140 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



PLAINFXELD. 



I'LYMOCTIl. 



uated on Furnace brook, containing t a'o 

 stores, a saw and grist mill, woollen fac- 

 tory, &c. Pittsford contains one of the 

 best town libraries in the state. It con- 

 sists of l.jOO volumes, towards the pur- 

 chase of which a Mr. McClure, of Mexi- 

 co, gave ^400. The town is divided into 

 13 or 14 school districts. There are 1 

 grist and eight saw mills, two woollen 

 factories, 4 stores, 3 taverns, 2tanneries, 2 

 furnaces, and an extensive bed of iron 

 ore. Statistics of 1840. — Horses, 333; 

 cattle, 1,7I)G; sheep, 22,052 ; swine, 536 : 

 wheat, bus. 1,837 ; barley, 5 ; oats, 10,121; 

 rye, 2,177 ; buck wheat, 864 ; Ind. corn, 

 13,425 ; potatoes, 30,661 , hay, tons, 7,- 

 162; sugar, lbs. 20,539; wool, 54,128. 

 Population, 1,927. 



Plainfield, a small post town in the 

 eastern part of Washington county, in 

 lat. 44" 14' and long. 4° 35', and is boun- 

 ded north by Marshfield, cast bj' Goshen 

 gore, south by Barre and Orange, and 

 west by Montpelier. It lies 55 miles 

 nortli from Windsor, and 21 northwest 

 from Newbury, and was chartered to 

 GiMi. James Whitelaw, and others, Oct. 

 27, 1788, containing 10,000 acres. The 

 settlement was commenced about the 

 year 1794, by Theodore Perkins, Joseph 

 Batchelder, and Seth Freeman. They 

 were joined the next year by Jonathan 

 and Bradford Kinney, Aloulton Batchel- 

 der, John Moore and others, from differ- 

 ent parts of New England. The titles to 

 the lands, under which the first settlers 

 purchased, proved to be bad, and they 

 were mostly obliged to purchase a second 

 time. But by the indulgence of the Hon. 

 Heman Allen, into whose hands the lands 

 fell, the inhabitants were mostly enabled 

 to retain the farms on which they had 

 commenced improvements. The town 

 was organized under the name of St. An- 

 drew's gore, April 4, 1796, and Harvey 

 Bancroft was first town clerk, who was 

 the same year killed by the fall of a tree. 

 November 6, 1797, the name of the town- 

 ship was altered to Plainfield. The first 

 town meeting under this name was March 

 20, 1798, and Thomas Vincent, Esq. was 

 then chosen town clerk. A small Con- 

 gregational church was organized here 

 about the year 1796, or 1797, a Methodist 

 church about the year 1800, and a Univer- 

 salist society about the yearl820. TheCon- 

 gregational church has, for a part of the 

 time, enjoyed the labors of the Rev. Jon- 

 athan Kinney, and this and the other so- 

 cieties have been supplied to a considera- 

 ble extent, by itinerant preachers. The 

 Rev. James Perry, a Methodist preacher, 

 died here May 13, 1840, aged 83. The 

 township is watered by Winooski river 



which passes through tlie northwest cor- 

 ner, and by Great brook, which passes 

 through the township in a northwesterly 

 direction into Winooski river. At the 

 junction of these streams is a small vil- 

 lage, containing a Congregational and 

 Methodist meeting house, two stores, one 

 tavern, one tannery, &c. There is a 

 small pond in the eastern part which is 

 well furnished with excellent trout. 

 There is also a mineral spring similar to 

 those in Newbury, which is a place of 

 some resort for invalids. It is situated 

 so near the margin of Great brook as to be 

 overflown at high water. The surface of 

 this township is uneven, but is well tim- 

 bered. There is but little waste land and 

 the soil is generally of a good quality. 

 The town is divided into seven school 

 districts. There are here three saw and 

 two grist mills, one fulling and one clo- 

 ver uiill. Statistics of 1840. — Horses, 190; 

 cattle, 1,145 ; sheep, 8,853 ; swine, 414 ; 

 wheat, bus. 4,298 ; barley, 28 ; oats, 4,- 

 225 ; rye, 199 ; buck wheat, 314 ; I. corn, 

 1,036 ; potatoes, 26,316 ; hay, tons, 2,832; 

 sugar, lbs. 13,980; wool, 11,201. Popu- 

 lation, 880. 



Pi, ATT OR Pr.oTT River. Sec Laplot. 



Plymouth, a post town in the western 

 part of Windsor county, is in lat. 43" 31' 

 and long. 4° 19', and is bounded north by 

 Bridgewater, east by Reading, south by 

 Ludlow and a part of Mount Holly, and 

 west by Shrewsbury. It lies 15 miles 

 nearly west from Windsor, 52 south from 

 Montpelier, and ]6 southeast from Rut- 

 land ; and was chartered July 6, 1761, by 

 the name of Saltash. The settlement of 

 this township was commenced in 1777, by 

 John Aludge, who was soon followed by 

 Aaron Hewett and others.. Wm. Mudge 

 was the first child born, and received in 

 consequence a lotofland. The town was 

 organized about 1787. Adam Brown was 

 first town clerk, and Moses Priest first 

 representative. The religious societies 

 are Congregationalists, Baptists, Metho- 

 dists, Christians, and Freewill Baptists. 

 The Congregational church was formed 

 in 1806, and the Rev. Prince Jennie 

 settled over it for 5 or 6 years. In 1822, 

 Rev. Abel Manning was settled over it 

 and continued about three years. The 

 Baptist church is the most numerous and 

 their present minister, the Rev. Ambler 

 Edson. Elder Isaac Banister was the 

 first minister of the Christian church, in 

 J819,and he was succeeded by Elder Noah 

 Johnson, but the society is now desti- 

 tute of a minister. The Freewill Baptist 

 church consists of 52 members. A union 

 meeting house was built in the south part 

 of the town, in 1816. The principal 



