24 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Fart. III. 



BERNARD. 



Bernard the charter name of Barnard. 



Sec Barnard 



Bethel, a post town in the western 

 part of Windsor county, in hit. 4:^'^ ■')()' 

 and lonir. 4° 21'. It is bounded northerly 

 by Randolph, easterly by Royalton, south- 

 erly by Stockbridge and a small part of 

 Barnard, and wosterlj^ by Rochester, and 

 is 30 miles south from Montpelier, and 

 the same distance northwest from Wind- 

 sor. An association was formed at Han- 

 over, N. H. December 2!t, 1777, for the 

 purpose of making a "settlement on 

 White river and its branches." They ac- 

 cordingly petitioned the legislature of 

 Vermont, in March 1778, for the grant of 

 a township to be called Bethel, in which 

 they say that they " understand that said 

 lands were granted by the late governor 

 of New York counter to the roj-al procla- 

 mation, to certain persons, the greater 

 part of whom have now put themselves 

 under the ])rotection of the enemies of the 

 American states." A grant was obtained 

 March 18, 1778, and the township was 

 ■chartered to John Payne, John House, 

 Dudley Chase, and others, Dec. 23, 177!>, 

 containing :'>6 square miles. This was the 

 ■first township cliartered by the govern- 

 ment of Vermont. The settlement of this 

 town was commenced in the fall of 177'J 

 by Benjamin Smith. The next year he 

 was joined by Joel Marsh, Samuel Peak, 

 Seth Chase, Willard Smith, nnd David 

 Stone. Asa, son of Benjamin Smith was 

 l)orn September 6, 1781). He was the 

 first child born in the town and is now 

 living liere. David Stone was taken pris- 

 oner by the Indians at the time of their 

 'descent upon Barnard, August 9, 1780. 

 A small stockade fort was built here at 

 the commencement of the settlement. 

 It stood at the lower end of the west vil- 

 lage on the north side of the river, and 

 the garrison was commanded by Captain 

 Safford. The town was organized in 17c~2, 

 and Barnabas Strono- was first town clerk. 

 The religious societies are Congrega- 

 tionalists. Episcopalians, Universalists, 

 Baptists and Methodists. The Rev. Thos. 

 Russell was settled by the Congregation- 

 alists in 1790, and dismissed in 1794. 

 From that time they had no settled minis 

 ter till March 22, 1837, when the Rev. 

 Benjamin Abbot was installed and he is 

 their present minister. They have a neat 

 well finished house of worship, erected in 

 1835. The Episcopal church was organ- 

 ized by the Rev. John E. Ogden in 1792, 

 and received tiie name of Christs Church. 

 From this time up to 1821, this parish had 

 the occasional services of theRev. Mr. Og- 

 den, the Rev. Bethuel Chittenden, the 

 Rev. Russell Catlin, and the Rev. George 



Leonard. Bishop Chase of Illinois also did 

 much good here as a lay reader. In 1821 , 

 the parish was regularly organized, and 

 from 1822 to 1830, the Rev. Joel Clap of- 

 ficiated here about one half of the time. 

 The Rev. James Sabine, the present rec- 

 tor, commenced liis labors here in the fall 

 of 1830, and was instituted August 11, 

 1831. The parish has lost many mem- 

 bers by emigration — 27 in one year. They 

 have a commodious church and valuable 

 parsonage, the former erected in 1823, 

 and consecrated June 23, 1824. During 

 Mr. Sabine's ministry there have been 

 baptized, 68 ; confirmed, 7') ; present com- 

 municants, 100. The Universalist socie- 

 ty was organized in 1819. In 1821 they 

 settled the Rev. Kittridge Haven, M^ho 

 remained till 1827. The}' were then with- 

 out a settled minister till 1832, when the 

 Rev. Eri Garfield, the present minister, 

 was settled. Their house of worship is 

 of brick, built in 1816, and situated in the 

 west village. There are at the east vil- 

 lage a Methodist and a Baptist society, 

 and a Methodist society in the north part 

 of the town. Each of these denomina- 

 tions has a convenient house for worship. 

 The most common diseases are the typliug 

 and lung fevers and dysentery. Typhus 

 fever prevailed here with great severity 

 in 1798 and in 1800. Dysentery also pro- 

 duced considerable mortality in 1798 and 

 atrain in 1822. But the spotted and lung 

 fevers of 1812 and 1813 were much the 

 most fatal diseases which have prevailed. 

 A Mr. Banister died here about seven 

 years ago, aged 103. The surface of the 

 town is broken, but the soil is, in general, 

 very warm and productive Timber on 

 the hills, hemlock and spruce ; on the low 

 lands, principally beech, birch and maple. 

 This is an interesting field to the geolo- 

 gist. Between the second and third 

 branch are three distinct formations of 

 rock — slate, granite and lime. Tiie slate 

 dips to the north and is quarried for un- 

 derpinnings, posts, &c. Steatite, or soap- 

 stone, of good quality is abundant in the 

 west village, and also in the westerly part 

 of the town, and is considerably used for 

 fire-places, stoves and other purposes. 

 Precious garnets in small but perfect 

 crystals, and acicular crystals of hornblend 

 are common in mica slate. The princi- 

 pal streams are White river, which runs 

 across the southeast corner and its second 

 and third branches. The second branch 

 but just touches upon the northeast 

 corner. The third branch rises in Ro.x- 

 bury, runs through Braintree and the 

 corner of Randolph into this town, and 

 after runnino- about four miles within the 

 town, jdtns White River. Near its mouth 



