Part III. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



177 



VERSHIRE. 



Indians. On llio 24th of June, 1746, a 

 a party of 20 Indians came to Bridgeman's 

 fort, attacked a number of men who were 

 at work in a meadow, killed Wm. Rob- 

 bins and James Parker, wounded M. Gil- 

 son and Patrick Roy, and made prisoners 

 of Dan'l Howe and John Ueeman.' Hov.'e 

 killed one of the Indians before he was 

 taken. In 1747, they burnt Bridgeman's 

 fort, killed several persons and made oth- 

 ers prisoners. On the 27th of July, 17.5-5, 

 the Indians ambushed Caleb Howe, Flil- 

 kiah Grout and Benjamin GafHeld, as 

 they were returninar from their labor in 

 the field, and then proceeded to Bridge- 

 man's fort, where they made prisoners of 

 Mrs. Howe, Grout and Gaffield, witii 

 their children.* Startwell's fort was built 

 here in 1740, and is nov.' standing in the 

 north part of the town, and has been till 

 recently occupied as a dwelling house. It 

 is jirobably the oldest house now standing 

 in the state. Tiie records of the town 

 were accidentally burnt in ]797, and 

 therefore the time ofits organization can- 

 not be ascertained. It was, however, be- 

 fore the revolution. The Hon. John 

 Bridgeman, wlio has subsequently been, 

 many years, a judge in this county, was 

 the first town clerk, and the Hon. Jona- 

 than Hunt, who was afterwards Lieut. 

 Governor of the state, was the first rep- 

 resentative. He died June 1, 1823, aged 

 85. The Baptists are the most numerous 

 religious sect. A meeting house was 

 erected here in 1802. Elder Bavid New- 

 man, a Baptist, has officiated a number of 

 years. The Rev. Bunker Gay, a Con- 

 gregationalist, was ordained over this 

 town and Hinsdale, N. PI., in 1764, and 

 dismissed in 1802. The epidemic of 1813 

 was very distressing in this town. About 

 one fifth of tlie inhabitants were afflicted 

 with it, and about one thirtieth part died. 

 There were 21 deaths, mostly of children 

 and youth, in the course of a few weeks, 

 and four died in tlie sjiace of 24 hours. 

 Doct. Cyrus Washburn was the first, and 

 has ever since been the only regular phy- 

 sician in town. He has been in success- 

 ful practice here about 40 years. The 

 streams in this township are all small. 

 White lily pond covers abo\it 100 acres. 

 A large proportion of the surface of the 

 townsliip is mountainous, and the soil is 

 dry, stony and thin, except some small 

 tracts of intervale along Connecticut riv- 

 er, which are very fertile. In the western 

 part are some quarries of e.vcellent slate. 

 The original growth of tim.ber, on the 

 mountains, has long since been de- 

 stroyed by fires, and a young and hand- 



See Part 2d, p. 66 ; also fiay's .\an alive. 

 Ft. III. 23 



some growth of oak and chestnut has 

 sprung up. Between the meadows and 

 the hills is a considerable tract of pitch 

 pine plain, which produces good croj)s of 

 rj'e, when cultivated. The town contains 

 8 school districts, 2 grist mills, 4 saw 

 mills, 1 tavern, and 1 store. 8atistics of 

 1^40.— Horses, 1»8 ; cattle, 686; sheep, 

 1,005 ; swine, 430 ; wheat, bus. 127 ; bar- 

 ley, 12 ; oats, 10,210 ; rye, 2,967 ; buck- 

 wheat, 280; Ind. corn, 8,910; potatoes, 

 7,!).55 ; hay, tons, !)70 ; sugar, lbs. 300 j 

 wool, 1,065. Population, 705. 



Vekshire, a township in the central 

 part of Orange county, is in lat. 43' 57', 

 and long. 4° 41', and is bounded north by 

 Corinth, east hy West Fairlee, south by 

 Strafford, and west by Chelsea. It lies 

 25 miles southeast from Montpelier, and 

 35 north from Windsor. It was granted 

 Nov. 7, 1780, and chartered Aug. 3, 17bl, 

 to Abner Sealy and others, containing 

 21,961 acres. The settlement vas com- 

 menced in the year 1780. The town was 

 organized in 1783. Andrew Peters was 

 first town clerk and Ebenezer West was 

 first representative. The reVigious de- 

 nominations are Congregationa\ists, Bap- 

 tists, Freewill Baptists, and Methodists. 

 The Rev. Stephen Fuller, Congregation- 

 alist, and Rev. Ebenezer West, Baptist, 

 were the first settled ministers. There 

 are 3 meetinghouses, in the township, Con- 

 gregational, Baptist and Freewill Bap- 

 tist. It is watered by the head branch- 

 es of Ompompanoosuc river, which are 

 here small. The surface is very uneven, 

 and in some parts stony. There are 12 

 school districts, 1 gristmill, 4 saw mills, 

 2 stores, and 1 tavern. Slat.i sties o/1840. 

 —Horses, 269: cattle, 1,928; sheep, 7,- 

 617 ; swine, 936; wheat, bus. 6,303 ; oats, 

 65,960; rye, 11; buckwheat, 197; Ind. 

 corn, 3,533 ; potatoes, 65,915 ; ha}', tons, 

 3,940; sugar, lbs. 35,375; wool, 14,194. 

 Population, 1,998. 



Victory, an unorganized town in 

 the southwest part of Essex county, is in 

 lat. 44° 32' and long. 5" 5', and is bound- 

 ed northwesterly by Bnrke and a part of 

 Kirby, northeasterly by Granby and a 

 ])art of Eiist Haven, southeast by Lunen- 

 inirgh and Concord, and southwest by 

 Bradleyvale. It was granted November 

 6, 1780, and chartered Sept. 6, 1781, fo 

 Ebenezer Fisk and others, containing 23,- 

 040 acres. It is watered by Moose river, 

 which runs through it from northeast to 

 southwest. Statistics of 1840. — Horses, 

 17; cattle, 87; sheep, 102; swine, 55; 

 wheat, bus. 200 ; barley, 72; oats, 160; 

 rye, 30 ; buckwheat, 130 ; Ind. corn, 50 ; 

 potatoes, 2,610: hay, tons, 123; sugar, 

 lbs, 2,4.50: vv'ool, 192. Population, 140. 



