Part III- 



GAZETTESR OF vErtMONT, 



oy 



BURKE S TONGl E. 



JCr.LlKGTOir. 



state. The town was oriranizod Dec. 

 5, 17:)6, and Loinu^'l Walter was the fir^t 

 town clerk. It was first rcprcsentod b}- 

 Thomas Bartiet, in ]r=()5. A saw and 

 jrrist mill were erected here by Roman 

 Fyler and his sons about th.' year 1^00. 

 The saw mill was destroyed by fire the 

 next year, but was soon rebuilt. The re- 

 ligious denoinin.'itions are Congregation- 

 alists, Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Metho- 

 dists, and Universalists. Elder Peleg 

 Hicks was settled for several years over 

 the Baptist church, but since ISIO that 

 and the other societies have depended 

 upon itinerants, and temporary supplies. 

 The epidemic of 1S12 and '13 prevailed 

 here, producing considerable mortality. 

 The township is watered by Passumpsic 

 river, which runs through it in a south- 

 westerly direction and by several of its 

 branches, which alford numerous mill 

 privileges. It is separated from Victory 

 by Burke mountain, which is about 3,500 

 feet high, and is seen from a great dis- 

 tance. The surface of the township is 

 uneven and the timber mostly hard wood, 

 interspersed with some evergreens. The 

 soil is generally good. In 1817, Roman 

 Fyler and others, established a manu- 

 factory of shaving boxes and brushes here, 

 and for several years manufactured these 

 articles to the amount of from .$1000 to 

 $2000, annually. In 1819 Mr. Fyler and 

 sons commenced the preparation of oil 

 stones, in this town. The stone was pro- 

 cured from a small island in Memphrema- 

 gog lake, and was here prepared for use 

 and then sent to- market to the amount 

 of three or four tons annually. It has 

 been considered nearly, or quite equal to 

 the Turkey oil stone and is generally 

 known by the name of Magog oil stone. 

 The town contains several grist and saw 

 mills and stores. — Statistics e/1840. Hor- 

 ses, 231 ; cattle, 1,600 ; sheep, 3,!)65 ; 

 Bwine, 985; wheat, bu. 2,358; barley, 

 767 ; oats, 17,408 : rye, 149 ; buck wheat, 

 1 ,433 ; Ind. corn, 2,301 ; potatoes, 49,620 ; 

 hay, tons, 2,931 ; suo-ar. lbs. 42,050; wool, 

 7,475. Popu]ation,~997. 



Burke's Tongue. The southeast part 

 of Burke bore this name ; but, October 28, 

 1807, the Tongue was annexed to Hop- 

 kinsville, and the two incorporated into a 

 township by the name of Kirby. 



BcKMNGTON, a post town and scat of 

 justice in Chittenden county, lies in lat. 

 44° 27' and long. 3^ 52', and is the most im- 

 portant town in the state. The township 

 is bounded north by Colchester, from 

 which it is separated by Winooski river, 

 east by Williston, south by Shelburne, 

 and west by lake Champlain, being 35 

 miles west by north from Montpelier, 30 



north from Middiebury, 22 southeast from 



Plattsburgh, So from Montreal, and 440 

 from Washington. Its charter is dated 

 Juni- 7, 1763, and the township originally 

 contained 36 square miles, measuring 10 

 miles in a right line along the Winooski 

 river and 6 miles from north to south on 

 the eastern boundary. On the 27th of 

 October, that part of the township east of 

 Muddy brook, was annexed to Williston, 

 leaving the present area of the township 

 about 26 square miles. The first that was 

 done in this town with a view to its set- 

 tlement was in 1774. During the summer 

 of 1775, some clearings were made on the 

 intervale north of the village, and in the 

 neighborhood of the falls, and two or 

 three log huts erected. But the revolu- 

 tion commencing this year, the settlers 

 in this and neighboring towns, either re- 

 treated to the south in the fall, or took 

 shelter in the block house in Colchester* 

 for the winter, and abondoned the coun- 

 try the succeeding spring. During the 

 Vtfar no attempt was made to renew the 

 settlement in these parts, but on the return 

 of peace in 1783, many of those who had 

 been compelled to leave the country, re- 

 turned and others with them, and a per- 

 manent settlement was effected. The 

 first man who brought his family into 

 Burlington in the spring of 1783, was Mr. 

 Stephen Lawrence. A number of other 

 families came into Burlington the same 

 season, among whom were Frederick Sax- 

 ton, Simon Tubbs and John Collins, and 

 from that time to the present the popula- 

 tion has been constantly on the increase. 

 The first town meeting on record, was 

 March 19, 1787, and Samuel Lane was 

 then chosen town clerk. The town was, 

 however, probably organized a year or 

 two before. There are in this town six 

 religious societies. The Congregational 

 church was organized February 23, 1805, 

 and was for several years the only reli- 

 crious society, but no minister was settled 

 in town before the year 1810. The Rev. 

 Chauncey Lee ofliciated here for some 

 time, about the yearsl795 andl 796, and the 

 Rev. Daniel C. Sanders, a considerable 

 portion of the time, from 1798 to 1807. 

 From 1307 to 1310, Dr. Samuel Williams, 

 who was then having a second edition of 

 his History of Vermont printed at Bur- 

 linTton, preached here some part of the 

 time. In 1810, the Congregational soci- 

 ety became divided into two, one of 

 which embraced the doctrine of the Trin- 

 ity, and the other rejected Ft. In April, 

 of this year, each of these societies settled 

 a minister. The Rev. Daniel Plaskel 

 was ordained over the Trinitarian or 



* !See part second, page 26. 



