Part III. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



41 



branches in this town, and affords here 

 several mill privileges. Joe s and Molly's 

 pond lie in the northeast part of the town- 

 ship. The waters of the former pass hy 

 Joe's brook and Passumpsic river into the 

 Connecticut, while those of the latter 

 pass by Winooski river into lake Cham- 

 plain. At the centre is a small village, in 

 which are a meeting house, erected in 

 1823, a store, a tavern, and some mills 

 and other machinery. Statistics of 1840. — 

 Horses, 334 ; cattle, 1,943; sheep, 7,045; 

 swine, 1,178; wheat, bu. 3,388; barley, 

 1,056; oats, 12,078; Ind. corn, 1,768; 

 potatoes, 70,487 ; hay, tons, 4,489 ; su- 

 gar, lbs. 54,715 ; wool, 13,316. Popula- 

 tion, 1440. 



Calais, a post town in the north part 

 of Washington county, is in lat. 44° 22' 

 and long. 4" 52', and is bounded north by 

 Monroe, east by Marshfield, south by 

 Montpelier and west by Worcester ; it is 

 37 miles east from liurlington, and 62 

 north from Windsor, was granted Oct. 21, 

 1780, chartered August 15th, 1781, to Ja- 

 cob Davis, Stephen Fay and their associ- 

 ates, and contains 36 square miles. The 

 principal proprietors and first settlers of 

 this township were from Charleston, Mas- 

 sachusetts, and its vicinity. In the sum- 

 mer of 1783, the proprietors sent a com- 

 mittee consisting of Colonel Jacob Davis, 

 Capt. Samuel Robinson and others, to 

 survey a division of this town of 160 acres 

 to the right. A Mr. Brush, from Ben- 

 nington, was the surveyor. The commit- 

 tee and surveyor found their way to Ca- 

 lais with their necessary stores, and after 

 running four lines on the north side of 

 the first division, they abandoned the sur- 

 vey. Of their stores, then left, was a 

 much valued keg, containing about 10 

 gallons of good W. I. Rum, which in 

 council, they determined should be buried, 

 which ceremony was said to have been 

 performed with much solemnity, and a 

 sturdy maple, towering above the sur- 

 rounding trees, on the westerly side of 

 Long Pond, with its ancient and honorable 

 scars, still marks the consecrated spot. 

 In August, 1786, Capt. Samuel Robinson, 

 E. Waters, J. Tucker, E. Stone, and 

 Gen. Parley Davis came from Charleston 

 to this town, to complete the survey of 

 the first division and survey another. 

 This party, after arriving at the set- 

 tlement nearest this place, which was at 

 Middlesex, laden with provision, cooking 

 utensils, blankets, axes, surveying instru- 

 ments, &c. passed a distance of 13 or 14 

 miles to the camp, erected by the party 

 who commenced the survey three years 

 previous"; often on the way expressing 

 their anxiety to arrive, that they might 

 Pt. III. 6 



regale themselves with the pure spirit 

 which had been permitted to slumber 

 three years ; and which they imagined 

 must be much improved in quality by its 

 long rest ; but judge of their surprise, as- 

 tonishment and chagrin, when on raising 

 the earth, they discovered the hoops had 

 become rotten — the staves parted, and the 

 long anticipated beverage had escaped.* 

 The settlement of this town was commen- 

 ced in the spring of 1787, by Francis West 

 from Plj'mouth county, Mass., who 

 commenced felling timber on a lot ad- 

 joining Montpelier. The first permanent 

 settlers, however, were Abijah, Asa and 

 P. Wheelock,who started from Charleston 

 June 5th, 1787, with a wagon, two 

 yoke of oxen, provisions, tools, &c. and 

 arrived at Williamstown, within 21 miles 

 of Calais, the 19th. They had hitherto 

 found the roads almost impassible, and 

 here they were obliged to leave their 

 wagon, and, taking a few necessary arti- 

 cles upon a sled, they proceeded towards 

 this town, cutting their way and building 

 causeways as they passed along. After a 

 journey of two days and encamping two 

 nights in the woods, they arrived at Wi- 

 nooski river, where Montpelier village is 

 now situated. Here Col. Jacob Davis 

 had commenced clearing land and had 

 erected a small log hut, where they left 

 their oxen to graze upon the wild grass, 

 leaks and shrubbery, with which the 

 woods abounded — proceeded to Calais and 

 commenced a resolute attack upon the 

 forest. They returned to Charleston in 

 October. Francis West also left town, and 

 returned the following spring, as did also 

 Abijah and Peter Wheelock, accompanied 

 by iVIoses Stone. They this year erected 

 log houses, the Wheelocks and Stone re- 

 turning to Massachusetts to spend the 

 following winter, and West to Middle- 

 sex. In this year, also. Gen. Parley Da- 

 vis, then a new settler, and now a resi- 

 dent of Montpelier centre, cut and put 

 up two or three stacks of hay upon a bea- 

 ver meadow, in Montpelier, upon a lot 

 adjoining Calais, a part of which hay was 

 drawn to Col. Davis in Montpelier in the 

 following winter, which served partially 

 to break a road from Montpelier to Calais 

 line. In February or March, 1789, Fran- 

 cis West moved his family on to his farm, 

 where he lived several years. Also, in 

 March of this year, Abijah Wheelock, 

 with his family, Moses Stone, Samuel 

 Twiss with his new married lady, accom- 

 panied by Gen. Davis, from Charleston, 

 arrived at Col. Davis' house in Montpe- 

 lier, with several teams. His house was 



* Whatever tears wero aheil, or groans uUureii at 

 the biiiial of the keg, they wero not to be comiiared 

 wilh the bitter agonies of its disinterment. 



