152 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III, 



ROYALTON. 



ROVALTON. 



wheat, bus. 2,695 ; barley, 477 ; oats, 

 5,608; rye, 294: buckwheat, 1,052; In- 

 dian corn, 1,221; potatoes, 25,855; hay, 

 tons, 2,055; sugar, lbs. 16,198; wool, 

 9,061. Population, 784. 



RoYALTON, a post town in the north 

 part of Windsor county, is in lat. 43° 49' 

 and long. 4" 28', and is bounded north by 

 Tunbridge,east by Sharon, south by Bar- 

 nard and west by Bethel. It lies 31 miles 

 south from Montpelier and 25 northwest 

 from Windsor. This township was origi- 

 nally granted by New York to George 

 Bangor, Wm. Smith, Whitehead Hicks, 

 and John Kelly, and was by them sur- 

 veyed and allotted in 1770. The first 

 permanent .settlement was made in 1771, 

 by Mr. Robert Havens, who this year 

 moved his family into the town. The 

 next year he was joined in the settlement 

 by Mr. Elisha Kent and family, and the 

 inhabitants were so mucli increased in the 

 course of a few years, that the town was 

 organized. Comfort Seaver was the first 

 town clerk. It was represented in 1778 

 by Joseph Parkhurst, at which time there 

 were about .50 freemen. It was not again 

 represented till 1781, the town having ta- 

 ken exception to the proceedings of the 

 legislature in relation to a union with a 

 part of New Hampshire. It being ascer- 

 tained by the inhabitants, who had all 

 purchased under the New York charter, 

 that the legislature of Vermont was about 

 to treat this township as vacant land, and 

 grant it to Eliakim Spooner and others, 

 the settlers applied, and obtained a grant 

 of the same, and the township was rechar- 

 tered to Comfort Seaver, Esq., and asso- 

 ciates, Dec. 20, 1781. In 1780 the settle- 

 ment here consisted of about 300 persons, 

 and was in a very thriving state. They 

 had hardly secured the harvest of that 

 year, when they received a hostile visit 

 from the Indians, and the settlement 

 was laid in ashes.* In 1781, the in- 

 habitants having mostly returned, the 

 town was again represented in the 

 General Assembly, by Mr. Elias Ste- 

 vens, and this year the township was re- 

 chartered as already related. The most 

 numerous religious society in this town is 

 the Congregational. There is, however, 

 a respectable number of Methodists, and 

 some Baptists and Episcopalians. The 

 Rev. John Searle was the first settled 

 minister. He was ordained over the Con- 

 gregational church in 1783, and died in 

 1787, or 88. In 1739 the Rev. Azel Wash- 

 burn was ordained in his place, and dis- 

 missed in 1792. Rev. Martin Tuller was 

 ordained in 1794, and died in 1813. Rev. 

 Ebenezer Halping was ordained in 1818 



* For particulars see part Becond, page 69. 



and dismissed in 1822. Rev. Joseph Tor- 

 rey was settled from August, J 824, to 

 1827. The present minister is the Rev. 

 C B. Drake. Their meeting house built 

 in 1792, has recently been taken down, 

 and another, in modern style, erected in 

 its place. An Episcopal society, by the 

 name of St. Paul's church, was formed 

 here Oct. 12, 183.5, and received its pres- 

 ent organization May 4, 1836. A small 

 church was soon after erected, and conse- 

 crated by Bp. Hopkins Nov. 3, 1837. It 

 has had the services, a part of the time, 

 of the Rev. Messrs. Parker, Sabine, and 

 Potter, successively up to March, 1838, 

 when the Rev. N. Sprague, the present 

 minister, took charge of it. Communi- 

 cants, about 30. Of the Methodist church, 

 who also have a chapel in the village, we 

 have no particulars. The surface of the 

 township is somewhat broken and hilly, 

 but the soil is good, particularly along 

 White river and its branches, where it is 

 of a superior quality. White river runs 

 through the township in an easterly di- 

 rection, and receives here its first and sec- 

 ond branches, which are the only streams 

 of jnuch consequence. Koyalton village 

 is pleasantly situated on the bank of 

 White river, about halfway between the 

 mouths of the first and second branches, 

 and near the centre of the township. It 

 contains three meeting houses, an acade- 

 my, 4 stores, 1 tavern, a number of me- 

 chanics' shops, several handsome dwel- 

 ling houses, and about 300 inhabitants. 

 Royalton Academy was incorporated in 

 1807, and located here. The town con- 

 tains 16 scliools, 1 grist, 6 saw, and 2 ful- 

 ling mills, 2 woollen factories, 4 stores, 3 

 taverns, and 2 tanneries. Statistics of 

 1840. — Horses, 551 ; cattle, 1,866; sheep, 

 9,790; swine, 1,469; wheat, bus. 2,727; 

 barley, 29 ; oats, 17,827 ; rye, 2,930 ; 

 buckwheat, 2,896; Ind. coi-n, 11,383; po- 

 tatoes, 60,835 ; hay, tons, 5,173 ; sugar, 

 lbs. 30,470 ; wool, 20,828. Pop. 1,917. 



Rupert, a post town in the western 

 part of Bennington county, is in laTr43° 

 15' and long. 3' 54', and is bounded north 

 by Pawlet, east by Dorset, south by Sand- 

 gate, and west by Hebron, N. Y. It lies 

 26 miles north from Bennington, and 78 

 southwest from Jlontpclier. It was char- 

 tered Aug. 20, 1761, containing 23,040 

 acres. The settlement of this tow^nship 

 was commenced in 1767, by Isaac Blood, 

 Reuben Harmon, Oliver Scott, and a Mr. 

 Eastman. Oliver Scott built the first grist 

 mill. It is watered by Pawlet river, 

 which passes through the northeast cor- 

 ner, and by White creek, which origi- 

 nates here in several branches, and runs 

 southwesterly into the Battenkill inWash- 



