Part ill. 



GAZETTEER OF VERxMONT. 



187 



WESTFORD. 



WEST HAVEN. 



WESTMINSTER. 



buckwheat, 777 ; Ind. corn, 958 ; pota- 

 toes, 19,190 ; hay, tons, 1,221 ; sugar, lbs. 

 11,37.5 , wool, 3,711. Population, 370. 



Westford, a post town in the north 

 part of Chittenden county, is in lat. 44" 

 36' and long. i° V, and is bounded north 

 by Fairfax, east by Underhill, south by 

 Essex, and west by Milton. It lies 13 

 miles nortiieast from Burlington, and 32 

 northwest from Montpelier, and wascliar- 

 tered June 8, 1763, containing 23,040 a- 

 cres. The settlement was commenced 

 immediately after the revolutionary war, 

 by Hezekiah Parmelee and others. The 

 religious denominations are Congrega- 

 tionalists, Methodists, and Baptists, each 

 of which have a meeting house. The 

 Rev. Simeon Parmelee was settled in 

 September, 1809, over the Congregation- 

 al church, and continued many years. 

 The Rev. Joiin H. Woodward is the pres- 

 ent minister. The only stream of conse- 

 quence in the township, is Brown's river, 

 which runs through it from south to 

 north, and falls into Lamoille river in 

 Fairfax. The surface of the township 

 is uneven, but it contains no mountains. 

 The town contains 11 school districts, 1 

 grist and 8 saw mills, 1 fulling mill, and 

 4 stores. Statistics of 1840. — Horses, 290 ; 

 cattle, 1,235 ; sheep, 7,196; swine, 997 ; 

 wheat, bus. 1,617; barley, 25; oats, 5,- 

 569 ; rye, 637 ; buckwheat, 873 ; Indian 

 corn, 4,780 ; potatoes, 45,317 ; hay, tons, 

 4,456; sugar, lbs. 21,885; wool, 13,636. 

 Population, 1,352. 



West Haven, a post town in the wes- 

 tern part of Rutland county, is in lat. 43'^ 

 36' and long. 3'^ 44', and is bounded north 

 by Benson, east by Fair-Haven, south by 

 Poultney river, which separates it from 

 Whitehall, N. Y., and west by lake 

 Champlain. This township was set off 

 from Fair-Haven in Oct., 1792, and for 

 its early history, the reader is referred to 

 the account of that townsliip. It was or- 

 ganized immediately after the division, 

 and William Wyman was the first town 

 clerk. The Congregational and Baptist 

 are the only regular chiirches. The Rev. 

 Ebenezer Hibbard was installed over the 

 Congregational church in this township 

 and in Whitehall in 1822, and dismissed 

 in 1829. The present minister is Rev. J. 

 Gilbert, and the minister of the Baptist 

 church is the Rev. J. P. Huntington. In 

 1787 Doct. Simeon Smith moved into 

 this town from Sharon, Ct. He died in 

 1804, having accumulated a large estate, 

 $1,000 of which he bequeathed to the 

 town of West Haven, which was to be let 

 under tiie direction of the select men, at 

 the rate of 6 per cent, interest, the inter- 

 est to be paid annually, and again loaned. 



At the end of 60 years, a certain part of 

 the money accumulated was to be em- 

 ployed in building a meeting house, set- 

 tling a minister, erecting school houses, 

 ike. The epidemic of 1812 and 13 was 

 very distressing here, and destroyed ma- 

 ny valuable lives. Hubbardton river and 

 Cogman's creek are tiie only streams of 

 consequence, except Poultney river, which 

 washes a part of the soutliern boundary. 

 They empty into East Bay, one about a 

 mile, and the other about two miles below 

 the head of the bay. Hubbardton river 

 has three considerable falls in West Ha- 

 ven, on which mills are erected. The 

 soil is principally clay, and there is an 

 abundance of excellent limestone. There 

 are 9 school districts, 1 store, 1 grist and 

 3 saw mills, and 2 woollen factories. 

 Statistics o/ 1840. — Horses, 136; cattle, 

 878 ; sheep, 8,029 ; swine, 304 ; wheat, 

 bus. 1,196 ; oats, 3,140 ; rye, 940 ; buck- 

 wheat, 282; Ind. corn, 2,458; potatoes, 

 7,895 ; hay, tons, 2,578 ; sugar, lbs. 340 ; 

 wool, 15,153. Population, 774. 



Westminster, a post town in the east- 

 ern part of Windham county, is in lat. 

 43'=' 5' and long. 4" 32', and is bounded 

 north by Rockingham, east by Connecti- 

 cut river, which separates it from Wal- 

 pole, N. H., south by Putney, and west 

 by Brookline and Athens. It lies 37 

 miles northeast from Bennington, and 82 

 south from Montpelier. This township 

 was chartered November 9, 1752 ; and as 

 the grants which had been made of the 

 townships of Marlborough and Wilming- 

 ton, anterior to that date, were superseded 

 by their new charters, it may be consid- 

 ered as the third, in point of time, in the 

 state : Bennington and Halifax having 

 preceded it. It contains 25,000 acres. 

 At what precise time the settlement com- 

 menced, it is now difficult to ascertain. 

 One of the oldest inhabitants thinks it to 

 have been about the year 1741. The ear- 

 liest permanent settlers came from North- 

 field, in Massachusetts, and from Ashford 

 and Middletown, in Connecticut ; and 

 were soon followed by others from the 

 same states. The pleasant situation of 

 the town, and its proximity to the fort 

 maintained by the New Hampshire gov- 

 ernment in what is now called Walpole, 

 caused the settlement to proceed with 

 considerable rapidit}?^, and it was, at an 

 early period, one of the principal towns 

 west of the Connecticut. A jail formerly 

 stood in this place, and a court house in 

 which were held some of the earliest 

 courts of justice ; and when Vermont 

 subsequently set up an independent juris- 

 diction, several sessions of the legislature 

 were also held here. It was here that th 



