Part III. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



109 



MANCHESTER. 



MANSFIELD. 



305 ; wheat, bush. 853 ; barley, 283 ; oats, 

 3,955; rye, 150; buck-wheat, 1,069; 

 Indian corn, 962; potatoes, 15,310; hay, 

 tons, 863; sugar, lbs. 11,200; wool, 3,356. 

 Population, 271. 



Manchester, a post and half shire 

 town in Bennington county, is in lat. 43* 

 10' and long- 4° 1', and is bounded north 

 by Dorset, east by Winhall, south by Sun- 

 derland and west by Sandgate. It is 22 

 miles north from Bennington, 48 from 

 Troy and 32 south from Rutland. It was 

 chartered Aug. 11, 1761, containing about 

 40 square miles. The settlement of this 

 township was commenced in 1764 by Sam- 

 uel Rose and others from Dutchess coun- 

 ty, N.Y. The town was organized in 1766, 

 and Stephen Mead was first town clerk. 

 It was first represented in the General As- 

 sembly in 1778, by Gideon Ormsby and 

 Stephen Washburn. The religious soci- 

 eties are Congregationalists, Baptists and 

 Epicopalians. The two former have been 

 under the care of successive pastors from 

 an early period, but we have not been able 

 to obtain particulars. The present minis- 

 ter of the Congregational church is the 

 Rev. James Anderson. The Episcopal 

 church, called Zion's Church, is one of 

 the oldest in the state. In Oct. 17S2, 24 

 persons here united in inviting the Rev. 

 Gideon Bostwick to the care of the par- 

 ish. The Rev. James Nichols and the 

 Rev. Daniel Barber were also early minis- 

 ters. From 1802 to 1825 the Rev. Abra- 

 ham Bronson officiated half the time, and 

 from 1825 to '33, the whole time, when he 

 resigned and left the diocese. The Epis- 

 copal church was built in 1821, at the vil- 

 lage called Factory Point. The ministers 

 since 1833, have been tlie Rev. Freeman 

 Lane, Rev. A. H. Cull, and Rev. John 

 T. Sabine, who is the present rector. — 

 Communicants, 35. There are here four 

 practising physicians and four attorneys. 

 The principal stream is the Battenkill, 

 which rises in Dorset and runs tlirough 

 the township in a southwesterly direction. 

 It receives here as tributaries, Lye brook, 

 Bourne brook. Glebe brook, and Mill 

 brook. These streams afford a great num- 

 ber of excellent mill privileges. The hab- 

 itable parts of this township lie between 

 the Green Mountains on the east and the 

 Equinox mountain on the west. The 

 latter is the highest summit in this sec- 

 tion of the state, and is, according to the 

 the admeasurement of Capt. A. Partridge, 

 2915 feet above the site of the court- 

 house in Manchester south village, and 

 3706 feet above tide water. Through the 

 east part of the township runs a range of 

 granular quartz from north to south. Con- 

 tiguous and parallel to this on the west is 



a range of transition granular lime rock, 

 and here are inexhaustible quantities of 

 beautiful white marble, $.50,000 worth of 

 which, is anually exported. The most in- 

 teresting minerals are calcarious spar, sta- 

 lactites, mica, feldspar, and specular oxyde 

 of iron. On the farm of J. S. Petibone, 

 is an extensive bed of agaric mineral and 

 calcarious tufa. The soil is various, be- 

 ing primitive, diluvial and alluvial. The 

 diluvial beds of sand are of great val- 

 ue in the sawing and manufacture of 

 marble. On the east side of the Equinox 

 mountain, upon a farm formerly belong- 

 ing to the late Hon. Richard Skinner, is 

 a cavern, which has been e.xplored sever- 

 al rods in different directions, but its ex- 

 tent has never yet been ascertained. There 

 are two pleasant villages called the north 

 or Factory Point, and south village. The 

 south village is pleasantly situated on 

 elevated ground. It contains a bank, a jail 

 erected in 1787 in connexion witha court 

 house, an academy, built in 1818, an ele- 

 gant brick court-house built in 1822, a 

 meeting house, the Burr seminary,* sev- 

 eral stores, taverns, mechanics' shops, &c. 

 The town is divided into ten school dis- 

 tricts, with school houses. There are 4 

 stores, 1 grist and 12 saw mills, 1 woollen 

 factory, and 1 tannery. Statistics of 

 1840— Horses, 320; cattle, 1,351 ; sheep, 

 7,989 ; swine, 691 ; wheat, bush. 1,481 ; 

 oats,9,145 ; rye, J, (183; buck-wheat, 2,073; 

 Indiancorn,. 5,764 ; potatoes, 30,.567 ; hay, 

 tons, 3,.5.53 ; sugar, lbs. 34,950: wool, 

 23,010. Population, 1,590. 



Mansfield, a township in the south 

 part of Lamoille county, is in lat. 44^ 29' 

 and long. 4" 13', and is bounded north- 

 erly by Sterling, easterly by Stow, south- 

 erly by Bolton, and westerly by Underbill. 

 It is situated 20 miles northwest from 

 Montpelier, and the same distance east 

 from Burlington ; was chartered June 8, 

 1763, containing 23,010 acres. Nov. 15, 

 1839, the western part of this township 

 was annexed toUnderhill. In the year 1800 

 this township contained 12 inhabitants. 

 The settlement was commenced a short 

 time previous The eastern part of the 

 township adjoining Stow, is an excellent 

 tract of land, and to this the settlement 

 is confined. The remaining part of the 

 township is very mountainous and inca- 

 pable of ever being settled. The eastern 

 part is watered by two considerable 

 branches of Waterbury river. The town is 

 organized and has been several years rep- 

 resented in the General Assembly, The 

 liighest land in the state is in this town, 

 the highest summit, called the Chin, be- 



* See part second, page 1C8. 



