Part III. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



15 



BENNINGTON. 



BENNINGTON. 



Bame day, adopted the Cambridge plat- 

 form, witli the exception of such parts 

 of it as admitted the aid of civil magis- 

 trates in enforcing the support of the 

 ministry, and their coercive power over 

 the church in other matters.* They 

 denominated themselves Congregational- 

 ists, and were such in every respect, ex- 

 cept in regard to their enlightened no- 

 tions of religious freedom, which, being 

 at the time in advance of the great major- 

 ity of their brethren, procured for them 

 the temporary name of Separatists. In 

 the fall of 1763, the Rev. Jedediah Dew- 

 ey of Westfield, Mass., in consequence of 

 a call from the church and society at Ben- 

 nington, removed to this town and be- 

 came their pastor. In addition to the en- 

 couragement given him by voluntary sub- 

 scription, the proprietors of the town vot- 

 ed him the "minister's right," which 

 was situated adjoining the town plot, and 

 was valuable. Mr. Dewey continued 

 pastor until his death, Dec. 21, 1778. 



The emigration to Bennington which 

 had commenced in 1761 steadily contin- 

 ued. At the end of four j'ears the town 

 probably contained a population of about 

 1000 ; and the adjoining towns of Pownal 

 and Shaftsbury might together contain 

 nearly as many more. The settlers had 

 overcome the first difficulties and hard- 

 ships of a new country, had cleared and 

 put under successful cultivation a consid- 

 erable portion of their lands, had erected 

 comfortable dwellings and out-houses, had 

 built roads and bridges ; and had, in short, 

 become a prosperous and thriving com- 

 munity. But now they were compelled 

 to encounter new troubles. The king, by 

 an order in council, had transferred their 

 territory from the jurisdiction of New 

 Hampshire to that of New York, and tlie 

 government of New York had construed 

 the order as confirming the title to their 

 lands in that province. The title of the 

 settlers was thus called in question, and 

 it becalTie apparent that they must either 

 purchase their lands anew, or abandon 

 their improvements to tlie mercy of the 

 New York claimants. There was, in- 

 deed, one other alternative, and that was 

 to defend their possessions by force, if it 

 should become necessary. That alterna- 

 tive they adopted. A general history of 

 the controversy witli New York, which 

 was the result of this determination, has 

 already been given in the second part of 

 this work, and will not bo repeated here. 

 But since Bennington was, in fact, through 

 the whole controversy, the head quar- 

 ters of the opponents of New York, the 

 place where their plans of operations were 



*See part eecotid, page 176. 



generally devised, and whence issued 

 their resolves and orders, and a large 

 sliare of the physical force which carried 

 them into effect, some notice of this con- 

 troversy seems to be nf;cessary in an ac- 

 count of this town. There were some 

 circumstances in the controversy with 

 New York, peculiar to the claims of the 

 settlers in Bennington, or, rather, to a 

 portion of them. In other places the 

 grants of the governor of New Hampshire 

 were of earlier date than those under New 

 York ; but in Bennington several thou- 

 sand acres of the land were alleged to have 

 been granted by New York about ten 

 years before the charter under New Hamp- 

 shire. This grant bore date June 15, 

 173'J, and was called Wallum's patent, or, 

 in the Dutch language, Wallumschaik, 

 the termination chaih signifying scrip or 

 patent. It was pronounced iValloomscoik, 

 and gave the name to the stream, on both 

 sides of which it was alleged to extend 

 from aboutaniile west of Shaftsbury west 

 line, up to about the centre of Benning- 

 ton. It grew narrow as it extended up 

 the river. TJiis was the claim made by 

 the patentees. The New Hampshire set- 

 tlers disputed the extent of the patent, al- 

 leging that it included only about 40 acres 

 of the northwest corner of the town. It 

 seems probable the New York claimants 

 were right in regard to the boundaries of 

 the patent, but the New Hampshire men 

 were the first occupants. The inhabit- 

 ants of Bennington were also charged by 

 " tlie Yorkers" with having located thci? 

 charter some three miles further to the 

 west than its terms warranted. In a pub- 

 lication of the New York claimants made 

 in 1773, it is stated that "the grantees of 

 the township of Bennington discovered 

 that the situation of tlie tract according to 

 the intention of the grant, would be both 

 inconvenient and unprofitable, as it inclu- 

 ded a large proportion of mountain, and 

 that they therefore by no other authority 

 tlian a vote of their town meeting, pre^ 

 sumed to extend it to the westward, to 

 within 17 miles of Hudson's river." 

 This charge is no doubt unfounded, at 

 least, to the extent in which it is made. 

 The average distance of the town from 

 the river is now about 20 miles. There 

 is, nevertheless, a tradition that when the 

 proprietors found that the eastern part of 

 the town embraced a portion of the Green 

 Mountains, and that the unoccupied lands- 

 adjoining the west line were mostly valu- 

 able, they determined to remove the 

 township one tier of lots, or about half a 

 mile to the west. This tradition is coun- 

 tenanced by a record of a proprietors 

 meeting, held September 20, 1762, which 



