pAftT III. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



53 



CIIKSTER. 



William Warner, Ichabod Ide, and Ebe- 

 tieezer Hotton, from Woodstock, Con- 

 necticut, and Worcester and Maiden, 

 Massachusetts. On the 14th of July, 

 1766, Thomas Chandler obtained a charter 

 from the state of New York, for himself 

 and 36 others, in which the town took the 

 name of Chester. About the same time, 

 the county of Cumberland was organized, 

 and Chester became the shire town. Col. 

 Thomas Chandler was appointed chief 

 justice of the county court, and his son 

 John Chandler, clerk. Chester is situate 

 six miles west of Connecticut river, con- 

 taining 48J square miles, or 32,242 acres. 

 It was organized in June, 1767, and 

 Thomas Chandler, was first town clerk. 

 The religious denominations are Congre- 

 gationalists. Baptists, Restorationers, and 

 Methodists. The Congregational church 

 was first formed in 1773, and Rev. Samuel 

 Whiting, was settled by this town and 

 Rockingham, for five years ; he officiated 

 one third of the time at Chester, and the 

 remainder at Rockingham, after which 

 they had no settled minister for 36 years. 

 In 1625, Rev. Uzziah C. Burnap was 

 settled here, and continued till 1837. 

 Rev. Silas H. Hodges vvas settled in July, 



1837, and continued until December, 1840. 

 This society had erected a meeting house 

 in 1789, 40 by 50 feet, but, having become 

 dilapidated, in ls2.5, it was repaired, 

 painted, and a tower and bell added to it. 

 Town meetings are now usually held in 

 this house. The Baptist society was 

 formed in 1788, and built a house 40 by 

 30, the same season, which the)' con- 

 tinued to occupy until 183.5, in which 

 year it was removed, and a new one of 

 brick erected, 66 by 46, (including the 

 projection in front.) Elder Aaron Leland 

 vpas pastor of this church, from 1788 until 

 his decease, in 1833, being 45 years. He 

 was succeeded by Elder Jacob S. McCol- 

 lom, who continued 2^ years, and was 

 succeeded by Elder Ira Person, who con- 

 tinued 2^ years. Elder Richard M. Ely, 

 the present minister was settled April, 



1838. The Restoration society was form- 

 ed about the year 1829, and their church 

 organized in 1832, which now consists of 

 about 25 members. Rev. Warren Skin- 

 ner, Darius Forbs, Solomon Law, A. 

 Williams, and L. Ballou, the present 

 minister, have supplied the desk about 

 half the time. In 1828 the Union meeting- 

 house, owned principally by the Congre- 

 gationalists and Restorationers, was built 

 in the south village. It is 66 by 41 feet, 

 and has a bell, weighing about 1,200 llis. 

 Among the distinguished persons who. 

 have resided in this town, may be men- 

 tioned, Doctor Nathan Smith, M. D., C. 



I. M. S. London, professor in Yale Col- 

 lege, and lecturer in Vermont University, 

 who resided in Chester many years in his 

 youth. Col. Thomas Chandler, under 

 whose particular influence and agency, 

 the charter under ^ew York was obtained, 

 was a man of quick apprehension, hasty 

 in his movements, and dogmatical, and 

 was said to have been instrumental in the 

 massacre at Westminster ; and afterwards 

 died there. Thomas Chandler, junior, 

 was also conspicuous in the formation of 

 our state government, one of the com- 

 missioners of confiscated estates, one of 

 the judges of the first supreme court, and 

 first secretary of state. Elder Aaron 

 Leland in early life, took an active part 

 in politics, as well as religion, and filled 

 several offices of trust in town, county 

 and state, was town clerk, one of the se- 

 lect men, and representative a number of 

 years, judge of the county court, speaker 

 of the house of representatives, and Lieut. 

 Governor of the state. His portly ap- 

 pearance in person, overawed some, while 

 his light and airy deportment, sometimes 

 displeased others. Lucius Hubbard, Esq. 

 educated at Yale College, was for a num- 

 ber of years the only lawyer in the town. 

 He was a man of science, and died young. 

 Daniel Heald, Esq. was one of the early 

 settlers from Concord, Mass. where he 

 resided at the commencement of the 

 revolutionary war, was a soldier in the 

 battle at Concord bridge, and in the service 

 at Cambridge, the same fjeason ; also at 

 Ticonderoga. In 1776, he built a log Cc^bin 

 in Chester, on the same lot on which he 

 ever after resided until his death, in 1833, 

 in the 95th year of his age. He had 

 shared fully of the confidence of his 

 townsmen ; was town clerk 20 years, 

 from 1779 to 1799, and 13 years repre- 

 sented the town in the legislature. His 

 eldest son, Amos Heald, lives upon the 

 same farm on which his father settled, 

 and has been entrusted with many im- 

 portant offices, both b)' the town and state, 

 and now, at the age of 73, is town clerk, 

 which office he has held for the last 16 

 years. This office has been filled for 61 

 years past by three individuals, and in 

 that time it has been necessary, in only 

 four instances to appoint a clerk pro tern. 

 William's river is formed in this township 

 by the union of three considerable branch- 

 es. These branches unite, nearly in the 

 same place, and about one and a half 

 miles southeast of the two villages; the}'' 

 constitute the principal waters, heading 

 in the towns of Audover, Ludlow and 

 Windham. No natural pond, cave, or 

 Indian name or anticjuity, ever known or 

 recorded in said town. The surface i« 



