Part III. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



179 



WAIT S RIVER. 



WALLINGFORD 



Wait's River. The main branch of 

 this river rises in Plarris' gore, and runs 

 southeasterly along the west line of Tops- 

 ham. Another branch, called Jail branch, 

 rises in Washington, and running north- 

 easterly, joins the main branch in the 

 southwest part of Topsham. Another 

 stream rises from several heads in the 

 north part of Topsham, and, runnino- 

 southerly unites with the main stream 

 near the nort'ieast corner of Corinth. 

 Another stream, called the south branch, 

 rises near the middle of Washington, and 

 pursuing a southeasterly course, joins the 

 river at Bradford. Wait's river and all 

 its branches are live!}' streams, and afford 

 a number of veTy good mill privileges. 

 In Bradford, where this river is crossed 

 by the main road leading up the Connec- 

 ticut, is a fall which furnishes a number 

 of fine mill seats. This river is said to 

 have derived its name from a Capt. Wait, 

 belonging to Major Rogers' Rangers, who 

 killed a deer near its mouth, on the re- 

 turn from St. Francis in 1759, which was 

 probably the means of saving the lives of 

 several of that famishing party. See part 

 2d, p. 14. 



Wai.den, a post town six miles square 

 in the western part of Caledonia county, 

 is in lat. 44° 28', and long. 4^ 45', and is 

 bounded northerly by Goshen gore, eas- 

 terly by Danville, southerly by Cabot, 

 and westerly by Hardwick. It lies 22 

 miles northeastfrom Montpe5ier,was gran- 

 ted November 6, J780 and chartered to 

 Moses Robinson, Esq. and others August 

 18, 1781. Nathaniel Perkins Esq. moved 

 his family into this township in January 

 1780, and his was for three years the on- 

 !y family in tov/n. He has always lived 

 upon the same farm, and is now 89 years 

 of age. Nathan Barker, Esq. was the sec- 

 ond settler. Jesse, son of N. Perkins was 

 the first child born here. The settlement 

 was commenced on the Hazen road, at a 

 place wiiere there was a block hovise erec- 

 ted during the revolutionary war. The 

 town was organized March 24, 1794. N. 

 Perkins was first town clerk and first rep- 

 resentative. The religious societies are 

 the Methodist, the Universalist, Baptist 

 and Freewill Baptist. The first was or- 

 ganized in 1810, the second in 1829, and 

 the last in 1837. There is a union meet- 

 ing house, built in 1826, but no settled 

 minister. This township lies between 

 the head waters of Winooski and Lamoille 

 river, and contains no large streams. The 

 most considerable is Joe's brook, which 

 originates in Cole's pond, runs southeas- 

 terly into Joe's pond, and thence easter- 

 ly into Passumpsic river. The river La- 

 moille touches upon the northwest corner ' 



and a head branch of Winooski river origi- 

 nates in the southwestern part. There 

 are two considerable ponds, viz. Cole's 

 pond, in the northeastern, and Lyfords 

 pond, and a part of Joe's pond, in the 

 southern part. The northwestern part 

 has a handsome surface, and the soil gen- 

 erally is a rich deep loam and produces 

 good crops. The rocks are generally 

 slate and granite. A few years ago a 

 stone mortar was found here, supposed to 

 have been made by the Indians. The 

 town has generally been healthy, The 

 typhus fever in 1818, and the dysentery in 

 1820, produced considerable mortality. 

 Mrs. George lived here to tiie age of 100 

 years, and Mrs. Plummer to the age of 9.5y. 

 5 m. 17 d. James Bell, fc^sq., a selftu.yght 

 lawyer, who has risen to considerable em- 

 inence in his profession, resides here. Not 

 less than 40,000 sap and butter tubs are 



manufactured in this town annually 



Tiicre are here 12 school districts, 2 stores, 

 1 grist and 8 saw mills. Statistics q/'1840. 

 —Horses, 204 •, cattle, 1,575 ; sheep, 3,009; 

 swine, 7G9; wheat, bus. 2,812-, barley, 

 762 ; oats, 11,203; Ind. corn, 486 , pota- 

 toes, 38,833 ; hay, tons, 3,466 ; sugar, lbs. 

 40,370; wool, 4,226. Population, 913. 



Wallingfori), apost town in the south- 

 eastern part of Rutland county, is in lat. 

 43° 27' and long. 4"^ 8', and is bounded 

 north by Clarendon, east by Mount Holly, 

 south by Mount Tabor, and west by Tin- 

 mouth. It lies 42 miles northeasterly from 

 Bennington, and 10 miles south from Rut- 

 land. It was chartered November 27th, 

 1761, and contained by charter 23,040 

 acres. The settlement was commenced 

 in 1773 by Abraham Jackson and family. 

 The early settlers were mostly emigrants 

 from Connecticut. The town was organ- 

 ized March 10, 1778. Abraham Jackson 

 was first town clerk, and also first repre- 

 sentative. The Baptist church was the 

 first organized in town, and Elder Henry 

 Green was the first settled minister. El- 

 der Saunders is the present minister. Tho 

 Congregational church was organized a- 

 bout 1802, when they settled the Rev. 

 Benj. Osborn, who continued till his death 

 in 1818. His successors have been Rev. 

 Eli Meeker, from 1818 to 1819, Rev. Eli 

 S. Hunter, from 1820 to 1825, and Rev. 

 Stephen Martindale, the present minister, 

 who was settled in Feb. 1832. Besides 

 the above there are here societies of 

 Episcopal Methodists and Protestant Me- 

 thodists. The township is watered by Ot- 

 ter creek, which runs through it from 

 south to north, by Mill river in the north- 

 eastern part, and by a number of brooks, 

 all which afford convenient sites for mills. 

 Lake Hiram, sometimes called Spectacle 



