26 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



BRADKoKO. 



ERADLEYVAI.E. 



near the mouth of Wait's river, and the 

 first saw mill by Benjamin Baldwin in 

 1774. The first town meeting on record 

 was on the 4th of May, 1773, and Stevens 

 McConnel was then chosen town clerk. 

 This town, not having been regularly 

 chartered, the Legislature, January 22, 

 1791, appointed Israel Smith, Alexander 

 Harvey and James Whitelaw, a commit- 

 tee to deed the land to the settlers.* The 

 first meeting house in town was built in 

 1791, by the Baptists under Elder Rice. 

 His church embraced members from sev- 

 eral towns on both sides Connecticut riv- 

 er. The second meeting house was built 

 by the Congregationalists in 1793, who 

 settled the Rev. Gardner Kellogg, Sept. 

 2, 179-5. He was dismissed April 6, 13U9, 

 and in 1815 the Rev. Silas McKeen was 

 settled over this church and continued 

 several years. The two first meeting 

 houses have both been taken down. There 

 are at present four houses for worship, 

 one belonging to the Congregationalists, 

 one to the Christains, one to the Metho- 

 dists, and a union house. The lands for 

 the first settled minister were divided, 200 

 acres to the Congregationalists, and 100 

 acres to the Baptists" Wait's river, the 

 principal .stream in town, enters it from 

 the west in two branches, and passing 

 through, in an easterly direction, empties 

 into Connecticut river, affording a num- 

 ber of valuable mill privileges. Hall's 

 brook and Roaring brook, are considera- 

 ble streams, which enter the town from 

 Newbury and pass through the corner of 

 it into the Connecticut. Smaller streams 

 are numerous, and several medicinal 

 springs have been discovered, but are of 

 little note. The surface of the town is 

 somewliat broken. A handsome and fertile 

 strip of intervale skirts Connecticut river, 

 and there is much good land in other 

 parts. There is no waste land with the 

 exception of 30 or 40 acres on Wright's 

 mountain. In the northwest part of the 

 town is situated Wright's Mountain, 

 Bometimes, erroneously called Virgin 

 Mountain. In this mountain is a cavern 

 called the Devil's Den, which has several 



* We have leceivefl from John McDuffee, Esq. of 

 Bradford a very minute and full account of the con- 

 flicting grant? and claims to the lands in Bradford 

 and the neighboring towns, and of the surveys which 

 ■were undertaken by the various claimants. The in- 

 teresting facts which are embraced in his communi- 

 cation are highly worthy of preservation, and we re- 

 gret that we have not room to insert the article en- 

 tiro. It appears that the lands in this vicinity were 

 granted both by New Hampshire and A"ew York, and 

 that the townships were surveyed and clairned 

 under charters from both provinces, which produced 

 much trouble and vexatious litigation. A portion of 

 the substance of Mr; MoDuffee's communication 

 will be found in our account of Connecticut river, 

 Corinth, &c. 



apartments, and is thought to have been 

 the abode of human beings. In the east 

 part of the town is a considerable precipice 

 called Rowell's Ledge. The timber is 

 principally pine, sugar maple, oak, beech, 

 and hemlock. Bradford academy was in- 

 coroorated and the building erected in 

 1p20. It has a male and female depart- 

 ment, with permanent teachers. The 

 school is in a flourishing condition. The 

 yearly attendance is about 200. The 

 present head teachers are Mr. M. P. Case, 

 a graduate of the University of Vermont, 

 and Miss Martha A. Rogers, formerly of 

 Boston, Mass. The school derives a por- 

 tion of its support from the county gram- 

 mar school lands, but depends chiefly up- 

 on the charge for tuition. At the princi- 

 pal falls in Wait's river, about half a mile 

 from its junction with the Connecticut, is 

 a small but flourishing village. On the 

 falls, which afford some of the best mill 

 privileges in the state, are a grist and saw 

 mill, furnace for casting ploughs, stoves, 

 &c. two whetstone factories, two machine 

 shops, and an extensive paper mill. In ad- 

 dition to the above, the village contains, 

 besides stores, mechanics shops, &c., a 

 meeting house, an academy, 77 dwelling 

 houses, and 101 families. On Wait's riv- 

 er, about tv/o miles above the village, is a 

 saw mill and woollen factory. The first 

 artificial globes ever manufactured in the 

 United States, were made here about the 

 year lbl2, by Mr. James Wilson. After 

 a labor of several years, Mr. VV. & Sons, 

 succeeded in bringing their globes to a 

 high degree of perfection, and established 

 a manufactory of them at Albany, N. Y., 

 on an extensive scale. Statistics of 1840. 

 Horses, 389; cattle,2,100; sheep, 9,388; 

 swine, 1,350 ; wheat, bu. 3,464 ; barley, 

 76; oats, 21,832; rye, 1,118 ; buck wheat, 

 1,007; Indian corn, 8,4.55 ; potatoes, 48,- 

 178 ; hay, tons, 3,932 ; sugar, lbs. 9,387; 

 wool, 16,424. Population, 1655. 



Bradi.eyvale, an unorganized town- 

 ship in the eastern part of Caledonia 

 county, having Victory on the northeast, 

 Concord on the southeast and Kirby on 

 the west. It was chartered to Thomas 

 Pearsall, Jan. 27, 1791, and contains 3,936 

 acres, and was incorporated with all the 

 rights and privileges of a town, excepting 

 thlit of representation, Oct. 29, IbOo. It is 

 watered by Moose river, which passes 

 through it near the centre, from northeast 

 to southwest, and joins the Passumpsic at 

 St. Jonhsbury. Statistics o/184U.— Horses, 

 10; cattle, 41; sheep, 88; swine, 19; 

 wheat, b)i.. 31 ; barley, 60 ; oats, 300 ; rye, 

 10 ; buckwheat, 78 ; Indian corn, 63 ; po- 

 tatoes, 1,155; hay, tons, 83; sugar, /6s. 

 1,700; wool, 197. Population, 50. 



