CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II 



TOWNSHIPS GRANTED. 



CONFLICTING CLAIMS. 



side of Connecticut river; yet witliout 

 regard to these interfering- claims, Went- 

 worth proceeded to make further grants. 

 These grants had amounted to 15 town- 

 ships in 1754, but, this year, hostilities 

 were commenced l)etvveen the French 

 and English colonies, which put a stop to 

 further applications and grants till the 

 close of tlie war, in 1760. During this 

 war, the New England troops opened a 

 road from Ciiarlestown, in New Hamp- 

 shire, to Crown Point, and by frequently 

 passing through these lands, became well 

 acquainted with their fertility and value ; 

 and the conquest of Canada having final- 

 ly removed the danger of settling in this 

 part of the country, these lands were now 

 eagerly sought by adventurers and spec- 

 ulators. 



The governor of New Hampshire, by 

 advice of his council, now ordered a sur- 

 vey to be made of Connecticut river for 

 sixty miles, and three tiers of townships 

 to be laid out on each side. As the ap- 

 plications for lands still increased, further 

 surveys were ordered to be made, and so 

 numerous were the applications, that du- 

 ring the year 1761, no less than sixty 

 townships of six miles square were grant- 

 ed on the west side of Connecticut river. 

 The whole number of grants, in one or 

 two }'ears more, had amounted to one 

 hundred and thirty-eight. Their extent 

 was from Connecticut river on the east to 

 what was esteemed twenty miles east 

 of Hudson river, so far as that river ex- 

 tended to the northward, and after that 

 as far westward as lake Champlain. 



By the fees and other emoluments, 

 which Wentvvorth received in return for 

 these grants, and by reserving five hun- 

 dred acres in each township for himself, 

 he was evidently accumulating a large 

 fortune. The government of New York, 

 wishing to have the profits of these lands, 

 became alarmed at the proceedings of the 

 governor of New Hampshire, and deter- 

 mined to check them. For this purpose, 

 Mr. Colden, lieutenant governor of New 

 York, on the 2Sth of December, 1763, is- 

 sued a proclamation, in which he recited 

 the grants made by Charles 11. to the 

 Duke of York, in 1664, and in 1674, which 

 embraced among other parts " all the 

 lands from the west side of Connecticut 

 river to the east side of Delaware bay." 

 Founding his claim upon this grant, he 

 ordered the sheriff of the count}' of Alba- 

 ny to make returns of the names of all 

 persons who had taken possession of lands 

 on the west side of the Connecticut, un- 

 der titles derived from the government of 

 New HampBhire. 



To prevent the effects which this proc- 



lamation was calculated to produce, ^°" 

 to inspire confidence in the validity of 

 the New Hampshire grants, the governor 

 of Now Hampshire, on his part, put forth 

 a counter proclamation, on the 13th of 

 March, 1764, in which he declared that 

 the grant to the Duke of York was obso- 

 lete ; — that New Hampshire extended as 

 far west as Massachusetts and Connecti- 

 cut, and that the grants made by New 

 Hampshire would be confirmed by the 

 crown, if the jurisdiction should be alter- 

 ed. He exhorted the settlers to be indus- 

 trious and diligent in cultivating their 

 lands, and not to be intimidated by the 

 threatenings of New York. He required 

 all the civil officers to exercise jurisdic- 

 tion as far west as grants had been made, 

 and to punish all disturbers of the peace.* 

 Tliis proclamation served to quiet the 

 minds of the settlers. Having purchased 

 their lands imder a charter from a roj-al 

 governor, and after such assurances from 

 him, they had no idea that a controversy 

 between the two provinces, respecting the 

 extent of their jurisdiction, would ever 

 afi'ect the validity of their titles. 



New York had hitherto founded her 

 claim to the lands in question upon the 

 grant to the Duke of York, but choosing 

 no longer to ,rely on so precarious a ten- 

 ure, application was now made to the 

 crown for a confirmation of the claim. 

 This application was supported by a peti- 

 tion, purportincr to be signed by a great 

 number of the settlers on the New Hamp- 

 shire grants, representing that it would 

 be for their advantage to be annexed to 

 the colony of New York, and praying that 

 the western bank of Connecticut river 

 might be established as the eastern boun- 

 dary of that province. In consequence of 

 this petition and application of the gov- 

 ernment of New York, his Majesty, on 

 the 20th of July, 1764, ordered that"" the 

 western bank of Connecticut river, from 

 where it enters the province of Massa- 

 chusetts bay, as far north as the 45th de- 

 gree of north latitude, be the boundary 

 line between the said provinces of New 

 Hampshire and New York."t This de- 

 termination does not appear to be founded 

 on any previous grant, but was a decision 

 which the wishes and convenience of the 

 people were supposed to demand. 



Surprised as were the settlers on the 

 New Hampshire grants at this order, it 

 produced in them no serious alarm. They 

 regarded it as merely extending the juris- 

 diction of New York, in future, over their 

 territory. To this jurisdiction they were 



* Slade's Vermont State Papers, p. 17. 

 t Slade's Vermont State Papers, p. ]9. 



