry Moore with the ad- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 17 
 
 vice and consent of the Council bearing date the 
 twenty-seventh day of January one thousand 
 seven hundred and sixty-seven for granting to 
 them and their heirs the Quantity of Ten thou- 
 sand acres of a certain Tract of Land lying on 
 the West side of Connecticut River known by the 
 name of the Township of Cumberland. That 
 they have since procured an actual survey of said 
 Land and find the vacant Land to contain only 
 the Quantity of Seven thousand acres. That the 
 same though part of the Lands formerly claimed 
 by the Government of New Hampshire have 
 not been granted by that government but still 
 remain Vacant and vested in the Crown. Your 
 petitioner therefore humbly prays that the Let- 
 ters Patent ordered on said former Petition May 
 issue for the Quantity of Land found to be va- 
 cant, and in the Names of Nathan Whiting, 
 Samuel Fitch, Eleazer Fitch, James Smedley, 
 Andrew Myers, Robert Aiton and Samuel Bo- 
 yer, who are all the persons at present interested 
 in the Premises. And your petitioner in behalf 
 of himself and his Associates Doth further pray 
 that the said Seven thousand acres together with 
 the following Tracts granted to or Surveyed for 
 reduced Officers, to wit: three thousand acres 
 granted to the Petitioner Nathan Whiting, two 
 
18 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 thousand acres Granted to Lieutenant James 
 Eddington, two thousand acres Granted to Lieu- 
 tenant John Nordburg, one thousand acres 
 Granted to Lieutenant Thomas Etherington, 
 three thousand acres surveyed for Captain John 
 Walker, two thousand acres surveyed for Lieu- 
 tenant Thomas Gamble and two thousand acres 
 surveyed for Lieutenant Dennis Carleton may be 
 erected into a Township by the name of Whit- 
 ingham with the usual privileges. And your 
 petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray &c. 
 New York, 26th January, 1770. 
 
 NatH.AN Whiting in behalf of himself and 
 his associates. 
 
 A long certificate, of several pages, was made 
 to this petition and signed Cadwallader Golden, 
 Andrew Elliot and Alex Golden. Cadwallader 
 Golden was Lieutenant Governor, Andrew El- 
 liot Receiver General and Alexander Golden 
 Surveyor General. 
 
 The Charter of Whitingham. 
 
 George the Third, by the Grace of God, of 
 Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, De- 
 fender of the Faith, and so forth. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 19 
 
 To all to Whom these Presents shall Come, 
 
 Greeting: 
 
 Whereas our Loving subjects Nathan Whit- 
 ing, Samuel Fitch, Eleazer Fitch, James Smed- 
 ley, David Baldwin, Andrew Myers, Samuel 
 Whiting, Robert Aiton, Amos Hitchcock and 
 Nathan Haines Whiting by their humble Peti- 
 tion presented unto our late trusty and well be- 
 loved Sir Henry Moore, Baronet, then our Cap- 
 tain General and Governor in Chief of our Prov- 
 ince of New York and read in our Council for 
 said Province on the twenty-seventh day of Jan- 
 uary which was in the year of our Lord one thou- 
 sand seven hundred and sixty-seven, did set forth 
 among other Things that there was a certain 
 Tract of vacant unpatented Land vested in us 
 lying on the West side of Connecticut River, ad- 
 joining to the present Line between our said 
 Province and the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay, and commonly called or known by the name 
 of Cumberland, and that the Petitioners did in- 
 tend if they could obtain a grant of ten thousand 
 acres thereof to make a speedy and effectual 
 settlement thereon. And therefore the Petition- 
 ers did humbly pray our said late Captain Gen- 
 eral and Governor in Chief to grant to each of 
 the petitioners and their respective heirs; the 
 
20 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Quantity of one thousand acres of the said Tract 
 of Land which Petition having been then re- 
 ferred to a Committee of our Council for our 
 said Province. Our said Council did afterwards 
 on the same day in pursuance of the Report of 
 the said Committee humblv advise and consent 
 that our said late Captain General and Governor 
 in Chief should by our Letters Patent unto the 
 said Petitioners and their heirs the Quantity of 
 ten thousand acres of Land described in their 
 said Petition under the Quit Rent Provisoes 
 Limitations and Restrictions prescribed by our 
 Royal Instructions: 
 
 And whereas the said Nathan Whiting in be- 
 half of himself and his associates hath by his 
 humble Petition presented to our trusty and well 
 beloved Cadwallader Colden Esquire our Lieu- 
 tenant Governor and Commander in Chief of 
 our said Province and read in our said Council 
 for our said Province on the thirty-first dav of 
 January now last past, set forth, that the Peti- 
 tioner and his associates had procured an actual 
 survey of the Lands aforesaid and find the vacant 
 Land to contain only the Quantity of seven thou- 
 sand acres: 
 
 That the same tho' part of the Lands formerly 
 claimed by the Government of New Hampshire 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 21 
 
 have not been granted by that Government but 
 still remain vacant and vested in us: And there- 
 fore the Petitioner did humbly pray that the 
 Letters Patent ordered on the said former Peti- 
 tion might issue for the Quantity of Land so 
 found to be vacant, and in the Names of Nathan 
 Whiting, Samuel Fitch, Eleazer Fitch, James 
 Smedley, Andrew Myers, Robert Aiton, and 
 Samuel Boyer, who are all the Persons at present 
 interested in the said Lands, and further that the 
 said seven thousand acres of Land together with 
 the following Tracts (part of the aforesaid Tract 
 called Cumberland) granted to or surveyed for 
 reduced officers to wit: three thousand acres 
 granted to the Petitioner Nathan Whiting, two 
 thousand acres granted to Lieutenant James 
 Eddington; two thousand acres granted to John 
 Nordbergh ; one thousand acres granted to Lieu- 
 tenant Thomas Etherington; three thousand 
 acres surveyed for and since granted to Captain 
 John Walker; tvvo thousand acres surveyed for 
 and since granted to Lieutenant Thomas Gamble 
 and two thousand acres surveyed for and since 
 granted to Lieutenant Dennis Carleton, might 
 be erected into a Township by the name of Whit- 
 ingham with the usual privileges; on reading 
 and due consideration whereof it was ordered 
 
22 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 by our said Lieutenant Governor and Com- 
 mander in Chief with the advice and consent of 
 our said Council that the Letters Patent ordered 
 on the said former Petition should issue in the 
 names of the said Nathan Whiting, Samuel 
 Fitch, Eleazer Fitch, James Smedley, Andrew 
 Myers, Robert Aiton and Samuel Boyer for the 
 Quantity of the said Lands so found to be vacant, 
 and that the same together with the several other 
 Tracts above mentioned be erected into a Town- 
 ship by the name of Whitingham with the usual 
 privileges granted to other Townships within 
 our said Province: In Pursuance whereof and in 
 obedience to our said Royal Instructions, our 
 Commissioners appointed for the setting out all 
 Lands to be granted within our said Province 
 have set out for them the said Nathan Whiting, 
 Samuel Fitch, Eleazer Fitch, James Smedley, 
 Andrew Myers, Robert Aiton and Samuel Bo- 
 yer, all that certain Tract or Parcel of Land 
 within our Province of New York, situate and 
 being on the West side of Connecticut River in 
 the County of Cumberland, being part of a 
 larger Tract heretofore called and known by the 
 name of Cumberland. Beginning at the north- 
 east corner of a Tract of three thousand acres of 
 Land granted to the said Nathan Whiting as a 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 23 
 
 reduced officer; and runs thence along the North 
 Bounds of the last mentioned Tract, and the 
 North Bounds of a Tract of Land granted to 
 Lieutenant James Eddington and the North 
 Bounds of a Tract of Land granted to Lieutenant 
 Thomas Gamble North eighty degrees West 
 four hundred and fifteen chains, then South ten 
 degrees West one hundred and seventy-eight 
 chains to the Line run for the Bounds of the 
 Massachusetts Bay Government; then along the 
 said Line North eighty degrees West sixty-five 
 chains; then North ten degrees East three hun- 
 dren and ten chains and two rods to a Tract of 
 two thousand acres of Land granted to Lieuten- 
 ant Dennis Carleton; then along the South 
 Bounds of the last mentioned Tract South eighty 
 East one hundred and twenty-four chains to a 
 Tract of three thousand acres of Land granted 
 to Captain John Walker; then along the West 
 Bounds of the last mentioned Tract South ten 
 degrees West seven chains and two rods. Then 
 along the South Bounds of the said last men- 
 tioned Tract, and the South Bounds of a Tract 
 of two thousand acres of Land granted to Lieu- 
 tenant John Nordbergh, three hundred and fifty- 
 six chains, then South ten degrees West one hun- 
 dred and rwenty-five chains to the Place where 
 
24 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 this Tract first began, containing six thousand 
 nine hundred acres of land and the usual allow- 
 ances for highways: and in setting out the said 
 Tract of six thousand nine hundred acres of 
 Land our said Commissioners have had regard 
 to profitable and unprofitable acres; and have 
 taken care that Length thereof doth not extend 
 along the Banks of any River otherwise than is 
 conformable to our said Royal Instructions as by 
 a certificate thereof under their hands, bearing 
 date the first day of this Instant Month of 
 March, and entered on Record in our Secre- 
 tary's office for our said Province among other 
 Things may more fully appear, which said Tract 
 of Land set out as aforesaid according to our 
 said Royal Instructions. We being willing to 
 grant to the said Petitioners their heirs and as- 
 signs forever. Know ye that of our especial 
 Grace, certain knowledge and Meer Motion, we 
 have given, granted, ratified and confirmed and 
 Do by these Presents for us our heirs and suc- 
 cessors give, grant, ratify and confirm unto them 
 the said Nathan \\'hiting, Samuel Fitch, Eleazer 
 Fitch, James Smedley, Andrew Mvers, Robert 
 Aiton, and Samuel Boyer, their heirs and assigns 
 forever, all that the Tract or Parcel of Land 
 aforesaid, set out, abutted, bounded and de- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 25 
 
 scribed in Manner and Form as above men- 
 tioned, together with all and singular the Tene- 
 ments, Hereditaments, Emoluments and Appur- 
 tenances thereunto belonging or appertaining. 
 And also all our Estate, Right, Title, Interest, 
 Possession, Claim and Demand whatsoever of in 
 and to the same Lands and Premises and every 
 Part and Parcel thereof: and the Reversion and 
 Reversions, Remainder and Remainders, Rents, 
 Issues and Profits thereof and of every Part and 
 Parcel thereof. Except and always reserved out 
 of this our present Grant unto us, our heirs and 
 successors forever, all Mines of Gold and Silver, 
 and also all White or other sorts of Pine Trees 
 fit for Masts of the growth of twenty-four inches 
 Diameter and upward at twelve inches from the 
 Earth, for Masts for the Royal Navy of us, our 
 heirs and successors. To have and to hold one 
 full and equal seventh Part (the whole into 
 seven equal Parts to be divided) of the said 
 Tract or Parcel of Land, Tenements, Heredita- 
 ments and Premises by these Presents granted, 
 ratified and confirmed and every Part and Parcel 
 thereof with their and every of their appurte- 
 nances (except as is herein before excepted) 
 unto each of them, our Grantees above Men- 
 tioned, their heirs and assigns respectively to 
 
26 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 their only proper and separate use and Behoof 
 respectively forever as Tenants in Common and 
 not as joint Tenants. To be holden of us, our 
 heirs and successors in fee and common socage 
 as of our Manor of East Greenwich in our 
 County of Kent within our Kingdom of Great 
 Britain. Yielding, rendering and paying there- 
 for yearly and every year forever unto us, our 
 heirs and successors at our Custom House in our 
 City of New York unto our or their Collector or 
 Receiver General there for the Time being on 
 the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary commonly called Lady Day the 
 yearly rent of two shillings and six pense Ster- 
 ling for each and every hundred acres of the 
 above granted Lands and so in Proportion for 
 any lesser Quantity thereof saving and except 
 for such Part of the said Lands allowed for 
 Highways as above mentioned in Lieu and stead 
 of all other Rents, Services, Dues, Duties and 
 Demands whatsoever for the hereby granted 
 Lands and Premises or any Part thereof. And 
 we being Willing according to the Prayer of the 
 said Petitioners to create and make the said 
 Tract of Land hereby granted a Township with 
 such other of the adjacent Lands as are included 
 and comprehended within the Bounds and 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 27 
 
 Limits following, that is to say. Beginning at a 
 Hemlock Tree and a Beach Tree growing close 
 together having two large stones laid between 
 them, standing in the Line run for the Bounds of 
 the Province of the Massachusetts Bay and 
 which Beach Tree is marked with these words. 
 The Corner of Cumberland, and runs thence 
 North ten degrees East six Miles: then North 
 eighty degrees West six Miles, then South ten 
 degrees West six Miles to the aforesaid Line run 
 for the Bounds of the Province of the Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, and then along the said Line South 
 ten degrees East six Miles to the said Place of 
 beginning, and to grant to the Inhabitants of the 
 same such Powers and Privileges as the Inhabi- 
 tants of other Townships in our said Province 
 of New York have and do enjoy: Know Ye 
 therefore that of our especial Grace, certain 
 knowledge and Meer Motion, We do by these 
 Presents create, erect and constitute the said 
 Tract of Land, hereby granted, and all other the 
 Lands included within the Bounds and Limits 
 last Mentioned and every Part and Parcel there- 
 of one Township forever, hereafter to be con- 
 tinue and remain, and by the Name of WHIT- 
 INGHAM forever, hereafter to be called and 
 known, and for the better and more easily carry- 
 
28 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 ing on and managing the public affairs and Busi- 
 ness of the same Township our Royal Will and 
 Pleasure, and we do hereby for us and our heirs 
 and successors give and grant to the Inhabitants 
 of the said Township all the Powers, Authorities, 
 Privileges and Advantages heretofore given and 
 granted to or legally enjoyed by all, any or either 
 our other Townships within our said Province. 
 And we also ordain and establish that there shall 
 be forever hereafter in the said Township two 
 Assessors, one Treasurer, two Overseers of the 
 Highways, two Overseers of the Poor, one Col- 
 lector and four Constables, elected and chosen 
 out of the Inhabitants of the said Township 
 yearly and every year on the first Tuesday in 
 May at the most publick Place in the said Town- 
 ship by the majority of the Freeholders thereof 
 then and there met and assembled for that Pur- 
 pose; hereby declaring that wheresoever the first 
 election in the said Township shall be held, the 
 future elections shall forever thereafter be held 
 in the same Place as near as may be and giving 
 and granting to the said officers, so chosen. Power 
 and Authority to exercise their said several and 
 respective offices, during one whole year from 
 such election, and until others are legally chosen 
 and elected in their Room and stead as fully and 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 29 
 
 amply as any the like officers have or legally may 
 use or exercise their offices in our said Province: 
 And in case any or either of the said officers of 
 the said Township shall die or remove from the 
 said Township before the time of their annual 
 service shall be expired, or refuse to act in the 
 Offices for which they shall respectively be 
 chosen, then our Royal Will and Pleasure fur- 
 ther is, and we do hereby direct, ordain and 
 require the Freeholders of the said Township to 
 meet at the Place where the annual Election 
 shall be held for the said Township, and choose 
 other or others of the said Inhabitants of the said 
 Township in the place and stead of him or them 
 so dying, removing or refusing to act, within 
 forty days next after such contingency and to 
 prevent any undue election in this case, We do 
 hereby ordain and require that upon every 
 Vacancy in the Office of Assessors, the Treas- 
 urer, and in either of the other offices, the Assess- 
 ors of the said Township, shall within ten days 
 next after any such vacancy first happens, ap- 
 point the day for such Election, and give publick 
 Notice thereof in writing under his or their 
 hands by affixing such notice on the Church 
 Door or other most publick Place in the said 
 Township at the least ten days before the day 
 
30 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 appointed for such Election, and in default 
 thereof, We do hereby require the Officer or 
 Officers of the said Township or the survivor of 
 them, who in the order they are hereinbefore 
 mentioned shall next succeed him or them so 
 making Default, to appoint the day for such 
 Election, and give notice thereof as aforesaid, 
 hereby giving and granting to such Person or 
 Persons as shall be so chosen by the majority of 
 such of the Freeholders of the said Township 
 as shall meet in manner hereby directed shall 
 have, hold, exercise and enjoy the office or offices 
 to which he or they shall be so elected and chosen 
 from the time of such election until the first 
 Tuesday in May then next following, and until 
 other or others be legally chosen in his or their 
 place and stead, as fully as the Person or Per- 
 sons in whose Place he or they shall be chosen 
 might or could have done by virtue of these 
 Presents. And we do hereby will and direct that 
 this Method shall forever hereafter be used for 
 the filling up all vacancies that shall happen in 
 any of the said Offices between the annual Elec- 
 tions above directed. Provided always and upon 
 Condition nevertheless that if our said Grantees, 
 their heirs or assigns, or some or one of them 
 shall not within three years next after the date 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 31 
 
 of this our present Grant settle on the said Tract 
 of Land hereby granted, so many Families as 
 shall amount to one Family for every thousand 
 acres of the same Tract, or if they, our said 
 Grantees or one of them, their or one of their 
 heirs or assigns shall not also within three years 
 to be computed as aforesaid plant and effectually 
 at the least three acres for every fifty acres of 
 such of the hereby granted Lands as are capable 
 of Cultivation; or if they, our said Grantees or 
 any of them, they or any of their heirs or assigns 
 or any other Person or Persons by their or any 
 of their Privity, Consent or Procurement shall 
 fell, cut down or otherwise destroy any of the 
 Pine Trees by these Presents reserved to us, our 
 heirs and Successors, or hereby intended so to be, 
 without the Royal License of us, our heirs or 
 Successors for so doing first had and obtained; 
 that then and in any of these Cases this our pres- 
 ent Grant and everything therein Contained 
 shall cease and be absolutely void, and the Lands 
 and Premises hereby granted shall revert to and 
 vest in us, our heirs and Successors, as if this, our 
 present Grant had not been made, anything 
 hereinbefore contained to the contrary in any 
 wise notwithstanding: 
 
 Provided further and upon Condition also 
 
.•>2 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 nevertheless, and We do hereby for us, our heirs 
 and Successors direct and appoint, that this our 
 present Grant shall be registered and entered on 
 Record within six months from the date thereof 
 in our Secretary's Office in our City of New 
 York in our said Province in one of the Books 
 of Patents there remaining and a Docquet there- 
 of shall be also entered in our Auditor's Office 
 there for our said Province and that in default 
 thereof this our present Grant shall be void and 
 of non Effect, any thing before in these Presents 
 contained to the contrary thereof in any wise 
 notwithstanding, and We do moreover of our 
 especial Grace, certain Knowledge and Meer 
 Motion Consent and agree that this our present 
 Grant being registered, recorded and a Docquet 
 thereof made as before directed and appointed 
 shall be good and effectual in the Law to all 
 Intents, Constructions and Purposes whatsoever 
 against us, our heirs and Successors notwith- 
 standing any misreciting, misbounding, misnam- 
 ing or other Imperfections or Omissions of in 
 or in any wise concerning the above granted or 
 hereby mentioned or intended to be granted 
 Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments and Premises 
 or any part thereof. 
 
 In Testimony If hereof We have caused these 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 33 
 
 our Letters to be made Patent and the Great Seal 
 of our said Province of New York to be here- 
 unto affixed. 
 
 Witness our said trusty and well beloved Cad- 
 wallader Golden, Esquire, our said Lieutenant 
 Governor and Commander in Chief of our said 
 Province of New York and the Territories de- 
 pending thereon in America at our Fort in our 
 City of New York the twelfth day of March in 
 the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and seventy and of our Reign the Tenth. 
 
 Second Skin, the word any in the twenty- 
 fourth being first interlined. — Clarke. 
 
 In the preceeding Certificate and Letters re- 
 corded for Nathan Whiting and others, page §2 
 Line 75 the word "thereof" is interlined. Ex- 
 amined and compared this I^ March, ITJO, By 
 me. 
 
 Geo. BanYER, D. Sec'ry. 
 Recorded in Book IS, page 51 &c. 
 
34 
 
 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Plan of Whitingham at Time of Charter 
 March 12, 1770. 
 
 
 
 
 Draper 
 
 
 
 
 124 ohaioa 
 
 178 chaina 
 
 178 chains 
 
 
 Lieut. Culeton 
 2,000 tcrea 
 
 169-2 
 
 
 Capt. Walknr 
 3,000 acrba 
 
 Lieut. Etherinfton 
 1,000 acn* 
 
 u 
 
 Lieut. Nordberih 
 2.000 acres 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 Fitch'l 6,900 acrea 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 9 
 
 ha 
 
 Lieut. Gamble 
 2,000 acres 
 
 Lieut. Eddington 
 2,000 acres 
 
 Capt. Whitinc 
 3,000 acres 
 
 a 
 
 J3 
 00 
 
 SScboiiu 
 
 118i chains 
 
 llSi chains 
 
 178 chains 
 
 
 480 chains 
 ProTince of Massachusetts Bay 
 
 Tree 
 Comer of Cumberlaod 
 
 Thus was Whitingham chartered and sur- 
 veyed, more carefully than any surveying has 
 since been done until recently. In surveying 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 35 
 
 these lands more than fifty acres in each thou- 
 sand were allowed for "highways" or "bad and 
 unprofitable acres," so that the entire 23,040 
 acres were covered or six miles square. These 
 grantees were officers in the French and Indian 
 wars. Thomas Etherington received a part of 
 the thirty thousand dollars paid by Vermont to 
 New York as a compromise for grants made in 
 Vermont, but whether it was for the grant in 
 this town or not I do not know, nor have I 
 learned what, if anything, Lieut. James Edding- 
 ton, Lieut. John Nordbergh or Lieut. Dennis 
 Carleton did in relation to their grants, but the 
 "land grabbers" not of New York, seized a large 
 part of them. 
 
 Samuel Darby built a house and had posses- 
 sions on T. Etherington's patent as early as 1776 
 and November 5 of that year gave Silas Hamil- 
 ton authority to sell the same. — Green Leaves, 
 page I02. 
 
 With or without right, Silas Hamilton was 
 living in that part of the town soon after the 
 charter was granted, and probably built a house 
 there that year. He built the first hotel in town 
 on the place known as the Addison Eames place. 
 About the year 1780 he and seven associates 
 petitioned for a grant of three thousand acres. 
 
36 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 to the authorities of Vermont, and their petition 
 was granted as follows: 
 
 (L.S.) 
 
 State of 
 
 Vermont 
 
 The Governor; Council and 
 General Assembly of the Free- 
 men OF Vermont. 
 
 To all people to whom these presents shall Come, 
 
 Greeting : 
 Know Ye that whereas it has been represented 
 to us by our worthy friend Silas Hamilton and 
 associates, that there is a certain tract of Vacant 
 land within this State, which has not been here- 
 tofore granted, which they pray may be granted 
 to them, we have therefore thought fit for the 
 due encouragement of settling a new plantation 
 within this State and other valuable considera- 
 tions us hereunto moving and do bv these Pres- 
 ents in the name and by the authority of the free- 
 men of Vermont give and grant unto the said 
 Silas Hamilton and the several persons here- 
 after named his associates, viz. : Thomas Sterns, 
 John Butler, James Roberts, Abner Moor, 
 James Angel, Charles Dodge, and Eliphalct 
 Hyde, bounded as follows, viz. : Beginning at 
 the southeast corner of Wilmington and the 
 northeast corner of Whitingham beach tree 
 marked P. P. M. thence bounded on Wilming- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 37 
 
 ton north eighty degrees west 176 chains and 25 
 links to a small maple tree marked P. P. M. 
 thence south 10 degrees west 171 chains and 25 
 links to a large beach tree marked M. E. 1 1 1 
 thence south eighty degrees east 176 chains and 
 25 links to a large hemlock tree on Halifax line, 
 thence bounded on Halifax line north 10 degrees 
 east 171 chains and 25 links to the first mentioned 
 bounds, containing three thousand acres. 
 
 And the said tract of land is hereby declared 
 to be joined to the Township of Whitingham or 
 entitled to receive equal privileges and immuni- 
 ties in connection with said town as other cor- 
 porated Towns within this state do by law exer- 
 cise and enjoy. To have and to hold the said 
 granted premises with every appurtenance and 
 privilege to them and their respective heirs and 
 assigns as above described to their free and full 
 enjoyment forever. 
 
 In Testimony whereof we have caused the 
 seal of this State to be affixed this 15th day of 
 March, A.D., 1780, and in the third year of the 
 independence of this State. 
 
 Thomas Chittenden. 
 Jonas Fay, Sec'y. 
 
 This was evidently intended to cover the same 
 territory as the grant to Lieutenant Nor Ibergh 
 
38 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 and Etherington, though the distance given is a 
 little less. 
 
 The State asked for this grant six thousand 
 shillings, but June 8, 1780, reduced the price to 
 three thousand, money made good as in 1774. 
 This is now known as Hamilton's Grant. Feb- 
 ruary 23, 1781, the General Assembly of Ver- 
 mont passed a resolve that a grant of land be 
 made to Robert Bratton and seven associates in 
 the northeast corner of Whitingham of five 
 thousand acres. — Jillson's address. 
 
 If this is not a mistake in copying it certainly 
 is in statement for the grant was made for two 
 thousand acres, November 22, 1782, and in the 
 northwest comer, and covered the lands form- 
 erly granted to Lieut. Carleton, and to Bratton 
 and six associates. The petition called for 5,000 
 acres, but before the grant was made, October 
 22, 1782, a grant covering the grant to Capt. 
 John Walker, was made as follows: 
 
 "Tuesday, October 22, 1782. 
 Resolved that there be and is hereby granted 
 and conferred to Messrs Samuel Wells, Jona- 
 than Hunt and Arad Hunt three thousand acres 
 of land lying in Whitingham with the usual 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 39 
 
 allowances for highways in such proportion as 
 they heretofore claimed the same under a grant 
 from the late government of New York, for 
 such fees the Governor and Council shall judge 
 reasonable, upon this condition that the said 
 Grantees convey to each settler now actually 
 dwelling on said land, one hundred acres to be 
 laid out in such form as the committee herein- 
 after named shall direct, and to include the im- 
 provements made by such settler within four- 
 teen days after such settler shall have paid or 
 secured to be paid to the said grantees to the 
 satisfaction of said Committee such sum or sums 
 of money as said committee shall judge just. 
 
 Provided That the said grantees shall not be 
 holden to convey as aforesaid except as to such 
 settlers who shall pay or secure the payment as 
 aforesaid within one month after such committee 
 shall have determined the price to be paid by 
 them and notice thereof given to them respec- 
 tively, said land hereby granted bounded as fol- 
 lows, viz. : Beginning at the northwest corner 
 of a tract of land granted by the late government 
 of New York to Lieut. Thomas Etherington, and 
 runs thence north 80 degrees west 178 chains, 
 thence south 10 degrees west 177 chains, thence 
 south 80 degrees east 178 chains, thence north 
 
40 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 10 degrees east 177 chains to the place of begin- 
 ning, and further Resolved that Col. Zadock 
 Granger and Capt. Whittemore of Marlborough 
 and Luke Knowlton, Esq., of New Fane or such 
 other person or persons as the parties shall 
 mutually agree on shall be a committee for the 
 purpose aforesaid." 
 
 John Walker seems by some kind of arrange- 
 ment to have transferred his three thousand 
 acres to Col. Samuel Wells of Brattleboro and 
 he in turn to Jonathan and Arad Hunt of Ver- 
 non, then called Hinsdale. It would be interest- 
 ing to know whom these settlers were. 
 
 March 6, 1774, when Col. Wells owned this 
 grant he mortgaged it to William Wincher of 
 New York, and September 8, 1774, he deeded 
 lot No. 1 of this grant to Hezekiah Leffenwell, 
 who in two days mortgaged it back to Wells. 
 See Cumberland Deeds. 
 
 Why, if Samuel Wells owned the Walker 
 grant should he ask a grant from Vermont, then 
 in a new and uncertain state, and with uncertain 
 authority; and why did he ask a grant of land 
 he had already sold, unless he had taken back 
 the Leffenwell lot? But he had not, for Leffen- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 41 
 
 well sold it, and the title is regular down to this 
 date. 
 
 What, if anything, was done under the com- 
 mission I am not informed. 
 
 There was a supplementary grant to the Hunts 
 as follows: 
 
 I The Governor, Council and 
 (L. S.) [ General Assembly of the State 
 I OF Vermont. 
 
 To all persons to whom these presents shall 
 
 Come, Greeting: 
 
 Knov/ Ye That Whereas Jonathan Hunt and 
 Arad Hunt, Esquires, our worthy friends, have 
 by petition requested and obtained a grant of 
 land within this State for the purpose of Settle- 
 ment, we have therefore thought fit for the due 
 encouragement of their laudable designs and in 
 consequence of their faithful performance of the 
 conditions of the grant of land aforesaid, and do 
 by these presents and in the name and by the 
 authority of the freemen of the State of Ver- 
 mont, give and grant unto the aforesaid Jonathan 
 Hunt and Arad Hunt their heirs and assigns 
 forever the lots or pieces of land hereafter 
 bounded and described as follows, to wit: 
 
42 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Three lots in the Township of Whitingham, 
 being a part of three thousand acres granted 
 to Capt. John Walker, a reduced officer, said lots 
 containing one hundred and ninety-six acres in 
 each lot and are numbered two, three and five 
 as expressed in a certain indenture of release 
 made to the said Jonathan Hunt and Arad Hunt 
 by Samuel Wells and is contained in a grant 
 made by the Legislature of this State to Messrs 
 Samuel Wells and the aforesaid Jonathan and 
 Arad Hunt on the 22d day of October, 1782, of 
 three thousand acres of land in the aforesaid 
 Whitingham, the aforesaid three lots of land 
 containing in the whole six hundred acres or 
 thereabouts, reserving to the use of the public 
 the usual allowance for highways. 
 
 To have and to hold the aforesaid Lots and 
 Pieces of land as above described, with all the 
 privileges and appurtenances belonging thereto 
 to the above said Jonathan Hunt and Arad Hunt 
 and each of their respective heirs and assigns 
 forever, they doing and performing the settle- 
 ment and duty required by Law on other Grants 
 made by this State. 
 
 In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 
 hand, and caused the Seal of this State to be 
 affixed this 25th day of October, 1787. 
 
 Thom.\s Chittenden. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 43 
 
 In 1796 a tract of land was granted to Green, 
 Moulton and others, as Whitingham Gore, as 
 follows : 
 
 I MEN OF THE STATE OF VERMONT. 
 
 (L. S.) [ General Assembly of the Free- 
 J The Governor, Council and 
 
 To all People to Whom these presents shall 
 
 Come, Greeting: 
 
 Know Ye that whereas, that whereas our 
 worthy friend, Mr. Amos Green and Company 
 to the numbers of sixteen have by petition re- 
 quested a grant of unlocated land within this 
 State for the purpose of settlement, we have 
 therefore thought fit for the due encouragement 
 of their laudable designs and for other valuable 
 causes and considerations as hereunto moving, 
 do by these presents in the name and by the 
 authority of the freemen of the State of Vermont 
 give grant unto the said Amos Green & Com- 
 pany the tract of land hereafter bounded & de- 
 scribed to be divided into equal shares as fol- 
 lows, viz: Samuel Moulton, Thomas Day, Sam- 
 uel Day, James Howard, Seth Howard, Benja- 
 min Nelson, Benjamin Blodgett, Benjamin 
 Blodgett, Jr., Samuel Nelson, Solomon Moul- 
 
44 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 ton, Asaph White, William Nelson, Thomas 
 Blodgett, Abishai Blodgett and Daniel Wallace 
 reserving three hundred acres out of said tract 
 of land for the following public use, viz: One 
 hundred acres for the use and benefit of a college 
 within this State, one hundred acres for the use 
 and support of a school or schools within said 
 tract & one hundred acres for the use and sup- 
 port of the first settled minister of the gospel 
 within said tract of land to be disposed of for 
 the sole and exclusive purposes aforesaid in such 
 way and manner as the Proprietors or inhabi- 
 tants of said tract shall judge proper the same to 
 remain unalienable & the rents, profits and 
 moneys arising therefrom shall be appropriated 
 to the several uses aforesaid, and the said three 
 hundred acres shall be divided into three equal 
 parts & be so laid out within said tract as to be 
 equal in quality and in such situation as will best 
 answer the purposes for which they are reserved 
 — which tract of land hereby given and granted 
 as aforesaid is bounded and described as follows, 
 viz: 
 
 Beginning at the southwest corner of Whit- 
 ingham at a maple tree standing in the North 
 line of the State of Massachusetts being 24 
 perches west of the West bank of Deerfield 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 45 
 
 River & running South 81 degrees & 30 minutes 
 290 chains to a spruce tree marked O, then North 
 8 degrees 30 minutes East 174 chains and SO 
 links to a maple tree marked, standing in the 
 South line of Col. Fitches Grant, then North 
 81 degrees and 30 minutes 290 chains to a stake 
 & stones, then South 8 degrees and 30 minutes 
 West 174 chains & 50 links to the bounds begun 
 at, containing five thousand & sixty acres & 
 eighty perches. Bounding South on the State of 
 Massachusetts Bay, East on Col. Whiting's pat- 
 ent. North on Col. Fitches patent and West on 
 Readsborough and that the same hereby is incor- 
 porated into a district by the name of WHITING- 
 HAM Gore and that the inhabitants that do or 
 shall hereafter inhabit said district are declared 
 to be enfranchised and entitled to all the privi- 
 leges and immunities of citizens and exercise all 
 legal power & authority in support of their inter- 
 nal rights as fully and amply and (?) other in- 
 corporated districts within the State do by law 
 exercise and enjoy. 
 
 To Have and to Hold the said granted 
 premises as expressed in the aforesaid grant with 
 all the privileges & appurtenances thereunto be- 
 longing & appurtaining to them & their respec- 
 tive heirs & assigns forever upon the following 
 
46 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 conditions, viz.: that each proprietor of the said 
 district of Whitingham Gore, his heirs or assigns 
 shall plant & cultivate five acres of land & build 
 a house at least eighteen feet square on the floor 
 or have one family on each respective right with- 
 in the term of four years from the time of sur- 
 veying the out lines of said Gore on the penalty 
 of the forfeiture of each respective right or share 
 of land not so settled & improved as aforesaid 
 and the same to revert to the freemen of this 
 State to be by their Representatives regranted to 
 such persons as shall appear to settle and culti- 
 vate the same that all pine timber suitable for a 
 Navy be reserved for the use and benefits of the 
 freemen of this State: 
 
 In Testimony Whereof we have caused the 
 seal of this State to be affixed at Rutland this 20th 
 day of October, Anno Domini, 1796 & the 20th 
 year of our independence. 
 
 Witness our well beloved Thomas Chitten- 
 den, Esquire, Governor of our said State, Cap- 
 tain General & Commander in Chief of all the 
 Militia of the same. 
 
 Thomas Chittenden. 
 
 By his Excellency's Command 
 Truman Squire, Secretary. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 47 
 
 This piece of land was evidently intended to 
 cover the grant of Lieut. Eddington, Lieut. 
 Gamble and the land to the West — but the meas- 
 ure lacks about 50 rods of reaching the entire 
 length of the premises. 
 
 Probably a petition had been presented for 
 this grant as early as September, 1783, in peti- 
 tions to the legislature describe this as land 
 granted to Green and Moulton. 
 
 A petition dated Sept. 29, 1783, set forth that 
 the subscribers were settlers of the town of Whit- 
 ingham, that they presented a petition dated 
 Sept. 22, 1778, for land granted by New York 
 to Col. Fitch and his associates, they now renew 
 their request for said land containing about six 
 thousand acres, bounded east on the east line of 
 Whitingham, north on land formerly granted to 
 Capt. Walker and one Nordbergh by two New 
 York patents and south on Col. Whiting's grant 
 and a grant formerly made to Lieut. Gambell 
 York patents. 
 
 Your petitioners some of us moved here near 
 or quite ten years ago. 
 
 Reciting their great hardship in making roads 
 
48 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 and bridges, and signed by Leonard Pike, 
 Nathan Green, Elijah Pike, Levi Shumway, 
 James Reed, Amos Green, Bille Clark, Jesse 
 Groves, Jona Thompson, Joshua Coleman, 
 Nathaniel Streeter, John Marks, John Rugg, 
 Fitch Lamphire, Joseph Doubleday, Jonathan 
 Shumway, John Nelson. 
 
 This was not granted to them. It was the 
 major part of the grant to Nathan Whiting and 
 others when Whitingham was chartered and is 
 known as Fitches Patent. 
 
 There was another petition dated Oct. 2, 1783, 
 claiming that the petitioners since the year 1772, 
 had entered upon and settled a tract of land in 
 the township of Whitingham containing about 
 3,000 acres. 
 
 This is Whiting's grant and they bound it on 
 the west by Lieut. Gambell's New York Patent 
 since granted by this State to Amos Green and 
 others and ask for a reasonable consideration 
 signed Amasa Shumway, Eliphalet Gustin, Jr., 
 Chandler Lamphere, Eliphalet Gustin, James 
 Mullett, Eleazer Gleason, Benajah Lamphire, 
 Levi Shumway, Benjamin Crittenden, Jonathan 
 Edgcomb. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 49 
 
 No "reasonable consideration" was granted 
 them nor was their western boundary correct. 
 Oct. 7, 1783, another petition was dated setting 
 forth that the subscribers were settlers in the 
 town of Whitingham and ask for a tract of land 
 bounded as above except west on land granted 
 to Moulton and Green and company, stating that 
 some of them had lived there a number of years. 
 Expecting at least a settling lot and ask that the 
 land be sold or granted to them. Containing 
 about four thousand acres, and signed Jonathan 
 Thompson, Benj. Crittenden, James Reed, Eli- 
 phalet Gustin, Daniel Wilcox, Amos Green, 
 Benjamin Lampee, Lieut. Williams, Jesse 
 Groves, Amasa Shumway, James MacMullet, 
 Samuel Thompson, Nathan Cobb, John Mack. 
 
 It would almost seem as though this last peti- 
 tion was drawn and signed by some one not 
 familiar with either the territory or the names 
 of the people there. 
 
50 whitingham, vermont 
 
 Whitingham After Grants by Vermont. 
 
 Robert 
 Bratton 
 
 and 
 Otben 
 
 W»Ikor'«, Well'i. 
 Hunt'a 
 
 178 ch&inB 
 
 SiUa HamiltoQ 
 &nd Others 
 
 Nathan Whiting and otfaera 
 Fitch'a Patent 
 
 Green and Moulton 
 
 Really 302 chains 
 Called 290 chains 
 
 Nathan Whitins 
 
 178 chains 
 
 So it seems the legislature refused to meddle 
 with the grant to Whiting, and to Whiting and 
 others except the handle which seemed uncertain 
 land. Thomas Gamble probably came to the 
 war from Ireland. He deeded his 2,000 acres 
 to William Gamble, Jr., late of Ireland, then 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 51 
 
 living in the State of New York. In the descrip- 
 tion the date is given as 1789, but the deed is 
 dated January 12, 1797, and recorded February 
 14, 1798. William Gamble, then of Hinsdale, 
 N. H., deeded this tract to John Van Dusen of 
 Great Harrington, Mass., Nov. 13, 1797, and re- 
 corded the same day as the above. John Van 
 Dusen deeded it to John Fuller by a deed of 
 warranty, June 16, 1806. 
 
 Although the legislature of Vermont seemed 
 to have recognized some of the grants made by 
 New York in this town, it is claimed by some 
 that all those grants and the charter itself were 
 void, and they base their final stand upon the 
 fact as they claim, that the legislature of Ver- 
 mont passed a law avoiding "all grants, cedes or 
 patents made by or under the government of the 
 Colony of New York except such grants, cedes 
 or patents as were made in confirmation of the 
 grants, charters or patents made by or under the 
 government of the late Province or Colony of 
 New Hampshire." That such a law was passed 
 is true, but it has not been recognized by the 
 Supreme Court of the State of Vermont and was 
 
52 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 in direct conflict with the agreement of the com- 
 missioners of the State of New York and the 
 State of Vermont, when the State was admitted 
 into the Union. If there was any question in the 
 minds of anyone as to the validity of grants, 
 charters or patents issued by New York not in 
 conflict with these of New Hampshire the de- 
 cision of the Supreme Court in the case of Reads- 
 bo ro vs. Woodford as late as 1904. Reported in 
 76 Vt. page 376 settles it. The town of Reads- 
 boro was chartered April, 1770, about a month 
 later than Whitingham, and by the Province of 
 New York also. The latest grant of land which 
 we have found. Hon. Clark Jillson, a native of 
 this town, and who was Judge of the District 
 Court, and at one time Mayor of the City of 
 Worcester, Mass., spent much time in research 
 about the town of his nativity, and furnished us 
 a valuable book in his "Green Leaves from 
 Whitingham" which book was unique in this — 
 Mr. Jillson gathered his facts, wrote them down, 
 set the type and became the printer also of his 
 work, except the last twelve paees. which were 
 printed after his decease. Probably, had he lived, 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 53 
 
 much more would have been found and written 
 by him. He discovered many things which had 
 been forgotten and were not known by his gener- 
 ation, yet he had not found it all as he says of 
 the grant of the three lots to Jonathan and Arad 
 Hunt. "This grant was made in such a way as 
 to render its location doubtful unless the three 
 lots were more clearly defined than was custom- 
 ary in those days." 
 
 Walker's Patent was early divided into six- 
 teen lots, each lot containing exactly 196 acres 
 146 rods and were numbered as follows: 
 
54 
 
 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Wilmington 
 
 < 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 II 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 » 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 IS 
 
 IS 
 
 Fit<ib'i Patent 
 
 Bratton's grant had some sort of numbering, 
 but there is very little that has come to light, and 
 the only grantee that I am now sure of the name 
 besides Robert Bratton was Nathaniel Davis. 
 
 Hamilton's grant, the same size and shape as 
 Walker's, was planned somewhat as follows: 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 WilminKton 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fitfb'a Patent 
 
 Some of the settlers here had located, and 
 some of the measurements were varied a little 
 from the exact plan, as I intended this, and some 
 of the surveys were not correct. 
 
 Fitch's Patent: The grant to Nathan 
 
56 
 
 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Whiting and his associates at the time the town 
 was chartered was called Fitch's Patent. 
 
 It was divided into lots of 250 acres, except 
 the jog north at the west part south of Bratton's 
 grant was 30 rods further north and consequently 
 30 acres more land each, and lots 13, 14, 15 and 
 16 were in the handle and finally included in 
 Green and Moulton's grant. Of the four lots I 
 have not located their situation and form of 
 numbering, if they ever were situated and num- 
 bered, and though called in the records 250 acres, 
 they would contain nearly 288 acres. The part 
 excepting the handle was as follows: 
 
 Bratton 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 Walker 
 
 
 
 
 
 20;. 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 S 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Green and Moultoo 
 
 Whiting 
 
 Whiting's Patent was divided into 15 lots 
 called 200 acres each, but in fact measured more 
 than 211 acres, and is in plan like this: 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Fitch'8 Patent 
 
 57 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 u 
 
 10 
 
 IS 
 
 2 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 11 
 
 U 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 Ma 
 
 schuMtts 
 
 Green and Moulton's grant was divided into 
 lots of 100 acres, but the lots were not regular in 
 form and in number. Some are 160 rods north 
 and south ; some 160 rods east and west and some 
 irregular in form to meet the arrangement of 
 highways and the situation of streams. They 
 
58 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 were in three different divisions or lots and some 
 small part were not lotted at all. 
 
 Most of these lines of grants and lots may now 
 be readily traced, but some have been changed 
 by purchase, some for convenience of parties, 
 some by carelessness and alas! probably some by 
 cupidity of one of the owners. 
 
 The town of Halifax is bounded: "Beginning 
 at A Marked Tree Standing half a mile West 
 of Green River in the boundary line between 
 the Governments of Massachusetts Bay and New 
 Hampshire and from thence due West on Said 
 Boundary line Six Miles & at the End of Said 
 Six Miles to turn off at a Right Angle and run 
 Due North Six Miles & at the End of Said Six 
 Miles to Turn off at A Right Angle & run Due 
 East six miles, and at the End of said six miles 
 to turn A Right Angle & run Due South Six 
 Miles to the Tree first Mentioned." 
 
 As the Massachusetts line was run West 10 
 degrees North, so this line must have been 10 
 degrees also. 
 
 The town of Wilmington is bounded : "Begin- 
 ning at the North West corner of Halifax, 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 59 
 
 thence Running West 10 degs. North by the 
 Needle six Miles thence North 10 Degs. 
 East by the Needle Six Miles, thence Turning 
 off at Right Angles & Running East 10 Degs. 
 South Six Miles to the North West Corner of 
 a Township formerly granted in this Province 
 by the name of Marlborough, thence South 10 
 Degs. : west by Marlborough aforesaid to the 
 Corner of Halifax begun at." This then dis- 
 proves the oft repeated assertion that the 
 towns of Wilmington, Marlboro, Halifax and 
 Whitingham do not corner, and establishes the 
 fact that they do. 
 
 For more than a hundred and thirty years this 
 town thus existed, with its wealth of scenery and 
 beauty ; its mountain and vale ; its hills and glens ; 
 its rocks, rivers, ponds and lakes. The Deerfield 
 flowing through the western part of the town; 
 not far from it the largest boulder in New Eng- 
 land. Some of the finest views in the world are 
 here. The only natural floating Island on 
 Sadawga Lake. On the original plan of Hamil- 
 ton's Grant there was a Hamilton Pond; one 
 Caleb Ryder, once living north of the pond 
 
60 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 changed its name to Ryder's pond, and later a 
 Mr. Fuller living where Schuyler Murdock now 
 does, the name again changed to Fuller's pond. 
 Roberts pond has been changed to Laurel Lake, 
 but the old Sadawga pond still bears the name it 
 always had; the name of the old Indian, who is 
 said to have inhabited its shores and going down 
 the river in his boat, went over the falls and was 
 drowned. This pond now called Sadawga Lake 
 covers an area of more than two hundred acres, 
 since the Newtons raised the dam to its present 
 height. At the time this town was first settled by 
 the white man, there was a general desire that 
 the frontiers be peopled, as a defence against the 
 Indians and wild beasts, and probably many of 
 the first inhabitants had little or no legal title to 
 their possessions; but who were these first set- 
 tlers? Leonard Brown, Esq., son of Dea. Jonas 
 Brown and a life long resident of this town, in his 
 interesting work "History of Whitingham" tells 
 us that, "We have been told by Rev. Ebenezer 
 Davis, Col. Obed Foster and Alfred Green that 
 they had learned from their fathers, who were 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 61 
 
 amongst the first settlers and spent their whole 
 life in Whitingham, that the first opening in the 
 forest of what is now the town of Whitingham, 
 was made on the hill, on or near the old Heze- 
 kiah Whitney farm west of the Seymour Hough- 
 ton place. According to their story, two men 
 came up there from Massachusetts and cleared 
 three or four acres, as early as 1765 or 1766; one 
 or both of their names, they thought was Bolton. 
 It was said they spent two successive summers 
 there; lived chiefly by hunting and trapping, and 
 returned to Massachusetts to spend the Winter. 
 They designed to make this place a permanent 
 home, but one of the men died the winter fol- 
 lowing the second summer spent there, and the 
 other then abandoned the idea of making his 
 home there, and did not return." Whether the 
 particulars to date and time arc true to exact 
 fact, or not, I believe there is something to this 
 tradition, and that the name of the survivor was 
 Robert Bolton and though he may have aban- 
 doned his home there, yet stayed for a time in 
 this vicinity, settling in this town or Halifax. It 
 will be remembered that Halifax was settled be- 
 
62 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 fore Whitingham. By the first census, taken in 
 the spring of 1771, I find the name of Robert 
 Bolton. This census shows 4 men above the age 
 of 16 years and under 60, 4 women between those 
 ages, 3 boys under 16 and three girls. The names 
 of the 4 heads of families were Silas Hamilton, 
 Aaron Goodrich, Stephen Ayres and Robert 
 Bolton. These would be early settlers if they 
 were settlers here at all. Some writers have at- 
 tempted to make Robert Bratton, an early settler, 
 Robert Aiton, one of the grantees of the time 
 the town was chartered, and this Robert Bolton 
 one and the same person. It seems, however, un- 
 wise to attempt such a task which must prove in 
 the end quite unsuccessful ; but we see no further 
 record of this Robert Bolton in this town. There 
 were Boltons about this time in Halifax. Aaron 
 Goodrich is not mentioned in our records. He 
 owned land in Halifax, in the second lot east 
 from the Whitingham line, and died before 1778. 
 Nor do we learn anything more about Stephen 
 Ayres living in town. A descendant of Silas 
 Hamilton is still living here. It is probable that 
 this census was taken at the hotel of Silas Hamil- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 63 
 
 ton, and that during the winter the few inhabi- 
 tants scattered about gathered there for the 
 winter. Robert Bratton was not included in this 
 census, and probably he went to his native home 
 to spend the winter, and was here summers prob- 
 ably before the date of that census. 
 
 Whitingham held its centennial celebration 
 in August, 1880, the summer of a hundred years 
 from the first town meeting we now have a rec- 
 ord of. This record reads: 
 
 "At an annual Town Meeting, March 30th, 
 1780, the men Whos names are under Ritten 
 Ware chosen to Ofis. Eliphalet Hyde, Town 
 Clerk. 
 
 James Angel, 
 
 Eliphalet Hyde, 
 
 Silas Hamilton, Selectmen. 
 
 Silas Hamilton, Treasurer. 
 
 Abner More, 
 
 Levi Shumway, Constables. 
 
 Abner More, 
 
 Ebenezer Davis, 
 
 John Nelson, Jr., Highway Surveyors. 
 
 Thos. Stearns, 
 Eliphalet Hyde, Listers. 
 
64 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Levi Shumway, 
 Abner More, Collectors. 
 Thomas Stearns, Grand Juror. 
 John Butler, Sealer of Waits & Meas- 
 ures. 
 Amasa Shumway, 
 Thos. Stearns, Deer Reef." 
 
 This record is not signed nor is there a record 
 of anything else done at that meeting, and all 
 the officers were in the northeast part of the town 
 except four, Ebenezer Davis, John Nelson, Jr., 
 Levi and Amasa Shumway. The very reading 
 of this record ought in itself to be evidence that 
 it was not the first town meeting. "At an annual 
 Town Meeting" does not read like the beginning. 
 The first legislature under the constitution of 
 Vermont was elected in March, 1778, and Silas 
 Hamilton represented the town in that legisla- 
 ture, and in September, 1778, Silas Hamilton 
 and Robert Bratton were Selectmen, acting as 
 such and Thos. Hunt, Constable. \\'^hat has be- 
 come of these early records we do not know, but 
 without doubt, from 1771, or about that time 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 65 
 
 there was some kind of meetings and voting, 
 and probably roads were made by voluntary 
 labor. A petition to the legislature dated Sept. 
 29, 1783, and signed Leonard Pike, Levi Shum- 
 way, Bille Clark, Joshua Coleman, John Rugg, 
 Nathan Green, James Reed, Jesse Groves, Na- 
 thaniel Streeter, Fitch Lamphire, Elijah Pike, 
 Amos Green, Jona Thompson, John Marks, 
 Joseph Doubleday, Jonathan Shumway and 
 John Nelson states that they were "settlers of 
 the Town of Whitingham - - - some of us 
 Removed here near or quite ten years ago. We 
 have undergone a Great Deal of Hardship & 
 toil in Making and Repairing Roads and 
 bridges." Another petition states that "Your 
 petitioners since the Year 1772 have entered 
 upon and settled a Tract of Land in the Town- 
 ship of Whitingham," &c. and this is signed 
 Amasa Shumway, Eliphalet Gustin, Benijah 
 Lamphire, Eleazer Gleason, Benjamin Critten- 
 den, Jonathan Edgcomb, Eliphalet Gustin, Jr., 
 James Mullett, Levi Shumway, Chandler Lam- 
 phire. This was dated Oct. 2, 1783. And Oct. 7, 
 1783, another petition covering about the same 
 
66 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 as the last was signed by Jonathan Thompson, 
 Eliphalet Gustin, Benjamin Crittenden, Daniel 
 Wilcox, Lieut. Williams, James MacMullett, 
 James Read, Amos Green, Jesse Groves, Samuel 
 Thompson, Nathan Cobb, John Mack. I am in- 
 clined to think this last and perhaps one of the 
 others were the work of one man. Most of the 
 names signed to the second petition were of per- 
 sons who lived in the southeast part of the town, 
 in Whiting's Grant, while most of the signers to 
 the first petition lived on Fitches Patent. These 
 then were some of the settlers. 
 
 March 30, 1780, the following persons were 
 made freemen by taking the freeman's oath: 
 
 Robert Bratton Samuel Buttler 
 
 John Buttler John Nelson 
 
 James Angel John Nelson, Jr. 
 
 Thomas Sterns Silas Hamilton 
 
 Abner Moor Benjamin Blodget 
 
 Jonathan Edgcomb Eliphalet Gustin 
 
 Eliphalet Hyde Amasa Shumway 
 
 Moses Hyde Levi Shumway 
 
 Ebenezer Davis Reuben Washburn 
 
 Robert Nelson Thomas Hunt 
 
 In 1781, Henry Lee, John Rugg, Beriah 
 Sprague, Jabez Foster, Amos Green, Timothy 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 67 
 
 Sto Barton, Jonathan Dix, Jonathan Barton, 
 Sterling Sterns, Samuel Day, Elisha Blake, 
 Nathaniel Streeter, Nathan Lee, Rodger Edg- 
 comb, Charles Dodge, Bille Clark, Nathan 
 Green, James Read, Daniel Wilcox. 
 
 In 1783, Isaac Lyman, John Howard, Nehe- 
 miah Sprague and a man by the name of Fuller. 
 
 In 1784, James Roberts, James Glass, Levi 
 Redfield, James Wilcox, Jesse Groves, David 
 Bratton, Robert Liscomb. 
 
 Although a record of the town meeting of 1780 
 is preserved, we have no record of the work of 
 the listers. In 1781 the grand list shows the fol- 
 lowing names: James Angel, Jonathan Barton, 
 Timothy Sto Barton, Elishu Blake, Benjamin 
 Blodget, Benjamin Blodget, Jr., Thomas Blod- 
 get, John Blashfield, Boyd, Robert Bratton, 
 Robert Bratton, Jr., John Butler, Samuel Butler, 
 Bille Clark, Joshua Coleman, Ebenezer Davis, 
 Nathaniel Davis, Samuel Day, Thomas Day, 
 Jonathan Dix, Charles Dodge, Jonathan Edg- 
 comb, Roger Edgcomb, Jabez Foster, Elijah 
 French, Calvin Fuller, Isaac Fuller, Amos 
 Green, Eliphalet Gustin, Daniel Halloway, Silas 
 
68 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Hamilton, James Howard, John Howard, 
 Thomas Hunt, Eliphalet Hyde, Moses Hyde, 
 Benijah Lamphire, Henry Lee, Nathan Lee, 
 Abner Moor, John Nelson, John Nelson, Jr., 
 Samuel Nelson, Bimslee Peters, Leonard Pike, 
 James Read, John Rugg, Amasa Shumway, 
 Jonathan Shumway, Levi Shumway, Beriah 
 Sprague, Sterling Sterns, Thomas Sterns, Luther 
 Washburn, Daniel Wilcox. Fifty-five in all, a 
 substantial increase in ten years. Four men in 
 1771 — fifty-five in 1781, making the inhabitants 
 of the town about 200, 
 
 Eliphalet Hyde is called in this list Capt 
 Silas Hamilton, Esq. Boyd's first name is not 
 given but it was William. The name of James 
 Roberts does not appear, yet he was one of the 
 eight to whom Hamilton's grant was chartered. 
 The list of 1782 also contained 55 names, but 13 
 of those on the 1781 list had fallen off, namely: 
 John Blashfield, Robert Bratton, Jr., Roger 
 Edgcomb, Isaac Fuller, Elijah French, James 
 Howard, Eliphalet Hyde, John Nelson, John 
 Nelson Jr., Jonathan Shumway, Sterling Sterns, 
 Thomas Sterns, and Luther Washburn and thir- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 69 
 
 teen were added, to wit: Benjamin Barber, 
 James Blodget, Joseph Coleman, Benjamin Crit- 
 tenden, Nathan Green, L. Fitch Lamphire, 
 Robert Liscomb, Isaac Lyman, Silas Moor, 
 Leonard Pike, Jr., James Roberts. Nehemiah 
 Sprague and Nathaniel Streeter. The list of 
 1783 contained 56 names, Samuel Butler, Wil- 
 liam Boyd, Moses Hyde, Samuel Nelson, Benja- 
 min Barber, Silas Moor, Leonard Pike, Jr., 
 Nathaniel Streeter, James Blodget and Benja- 
 min Crittenden dropped out, and John Butler, 
 Jr., David Bratton, James Glass, Benjamin Ly- 
 man, Andrew Nelson, John Otis and Henry 
 Woodhouse were added, and Robert Bratton, Jr., 
 James Howard, John Nelson, John Nelson, Jr., 
 who were off the 1782 list were returned. The 
 list of 1791 contained 80 names and the census 
 as taken by the United States was 442 people in 
 1790. 
 
 Before any of these lists were taken it appears 
 that Samuel Darby had a house and occupied 
 land on Etherington's Patent as early as Nov. S, 
 1776, and that, as early as Nov. 21, 1771, James 
 Cary was here making a contract to cut wood on 
 
70 
 
 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 the same patent. In taking the census of the 
 United States in 1790 the head of the family 
 was put down, and in columns, free white males 
 16 years old and upward, free white males under 
 16 years, free white females, all other free per- 
 sons, slaves. Whitingham was as follows: 
 
 
 Free white 
 
 Males 
 
 
 
 males over 16 
 
 under 16 
 
 Females 
 
 Anderson, Wm 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Angel, James 
 
 3 
 
 
 4 
 
 Armstrong, Simeon . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Bratton, Robert . 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Bratton, David 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 Barton, Jona 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 Barton, Timo 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Barton, Benja 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Bishop, Solomon . . . 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Bradley, Eli 
 
 
 
 
 Butler, Saml 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Blodget, Thos 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 Blodget, Benja, Junr. 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 Bond, Solomon 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Blodget, Benja. . . . 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 Barr, Simeon 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Carnaga, Andrew . . . 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Coleman, Joseph . . . 
 
 
 
 
 Cooley, Benja 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Carley, Jona 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Clark, Billy 
 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 71 
 
 Day, Samuel 
 
 Dodge, Joshua .... 
 Dix, Jonathan .... 
 Davis, Nathaniel . . 
 Doubleday, Elisha . 
 
 Foster, Jabez 
 
 Frazier, James .... 
 Fuller, Calvin .... 
 Gustin, Eliphalet . . 
 Goodnow, Benja. . . 
 
 Graves, Jesse 
 
 Gains, James 
 
 Green, Amos 
 
 Green, Nathan .... 
 
 Glass, James 
 
 Hunt, Thomas .... 
 Hayward, John . . . 
 Hayward, John, Junr. 
 Hambleton, Jona. . 
 Lyman, Isaac .... 
 Lyman, Benja. . . . 
 Lyman, Eleazer . . 
 
 Lyman, Silas 1 
 
 Lamphier, Banajah . . 1 2 
 
 Lamphier, Reuben ... 1 
 Lamphier, Chandler . 1 
 
 Lyon, Joseph 2 2 
 
 Lovell, Samuel 1 1 2 
 
 Mullett, James 2 S 1 
 
 Free white 
 
 Males 
 
 
 males over 16 
 
 under 16 
 
 Females 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 S 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
72 
 
 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Free white Males 
 males over 16 under 16 
 
 Munn, Calvin .... 
 
 Morey, John 
 
 Nelson, John 
 
 Nye, Jona 
 
 Nye, Wm 
 
 Otis, John 
 
 Otis, John, Junr. . . 
 Pike, Leonard .... 
 
 Pike, Elisha 
 
 Pike, Elijah 
 
 Pike, Nathaniel . . . 
 Roberts, James .... 
 
 Rugg, John 
 
 Ryder, Caleb 
 
 Reed, James 
 
 Sikes, Francis 
 
 Smith, Jonas 
 
 Streeter, James .... 
 Shumway, Levi . . . 
 Shumway, Amasa . 
 Sprague, Nehemiah 
 
 Tarr, Simeon 
 
 Vicory, Merrifield . 
 
 Wilcox, Danl 
 
 Wilcox, James .... 
 Whitney, Aaron . . . 
 Wright, Richard . . 
 Wood, John 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 3 
 1 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 1 
 5 
 2 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 Females 
 
 4 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 5 
 2 
 2 
 7 
 1 
 1 
 3 
 4 
 8 
 3 
 2 
 3 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 8 
 
 1 
 4 
 6 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 73 
 
 The name Graves should be Groves; Hay- 
 ward, Howard and Lovell, Lovett. 
 
 In the examination of some of the early deeds 
 it is difficult to determine whether they are war- 
 ranty, Quit Claim or Mortgage deeds. It is pos- 
 sible that some lands were transferred without 
 any paper title. Many deeds, probably, were 
 never recorded, and some were recorded in other 
 places than our town books. It must be remem- 
 bered New York claimed this territory until 
 bought off by Vermont for $30,000. New Hamp- 
 shire for fifteen years and Massachusetts for a 
 shorter time. In 1777, Vermont declared her 
 independence and claimed sovereignty here, and 
 no wonder the early settlers were in a dilemma, 
 and when, in October, 1784, the legislature of 
 Vermont passed an act empowering the select- 
 men of Whitingham to issue a warrant for the 
 collection of a tax of one penny an acre on all 
 unappropriated lands in Whitingham for the 
 purpose of building and repairing roads and 
 bridges, and under this act Constable Daniel 
 Wilcox sold to pay this tax, lands he called un- 
 improved about 5,000 acres of Fitch's Patent, 
 
74 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 19 in Whiting's Patent, 50 in Hamilton's grant, 
 652 in Bratton's Grant and some 1,200 acres in 
 Walker's patent. Some of these lands were sold 
 to the real owners, some to agents of the real 
 owners, and some probably to real purchasers; 
 probably some of these were redeemed by the 
 legal owners. Jesse Groves, Constable, says the 
 legislature granted a tax of one penny an acre 
 in October, 1789, and proceeded to sell to pay 
 this tax, 16 pieces of land, probably, mostly to 
 the real owners before the sale, among them 1,219 
 acres in Walker's patent to Jonathan and Arad 
 Hunt. These taxes were assessed before Vermont 
 was recognized as a State, but the fad of having 
 your lands sold and buying them yourself was 
 spreading. The "Governer and Council" states 
 that in 1796, a tax of two pence on an acre was 
 voted by the legislature, but the Constable, Capt. 
 Samuel Parker, called it one and sold 13 lots 
 for that tax, and the next year Constable Capt. 
 Amasa Shumway sold 76 lots on the other penny 
 calling it, however, as passed by the 1797 legis- 
 lature. In 1807, the legislature assessed a tax of 
 one cent an acre on all the lands in Vermont to 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 75 
 
 erect a State Prison, and John Roberts, Consta- 
 ble, sold 44 lots of land on this tax. Yea, even 
 this fad had almost become a craze. When the 
 legislature of 1812 voted a tax of one cent an 
 acre. Constable Shumway advertised all the land 
 in town for sale to pay the same. He called each 
 100 'acres 95 and all other lots nearly in propor- 
 tion. In these various sales, some of the prin- 
 cipal owners had their lands sold more than 
 once; it is supposed to perfect their title. James 
 Roberts, one of the leading men in town at those 
 times had his home sold three or more times, and 
 bought it himself. By this time it would seem 
 that all the land in town ought to be well defined 
 and its title secure. 
 
 Now what did these early people do that was 
 different from other people? We may know 
 they went on reducing the forest, building log 
 houses, then better, and enacted those things 
 necessary for their comfort and convenience. 
 They builded roads, chose officers and estab- 
 lished society, same as other people in those days. 
 There was no organized church in this town 
 until 1804, but in 1781 citizens of this town sub- 
 
76 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 scribed toward building a meeting house, near 
 the corner of the town. Probably this house was 
 never built. What move, if any was made prior 
 to 1780 to build a meeting house our records do 
 not show. At the March meeting in 1781, 
 "Voted that the Selectmen shall run a senter 
 line through the town East and West, North and 
 South and lay out two main Roads as near the 
 senter line as the land will allow of." At the 
 March meeting in 1784, "Voted that the Select- 
 men find the senter of said town and make re- 
 port to the next March annual Town Meeting." 
 Mr. Jillson thought this finding the "senter of 
 the town was for the purpose of building near 
 there a meeting house." At a meeting September 
 7, 1784, "Voted that the town will not except the 
 spot the Selectmen put the stake for the Meeting 
 house." "Voted that the Meeting house spot 
 be Eastwardly from James Reed's house about 
 60 or 70 Rods on the hill amongst the Wind- 
 falls." Town meeting, September 6. 178.'5, 
 "Voted that the road be Surveyed and Recorded 
 ten rods wide that leads from Mr. Groveses 
 Westerly by the spot of land voted by the town 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 11 
 
 for the place to build a meeting house. Said 
 wedth of Rod beginning fifteen rods east of the 
 meeting house place thence running west as the 
 road is now laid to the road that leads through 
 the town North and South." The road that 
 run through the town north and south was the 
 one from Rowe line to Wilmington line, past 
 the dwelling house now owned by Charles S. 
 Goodnow. The road that run to the old com- 
 mon began on Halifax line at the house of 
 Thomas Hunt in what is now known as the 
 Perry Hall pasture; thence southerly past 
 Elijah Allen's, E. J. Corkin's, Geo. H. Burgess' 
 and No. 5 schoolhouse to the center. Jesse 
 Groves lived at the so-called Squire Bliss place 
 lately sold by Wm. O. Barnes to Archie R. 
 Morse. The road was to be three rods wide from 
 Thomas Hunt's to Jesse Groves'. The select- 
 men probably found the center of the town about 
 seven and a half rods southerly from the north- 
 east comer of the Brigham Young lot now owned 
 by Charles E. Putnam, but the place voted 
 among the windfalls must have been near Mrs. 
 Mary E. Morse's, for many years the Baptist 
 
78 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 parsonage. James Reed's house, was the old 
 Higley house, then near where Chas. S. Good- 
 now's barn now is. July 21, 1788, the town 
 voted to raise a tax of two pence on the pound 
 to hire a minister, said tax to be paid in money, 
 "Wheet," "Rey," com, flax, or "neet" stock 
 to be paid on or before the 25th day of De- 
 cember next, and voted to meet on the sec- 
 ond Monday in September next to clear off 
 a place to build a meeting house. If this land 
 was cleared off, and the tax all paid in so 
 the minister could have a Christmas feast, it 
 would all figure $54.61, but they did not raise 
 so much, as at the meeting when the tax was 
 voted, it was also voted that James Roberts, Esq., 
 Silas Hamilton, Esq., James Angel, Tilson Bar- 
 rows, Roger Edgcomb and all others that bring 
 certificates agreeable to law before said tax is 
 assessed shall be exempted from paying any part 
 thereof. 
 
 They chose Amasa Shumway to collect this 
 tax, and it seems he had to force the collection of 
 some taxes, and suits were brought against him, 
 and in one a judgment recovered which the town 
 paid. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 79 
 
 At this time many of the ministers were mem- 
 bers of Congregational Churches and doubtless 
 preached according to that faith, and those per- 
 sons who were members of churches of other 
 denominations, and paid to these churches felt it 
 was a burden which they should not bear to pay 
 to support a state or town church, when they 
 were assisting in supporting one of their own 
 faith and practice; this is probably the reason of 
 the exemptions mentioned in the vote; and at dif- 
 ferent times certificates have been recorded, that 
 persons paid and belonged to other churches. 
 July 6, 1795, by vote of 29 to 8 voted to build a 
 house of public worship 40 x 50. To raise £200 
 in timber boards, shingles and money, the timber 
 boards and shingles to be apportioned by a com- 
 mittee and to be on the ground by July 1, 1796, 
 or forfeit their right to timber &c., and must pay 
 in money in "lue" thereof. Samuel Day, James 
 Roberts and Jabez Foster were the building 
 committee. Voted that persons of every relig- 
 ious denomination have free access to and in said 
 house on any day of the week without obstruction 
 or molestation. This meeting was adjourned to 
 
80 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 September 29 when it was voted that $400 of the 
 £200 be paid on lists of 1795 and the remaining 
 £80 be raised on the list of 1796. Voted that the 
 meeting house be set on the height of land a few 
 rods east of the school house in the center school 
 district. A meeting was held February 1, 1796, 
 to see if the town would vote to reconsider, 
 which, by a vote of 22 to 13 was passed in the 
 negative. They then voted on the question of 
 postponement for one year, which was lost by a 
 vote of 14 to 8, and in 1798 on the question, "Will 
 you build a meeting house?" passed in the nega- 
 tive, so it seems it was supposed they had recon- 
 sidered the whole proceedings of the meeting 
 house, but at a special meeting March 18, 1799, 
 "Voted, unanimously, to build a meeting house: 
 Yeas 41, Nays 2," 45 x 50, on the top of the hill 
 on the common east of the center school house. 
 At the March meeting in 1800 voted that all 
 town meetings in the future shall be warned to be 
 holden at the meeting house. At a meeting June 
 5 chose James Glass, Samuel Day and Jabez 
 Foster a committee to "supply the house with 
 Preaching the Insuing Year" and voted to ac- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 81 
 
 cept the meeting house. So after all this struggle 
 the first meeting house was builded. underpinned 
 and accepted, yet it was finished, neither on the 
 outside nor inside, pews were not set, yet for the 
 next few years the town voted money, and chose 
 a committee each year to procure preaching. 
 
 October 25, 1804, the Congregational Church 
 was organized as follows: "We, the subscribers, 
 Inhabitants of the town of Whitingham being 
 sensible of our obligation to walk together in all 
 the ordinances of the Gospel of Christ, & to be 
 united in fellowship & communion as deciples of 
 our common Lord & Savior, Do now with the 
 advice & assistance of Rev. Messrs Gershom C. 
 Lyman of Marlboro, Resolved Smith of Rowe 
 & Jesse Edson of Halifax, combine togather in 
 the sacred relation of Christian brethren, in the 
 firm belief of the following articles, as the Doc- 
 trines of our religious faith, viz : we believe 
 
 There is one only living and true God, exist- 
 ing in 3 persons, the Father, Son & Holy Ghost. 
 
 That God is Creator & Governor of all worlds, 
 possessed of all natural & moral perfections in an 
 infinite Degree. 
 
 That the Scriptures of the old & New Testa- 
 ment are given by inspiration from God & are 
 the only rule of our faith & practice. 
 
82 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 That God made man upright & holy, placed 
 him under a covenant of works with a promise 
 of life annexed to it in case of his obedience, & 
 a threatening of death if he was disobedient. 
 
 That man, being left to his own free will, by 
 transgressing the command of his Maker, fell 
 from his original state of holiness & happiness, 
 & involved himself with all his posterity in guilt 
 and misery. 
 
 That fallen Man could never have made satis- 
 faction to the divine law, or restored himself to 
 a state of holiness, or obtained the Divine favour. 
 
 We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God 
 is the only mediator between God & Man, — that 
 in order to effect a reconciliation between them, 
 he assumed human nature & became God & man 
 in two different natures & one person forever. 
 That by obeying the Divine law & Suffering its 
 penalty, in man's stead, he hath made atonement 
 for sin, & opened the way for the pardon & sal- 
 vation of sinners, in consistance with the honor 
 of God as the righteous Governor of the world. 
 
 We believe that those who partake of the sav- 
 ing benefit of Christ's atonement, are regenerate 
 by the special operation of the Holy Spirit, hav- 
 ing been "chosen in Christ before the foundation 
 of the world, that they should be holy & without 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 83 
 
 blame before him in love" (Eph. i. 4.). They 
 must believe in the name of the only begotten 
 Son of God, exercise hearty repentence for sin, 
 & bring forth fruits of obedience in holy lives & 
 conversation. 
 
 We believe that all who are born again of the 
 Spirit & united to Christ by faith & love, shall 
 be kept by the power of God, through faith unto 
 salvation (1 Pet. i. 5.) so that nothing shall ever 
 separate them from the love of Christ (Rom. 
 8:35&c.). 
 
 We believe the resurrection of the body, & the 
 re-union of the soul with it, and that both will 
 be joint partakers of endless happiness or misery. 
 
 We believe there will be a great & general 
 judgment, when the whole world shall stand be- 
 fore Christ, the Judge of quick & dead to give 
 an account of the deeds done in the body, the 
 issue of which will be that the wicked shall go 
 away into everlasting punishment, but the right- 
 eous into life eternal. 
 
 We believe it is the duty of Christians united 
 in particular church relation to walk together 
 in love to watch over one another in the Lord, 
 & to encourage each other in the performance of 
 Gospel Duties, to train up their children in the 
 admonition of the Lord, to maintain family reli- 
 
84 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 gion & government & the public and private 
 worship of God. 
 
 Sincerely subscribing to these articles as the 
 doctrines of our religious faith & fellowship one 
 with another & sensible that it is an awful thing 
 to transact with the living God, we do now 
 solemnly covenant with God, & with each other 
 in the words following, viz : 
 
 We do now in the presence of God, & this 
 congregation receive & own the Lord Jehovah, 
 Father, Son & Holy Ghost to be our God. 
 
 We promise by the assistance of his grace, to 
 yield ourselves at all times to be his willing & 
 obedient subjects: sacredly to keep all his com- 
 mands, & to walk in all the ordinances of the 
 gospel blamelessly. 
 
 We covenant, through the assistance of his 
 grace to dedicate our children to him in baptism, 
 to be trained up for him; to walk in his church 
 as faithful subjects of his kingdom & children 
 of his family; to watch over one another with all 
 carefulness. Christian tenderness & jealousy & 
 will submit to the gospel admonition, discipline 
 & instructions of the church of Christ in this 
 place. 
 
 Sarah Brown, Susanny Pike, 
 
 Sally Brown, Martha Morley, 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 85 
 
 Rachel Gains, Stepn. Taintor, 
 
 Reuben Brown, Nathaniel Peck. 
 
 John Cooley, 
 
 The subscribers having been duly embodied & 
 formed as a regular church of Christ by our 
 assistance chose Rev. Jesse Edson of Halifax as 
 their Moderator. 
 
 Gersham C. Lyman, 
 Preservid Smith, 
 Whitingham, J«se Edson. 
 
 Oct. 25, 1804. 
 
 The same day Reuben Brown was chosen Sub. 
 Mod. Jesse Edson, Mod." 
 
 As the foregoing commencement of the Con- 
 gregational Church differs from another printed 
 description it is no more than fair that I explain 
 to my readers the authority on which I base my 
 statements. Years ago I heard that the records 
 of that church were in the hands of Ezra Smead, 
 who then lived where Frank E. Davis, Esq., 
 now does, at Elm Grove in Colrain, Mass. I 
 went to see him and found he had the record, 
 the original articles of faith, some confessions in 
 writing, and some letters from other churches, 
 &c. All these I bought and paid for, hoping that 
 
86 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 the town, the Congregational Church of the 
 State or the Vermont Historical Society would 
 be pleased to have these records for historical 
 purposes. Mr. Smead said he would like to keep 
 them to copy some records of his ancestors be- 
 longing to that church. He also loaned the rec- 
 ord to General Gaines, then hotel keeper in 
 Colrain, as his ancestors also belonged to this 
 church. While the record was there the hotel 
 burned and this record with it, so that nothing 
 can be told of its contents except that which may 
 have been copied before. Ezra Smead went 
 west and died there with the package containing 
 the original articles of faith, and other papers 
 addressed to me, which I received by due course 
 of mail and have them in my possession now. 
 Probably when Mr. Jillson wrote the "Centen- 
 nial" address he had access to this record. He 
 says this church worshipped in the old meeting 
 house, but its light went out in 1 823, after a hard, 
 earnest and honest struggle to benefit mankind." 
 He gives the names of seven of its pastors and 
 says that the members consisted of not far from 
 50 persons, and names besides those who were 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 87 
 
 first organized into the church: Rebecca Bas- 
 com, Jerusha Bigelow, wife of Thomas, Sally 
 Bigelow, wife of Samuel, Stephen Billings, John 
 Blanchard and his wife Sally, Joseph Carley and 
 his wife Sarah, Jonathan Carley, Lydia Car- 
 negie wife of Andrew, Polly Cooley wife of 
 John, John Fuller, Rachel Hammond, Betsey 
 Haynes wife of Jonas, Abigail Hosley, Joseph 
 Marsh, Sarah Martin, Mary Murdock, Polly 
 Peck wife of Nathaniel, James Preston and his 
 wife Elizabeth, Isaac Smead and his wife Polly, 
 Rebecca Smith, Miss Susan Stickney, Clarissa 
 Stone, Ruth Stone wife of William, Lydia Stone, 
 Mercy Taintor, Patience Walker, Lydia Waste 
 wife of Ebenezer, Eli Wood and Lydia his wife. 
 Many of these names are in the letters from other 
 churches referred to, together with the names of 
 Rebecca Marsh wife of Joseph and Elizabeth 
 Preston daughter of James. December 10, 1804, 
 the town voted to join with the church in said 
 town in giving the Reverend Preserved Smith 
 a call to settle in said town as the minister and 
 pay him three hundred dollars annually for his 
 services, but it seems he did not care to continue 
 
88 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 his services here, and on April 1st, 1805, the town 
 voted a tax of one cent on the dollar and ap- 
 pointed the selectmen a committee to lay out the 
 money as they "shall see fit." 
 
 In those days it was supposed that a church 
 concerned itself about religious matters, and had 
 no power to attend to financial affairs, and so a 
 Society was formed to look after the finances. 
 
 November 12, 1806, the town "Voted to form 
 into a society by the name of the first Congrega- 
 tional Society in Whitingham" and at an ad- 
 journed meeting chose Jabez Foster Clerk of said 
 Society and Hezekiah Whitney Treasurer of 
 said society. When this church was organized, 
 many Baptists, Methodists and Universalists 
 filed their certificates stating that they did not 
 agree in religious opinion with a majority of the 
 town, and thus saved paying the town church tax. 
 
 THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 
 
 "Whitingham, September 8th, 1808. A num- 
 ber of brethren met according to appointment 
 first took under consideration the duty we owe 
 to God opened our meeting by prayer then pro- 
 ceeded to consider the duty we owe to one an- 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 89 
 
 another and the local distance from Sister 
 Churches, Considering "Church privileges and 
 our desire for the advancement of God's king- 
 dom in the world. After those serious considera- 
 tions we mutually agree to form into a church 
 if thought expedient by Council proceeded to 
 Choose Walter Emes to serve as Clerk and agree 
 to send to four Baptist Churches of Christ to 
 assist in embodying said Church (viz) first Guil- 
 ford, first Colrain, Heath & Halifax. 
 
 Whitingham, October the 18th, 1808. At an 
 Eclesiastical Council Convened at the meeting 
 house on the request of a number of Baptist 
 Brethren in this place (viz) from the first 
 church in Guilford, Elder Jeremiah Packer, 
 Brethren John Noys and Joseph Olden, first Chh 
 Colrain, Elder Thomas Purington, Brethren 
 Hezekiah Smith & Isaac Chapen; from Heath 
 Church, Elder George Witherell, brethren 
 Aaron Gleason & Stephen Davenport; from 
 Halifax Chh, Deacon Samuel Wood and David 
 Allen and brother James Tucker; first Chose 
 Elder Purington, Moderator, and Deacon 
 Wood, Clerk. After Solemn prayer to God for 
 Direction, brother Wilson from Somerset 
 Church & brother Zenas Cary from first Col- 
 rain & Deacon Asa Hackett from 2d Colerain 
 
90 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Chh., being present were added to the council. 
 Proceeded to Examine the articles of faith and 
 Covenant, and voted to Acept them & the Breth- 
 ren and Sisters that assent and Consent to the 
 same are as foUers: 
 
 Brothers Sisters 
 
 Josiah Brown Millicent Brown 
 
 Walter Ernes Katharine Emes 
 
 Joseph Stone Sarah Franklin 
 
 Jonas Brown Lois Brown 
 
 Joseph Olden Leah Olden 
 
 Joel B. Emes Esther Emes 
 
 James Warren Susannah How 
 
 Joseph Brown Dorcas Saben 
 
 James Carpenter Lucy Tarbell 
 
 William Franklin Olive Emes 
 
 Esther Emes, 2d 
 
 After an examination found them to be experi- 
 enced in the religion of Christ, and baptized by 
 Emertion, voted to give them fellowship in unit- 
 ing together as a church of Christ in gospel 
 order. Voted that Elder Thomas Purrington & 
 Elder George Witherel arrange the articles of 
 faith and Covenant this day adopted by them. 
 Voted that Elder Purington give them the Right 
 hand of fellowship as a Church of Christ; And 
 Elder Packer to Charge them to Continue in 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 91 
 
 Gospel Orders and to walk worthy of the Voca- 
 tion wherewith they are called. 
 
 Thomas Purington, Moderator. 
 
 Samuel Wood, Clerk." 
 
 Thus was the Baptist church organized. 
 
 October 27, 1808, Salem Shumway, Jemima 
 Shumway, Patty Houghton, Katharine Ernes 2d, 
 and Anna Green were baptized into the church. 
 November 18, 1808, the church met according 
 to agreement, and opened with prayer. Chose 
 Josiah Brown, Moderator, Walter Ernes to serve 
 as clerk, Jonas Brown to serve as deacon. Read 
 the articles of faith, and covenant, and received 
 them mutually as ours. 
 
 ARTICLES OF FAITH. 
 
 I. We believe in one God, infinite in nature, 
 power, wisdom and goodness. 
 
 II. We believe in the trinity of persons — the 
 Father, Son and Holy Spirit in essenc one. 
 
 III. We believe man was made upright, but 
 hath apostatized by sin and wholly lost his moral 
 rectitude and thereby become obnoxious to the 
 penalty of the Divine Law and incapable of ex- 
 tricating himself everlastingly — and therefore 
 his salvation is alone through the Sovereign 
 
92 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 grace of God abounding through the obedience, 
 suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 IV. We believe the salvation of the sinner 
 through Christ is according to the gracious pur- 
 pose of the Father which was given us in Christ 
 Jesus before the World began. See II Timothy 
 i. 9. 
 
 V. We believe none are subjects of this sal- 
 vation but such as are effectually called and 
 sanctified by the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 adopted by the Father, pardoned through the 
 blood of Christ, and justified through His right- 
 eousness, and that evangelical birth and repent- 
 ance are the only means through which we can 
 enjoy this salvation. 
 
 VI. We believe all those who are effectually 
 called will be kept by the power of God through 
 faith into salvation and never finally perish. 
 
 VII. We believe there will be a resurrection 
 of the dead and a final judgment, at which the 
 wicked will be sent away into everlasting punish- 
 ment. 
 
 VIII. We believe that Baptism is the visi- 
 ble door into the visible church, and that ordi- 
 nance is to be administered to none but such as 
 give evidence of their faith, and that immersion 
 is the only mode. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 93 
 
 IX. We believe that the Lord's Supper is to 
 be administered to all those who are in the visi- 
 ble church of Christ, who walk in Gospel order 
 to do it in remembrance of Christ until His 
 coming. 
 
 X. We believe the New Testament contains 
 a perfect rule of discipline. 
 
 XI. We believe that no man has a right to 
 administer the ordinances of the gospel unless 
 legally authorized by the laying on of hands. 
 
 XII. We believe it is the church's duty to ad- 
 minister to their elder's support so that he give 
 himself to the ministry of the word that the word 
 of the Lord be not hindered. 
 
 COVENANT OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 We do now in the presence of God submit 
 ourselves to the discipline of Christ in this 
 church, promising that by the assistance of His 
 Grace, we will walk in all the ordinances blame- 
 less; having a due regard to all His Commands, 
 to keep oneselves unspotted from the world that 
 we may be blameless as the sons of God. 
 
 We do promise to watch over each other in 
 love; bearing one anothers burdens and so fulfil 
 the laws of Christ; to endeavor to comfort each 
 other under temptations and infirmities; and to 
 
94 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Strengthen the weak; to rejoice with them that 
 do rejoice and mourn with them that mourn; to 
 pray with and for each other in all our tribula- 
 tions, and in faithfulness to watch over each 
 other and endeavour in brotherly love to reclaim 
 any that go out of the Way, and not suffer sin 
 upon our brother. 
 
 We promise by grace of God to pay a due re- 
 gard to the Christian Sabbath and not forsake 
 the assembling ourselves together on that day, 
 and to endeavor to keep ourselves, or any under 
 our care from unbecoming behavior or conversa- 
 tion, but spend the time in the service of God; 
 and whatever further light from the word of 
 God is manifested to us by the spirit of truth 
 we will cheerfully embrace. 
 
 Now to these promises which we have freely, 
 solemnly and severally made in the presence of 
 God, we call Heaven and Earth to witness, feel- 
 ing ourselves under the highest obligations by 
 the command of God and our own covenant and 
 promises to observe. 
 
 Being sensible of our own weakness in insuffi- 
 ciency we pray the God of all grace to enable us 
 to stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath 
 made us free, that we may have on the whole ar- 
 mor of God, hastening unto the coming of the 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 95 
 
 day of God, when Christ will receive his people 
 to himself, when we shall see as we are seen, and 
 know as we are known. Amen. 
 
 At a meeting legally warned and holden in 
 Whitingham, on the 10th day of April, 1809, to 
 see if the town will form into a Baptist society, 
 &c. 2d. Made choice of Amos Brown, Esq., 
 Clerk of the said Baptist Society, and voted that 
 the Baptists have the use of the meeting house 
 one-half the time the next year, three months 
 alternately. I suppose the Congregational 
 church had the meeting house the other half. 
 The Baptist church and society continued sepa- 
 rate until the church was chartered in 1902 and 
 united. Although several ministers of different 
 denominations had preached in town, no other 
 churches or religious societies were formed for 
 about twenty years. 
 
 While the town had thus been looking after 
 the religious interests of the people, they were 
 not remiss in their rights, for at the annual meet- 
 ing in March, 1782, "Voted that the Law Books 
 at Capt. Hyde's be removed to the Town 
 Clerk's" and "the law books be removed from 
 
96 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Amos Green's to Lieut. Benjamin Blodget's." 
 Thus we see the town had the possession of two 
 law books. 
 
 While these men were making a town, re- 
 deeming the wilderness to farms, making roads, 
 and, with the help of the women, making so- 
 ciety, matters were primitive, and domestic ani- 
 mals at first run at large, but as fields were culti- 
 vated and crops grown it became necessary to 
 put up a defence to cattle committing damage, 
 and at the March meeting, 1783, it was voted 
 that sheep, horses and swine shall not run at 
 large from the first of May until the Middle of 
 October. 
 
 While all lived, it was not necessary to have 
 cemeteries, but at the March meeting in 1784, 
 Daniel Wilcox, Thomas Blodget and James 
 Roberts were chosen a committee to look out 
 some suitable place for a "Burying yard" in said 
 town. 
 
 At a meeting in September, 1784, voted that 
 the town meetings be held at James Reed's house 
 in the future. This was near Charles S. Good- 
 now's big barn, so it seems they tried to have the 
 meetings near the center of the town. 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 97 
 
 Money was scarce in those days, and in 1787, 
 "Voted that the Select men serve free of cost to 
 the town." Probably the honor of the office was 
 sufficient. 
 
 The town early was looking after the educa- 
 tion as well as the Christian teaching of the 
 young and in 1789, voted to appoint a committee 
 to divide the town into school districts. 
 
 The history of no town would be complete 
 without some information about its defenders 
 and the defenders of their country. From the 
 best authority I have been able to gather that 
 of the seventy men who lived or owned land 
 here during the revolutionary struggle, fifty 
 were soldiers before they came to this town. As 
 there were no records which came down to us, 
 kept in this town, until 1780, we can gather from 
 them little information. December 17, 1781, the 
 town "Voted to make allowance to those that 
 done most in the present war." Who had this 
 allowance, soldiers or civilians? I cannot say. 
 March 28, 1782, "Voted to raise tow men for 
 the ensuing campaign for eight months." "Voted 
 to Rase seven men By town vote." After the war 
 
98 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 at the annual town meeting, March 6, 1786, 
 Voted that the selectmen give orders on the 
 treasurer for remainder of Isaac Rugg's and 
 Henry Lee's wages due to them for services in 
 the war, and for ten shillings due Lieut. Blodget. 
 Probably because the war debt was so heavy, at 
 that meeting it was voted that the town tax be 
 paid in wheat at 4s. per bushel, rye at 3, corn 
 2s./6, oats ls./6, flax 8d. per lb, sugar iSd. per lb. 
 Other taxes had been paid before in produce. 
 These three items are all I am able to find in the 
 records, but probably there were other records, 
 and probably fifty men went to war from this 
 town, during the continuance of the Revolution. 
 Many of the early settlers bore official titles from 
 corporal to colonel. Some of these titles were 
 probably earned by service in the militia ; some in 
 the French and Indian wars; and some in the 
 Revolution. Mr. Jillson states that "A military 
 order, dated, Windsor, Sth June, 1777" signed by 
 "Samuel Fletcher, Colo." is addressed "To the 
 Capt. or the inhabitants of Whitingham" calls 
 "for its quota of men, to march to Rutland for 
 the defense of the frontier of this State, the same 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 99 
 
 to serve two months from the day they march, 
 unless sooner discharged" and says on this order 
 is a memoranda giving E. Davis, Nathaniel 
 Davis, Eliphalet Gustin, Robert Bratton, Jr., 
 Robert Nelson, John Nelson, Jr., Benjamin Nel- 
 son and William Nelson credit for services ren- 
 dered under this order. I find a company of sol- 
 diers in the Revolution as follows: Capt. Josiah 
 Fish, Lieuts. Moses Johnson, Isaac Lyman, 
 Sergts. John Moore, Abel Johnson, Stephen 
 Pratt, Micah Hatch, Corporals Levi Aldrich, 
 Cornelius Miller, William Crawford, Joseph 
 Gilbert, Fifer Noah Hopkins, Drummer Joel 
 Knight, Privates Isaac Adams, Simeon Alger, 
 Benjamin Alvord, Nathaniel Austin, Thomas 
 Barnes, Philip Bartlett, Abishai Blodget, John 
 Boyden, Benjamin Brown, Oliver Brown, Jona- 
 than Burke, Israel Chipman, Jonathan Clayton, 
 Willard Converse, Nathaniel Cummings, Cal- 
 vin Ewins, James P. Frazier, Solomon Gilson, 
 John Green, James Grimes, Israel Hall, James 
 Hanley, Joseph Hartwell, Paul Hazelton, John 
 Hooker, David Howard, Daniel Howe, Nathan 
 Johnson, William Knapp, Henry Lee, Horton 
 
100 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 Lee, Benjamin Lyman, Eleazar Lyman, William 
 Martin, John Negus, James Nichols, Samuel 
 Nichols, Elijah Pike, Leonard Pike, Benjamin 
 Pierce, Ebenezer Piatt, Jonathan Pratt, Benja- 
 min Randall, Jethro Randall, George Ray, 
 Grindell Reynolds, Levi Robinson, Abraham 
 Rugg, Isaac Rugg, Jersham Sawin, Samuel 
 Sawin, Eli Scott, Abraham Shipman, Elihu 
 Smead, John Stearns, Alex Stoughton, Joseph 
 Temple, Thomas Turner, Phineas Underwood, 
 James Uron, Timothy Wakefield, John Wallis, 
 Abiathai Waldron, Samuel Wellman, William 
 Whalen, Jonathan Whitney, Jonathan Wilcox, 
 Asa Winchester, Samuel Wiswell, William 
 Wyman, John Young. Of these, there lived in 
 this town at some time during the revolution : — 
 Lieut. Lyman, Sergts. Moore and Pratt, Privates 
 Abishai Blodget, James P. Frazier, David How- 
 ard, Henry Lee, Horton Lee, William Martin, 
 Benjamin Lyman, Eleazar Lyman, Elijah Pike, 
 Leonard Pike, Jonathan Pratt, Abraham Rugg, 
 Isaac Rugg, John Wallis and Jonathan Wilcox. 
 There was probably one or more Lieutenants 
 from this town all the time of that war. Isaac 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 101 
 
 Lyman became first Lieutenant, Adjutant and 
 Quartermaster. This company also belonged to 
 Col. Fletcher's Regiment. In Capt. Josiah Boy- 
 den's company, Nathaniel Davis, Sergt. John 
 Gault, and Alexander Gault were Whitingham 
 names. In Joseph Tyler's company, Whiting- 
 ham soldiers, Abram Rugg, named before, Corp. 
 Thos. Haskell, Jonathan Pike, Jonathan Whit- 
 ney, Samuel Parker, Abner Moore; Parker was 
 a soldier in Massachusetts before coming to this 
 town. Thomas Hunt, Thomas Stearns, Sterling 
 Stearns were in Whitingham. The following 
 names claimed to belong to another town lived 
 here during some time of the revolution: — 
 Elijah Easton, Thomas Haskell, Samuel 
 Thompson and John Marks; the latter claimed 
 to be in Draper, now Wilmington, in 1775, but 
 served in a Massachusetts regiment and later in 
 several different companies and, in 1783, claimed 
 to have lived here several years. I think he was 
 a surveyor and "pettifogger." 
 
 These are all the names that have come under 
 my eye, but I believe every able bodied male 
 from IS to 60 years of age who was here during 
 
102 WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 
 
 that time was a soldier and many of them were 
 officers. 
 
 Professor Goodrich, in Vermont Revolution- 
 ary Rolls, puts down a whole company from this 
 town in 1782, but gives the name of only Lieut. 
 Moor as commanding officer. I do not know if 
 they were Revolutionary soldiers. 
 
 It seems that after the Revolution there was 
 then thoughts of preparedness, for the town 
 voted, November 14, 1803, to raise the money 
 that is necessary to purchase the military stores 
 necessary to supply the town as the "Law Di- 
 rects." 
 
 Voted that the place to deposit said stock of 
 ammunition shall be in the upper loft of the 
 meeting house in a chest to be made at the ex- 
 pense of the town for that purpose. 
 
 While no monument or lettered stone marks 
 the earthly resting place of most of the early 
 dead, and no record remains to tell thereof, at 
 an early day many deaths occurred. April 13, 
 1801, it was voted that the selectmen shall pur- 
 chase a "Poll or Grave Cloth" for the use of the 
 town and that the same shall be kept in the 
 
WHITINGHAM, VERMONT 103 
 
 Town Clerk's office. May 17, 1801, the town 
 voted to fence the several Burying Yards in said 
 town, viz: one in the center near Mr. Caleb 
 Murdock's, one in the northeast corner of said 
 town near Esq. Roberts and one in the southwest 
 corner near Wm. Fuller's, on condition that the 
 owners of said yards will sufficiently convey the 
 same to the town for the purpose of burying 
 grounds. 
 
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