166 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part IH. 



STKAFFORD. 



at the Great Narrows in White River are 

 the best. The whole river is here com- 

 pressed into a ciiannel but a few feet in 

 widtli. A post office is established here 

 called Gaysville, and a small village has 

 sprung up. Steatite, or soapstone, is 

 found in considerable quantities in the 

 north part of the town, but it is of a qual- 

 ity inferior to that found in Bethel, Bridge- 

 water and several other places in the state. 

 There are here 2 meeting houses,! 3 school 

 districts, 2 grist mills, 4 saw mills, 2 ful- 

 ling mills, 1 woollen factory, 2 stores, 2 

 taverns, and 1 tannery. Statistics o/lS40. 

 — Horses, 33:?; cattle, 1,60.5; sheep, 8,- 

 402; swine, .553 ; wheat, bus. 1,746; bar- 

 ley, 30; oats, 8,347; rye,962; buckwheat, 

 3,008; Ind. com, 4,982; potatoes, 42,680 ; 

 hay, tons, 4,0.57 ; sugar, lbs. 34,320 ; wool, 

 18,005. Population, 1,419. 



Stow, a post town in the south part of 

 Lamoille county, is in lat. 44"^ 28', and 

 long. 4° 20', and is bounded north by iNIor- 

 ristown, cast by Worcester, south by Wa- 

 terbury, and west by Mansfield. It lies 

 15 miles in a straight line northwest from 

 Montpelicr, and 25 east from Burling- 

 ton, and was chartered June 8, 17G3, con- 

 taining 23,040 acres. The settlement 

 was commenced about the year 1793. 

 The town was organized in March, 1797, 

 and Josiah Ilurlbut was first town clerk. 

 It was first represented by Nathan Rob- 

 inson, in 18U1, and for 13 years after- 

 wards. He died in .\pril, 1842. The re- 

 ligious denominations arc Congregation- 

 alists, Methodists, Baptists, Christians, 

 and Universalists, most of which have 

 regular preaching on the Sabbath. There 

 are 4 handsome meeting houses, 3 at the 

 centre and one in the west part of the 

 town. The first was built in 1818, and 

 now owned by the Universalists and 

 Christians; the second by the Congrega- 

 tionalists, in 1840 ; the third by the Meth- 

 odists, in 1841 ; and a union house in the 

 west part, also in 1841. There are four 

 small villages. The Centre viUa<re is lar- 

 gest, containing three meeting houses, 4 

 stores, 1 tavern, 4 attorney's oflices, 3 

 ])hysicians, 1 trip hammer and a variety 

 of other shops, and about 50 families. 

 Haifa mile south of this is a village con- 

 taining a store, tannery, woollen factory, 

 clothing works, mills, »fec. One mile still 

 furtlier south is a small village, contain- 

 ing a grist and saw mill, and several me- 

 chanics. The 4th village is a mile north 

 of tlie Centre, and contains a tavern and 

 several shops. The township is watered 

 by Waterbury river and its several bran- 

 ches, which afford good mill privileges. 

 Nearly all the town is capable of being 

 made into good farms, and there is little 



land which is not suitable for cultivation. 

 A considerable part of the surface is very 

 level, and appears to be of alluvial forma- 

 tion. Tiiere are here some of the hand- 

 somest farms in the state, and they are 

 surpassed by k\v in fertility. The town- 

 ship lies between the Mansfield moun- 

 tains on the west and a range called the 

 Hogback on the east, and contains no el- 

 evations of consequence. Among the 

 minerals of this town may be mentioned 

 iron ore, some small veins of copper, and 

 steatite. There are in town 3 ministers, 

 5 attornies, and 4 physicians, 13 school 

 districts, a school for young ladies, 5 

 stores, 2 taverns, 2 tanneries, 1 woollen 

 factory, 2 starch factories, 2 clothier's 

 works, 2 grist and 7 saw mills. Statistics 

 of 1840. — Horses, 371 ; cattle, 2,679 ; 

 sheep, 7,484 ; swine, 1,011 ; wheat, bus. 

 2,636 ; barley, 37 ; oats, 9,241 ; rje, 262 ; 

 Ind. corn, 5,337 ; potatoes, 75,957; hay, 

 tons, 4,812 ; sugar, lbs. 31,150 ; wool, 16,- 

 628. Population, 1,371. w.h.h. b. 



Strakfoud, a post town in the south 

 part of Orange county, is in lat. 43"" 52' 

 and long. 4" 39', and is bounded north by 

 V'ershire, east by Theiford, south by Shar- 

 on, and west by Tunbridge. It lies 30 

 miles soutlieast from Montpelier, the same 

 distance north from Windsor, and was 

 chartered Aug. 12, J761, containing 24,- 

 325 acres. TJie settlement of this town- 

 ship was commenced just before the rev- 

 olutionary war. The first town meeting 

 on record was on the 18th of March, 1779, 

 and David Chamberlain was town clerk. 

 Several of the early settlers became lories, 

 left the country, and their property was 

 confiscated. Tiie first meeting house was 

 built in town by the Baptists, in ]71t4, and 

 the second in 1799. The Rev.Joab Young 

 was the first settled minister. He was 

 settled by the Universalists in 17;)9, and 

 died in J 8 16. There are at present 4 

 meeting houses, one belonging to the 

 Congregationalists, and the others union 

 or free. The religious societies are the 

 Baptist, Christian, Methodist, Congrega- 

 tionalist, and Universalist. Strafford con- 

 tains two pleasant villages. The upper 

 village has a post office bearing the name 

 of the town, and is handsomely built 

 around a triangular common, the dwel- 

 ling houses, stores, shops, and a new 

 church, forming the sides, and the round 

 hill and old meeting house the base. The 

 post office designation of the other, or 

 lojccr village, is Soutli Strafford. The 

 surface is uneven, but the soil is generally 

 good. It is watered by a principal branch 

 of Ompompanoosuc river, which affords 

 several good mill privileges, on which are 

 erected a number of mills and other ma-. 



