192 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part 111. 



WILLIAMSTOWN. 



WILLISTON. 



in the townships of Ludlow, Andover, 

 Windham and Grafton. These three 

 branches unite ahout a mile and a half to 

 the scmtheast of the two villages in Ches- 

 ter, and their united waters, after running 

 15 miles in a southeasterly direction, fall 

 into Connecticut river in Rockingham, 

 three miles above Bellows Falls. Along 

 this river is some fine intervale, and it 

 affords several good mill privileges. Wil- 

 liams' river derives its name from the 

 celebrated Rev. John Williams, who was 

 taken by the Indians at Deerfield, Mass., 

 in J 704, and who, at the mouth of this 

 stream, preached a sermon to his fellow 

 captives. 



WiLLiAMSTOwN, a post town in the 

 northwestern part of Orange county, is 

 in lat 44'' 6' and long. 4° 28', and is 

 bounded north by Barre, east by Wash- 

 ington, south by Brookfield, and west by 

 Northfield. It lies 11 miles southeasterly 

 from Montpelier, and 45 northwesterly 

 from Windsor. It was granted Novem- 

 ber 6, 1780, and chartered August 9, 17dl, 

 to Samuel Clark and others, containing 

 23,040 acres. The settlement of this 

 township was commenced in June, 17c'4, 

 by Hon. Elijah Paine, John Paine, John 

 Smith, Jose[)h Crane, and Josiah Lyman. 

 Penuel Dealing moved his family here in 

 February, ]7.i;5, and tliis was the first 

 family in town. lion. Cornelius Lynde 

 moved here in 1786. The town was or- 

 ganized September 4, 1787. Cornelius 

 Lynde was the first town clerk, and Eli- 

 jah Paine the first representative. Tlie 

 religious denominations are Congrega- 

 tionalisls. Baptists, Methodists, Freewill 

 Baptists, and Universalists. The Con- 

 gregational church was organized in 1795, 

 and now has !•!• members. The ministers 

 of this church have been the Revs. Jesse 

 Olds, Nathan Waldo, Benton Pi.xley, Joel 

 Davis and Andrew Royce. The Rev. J. 

 Davis is the present minister. Their 

 meeting house was built in 1812. The 

 Baptist church consists of 90 members. 

 The Rev. Friend Blood is their present 

 minister. They built a new meeting 

 house in IS:^9. The Methodist church 

 consists of 152 members, and has a con- 

 venient chapel. The Universalists built 

 a meeting house in 1835, and the Freewill 

 Baptists one in 1841. Rev. Lester War- 

 ren is minister of the former, and Rev. 

 Joshua Tucker of the latter. In August, 

 1839, a store was burnt in this town, with 

 all its contents, by the spontaneous igni- 

 tion and explosion of a hogshead of N. E. 

 rum. The hogshead was about half full, 

 50 per cent, above proof. It exploded 

 about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the 

 store was so quickly enveloped in flames 



that the people within had barely time to 

 escape with their lives. There had been 

 no fire in the store during the day, and 

 the cause of the ignition was not ascer- 

 tained. This township lies on the height 

 of lands between VN'inooski and White 

 rivers, and contains no large streams. 

 A brook, which here runs down a steep 

 hill towards the west, divides naturally, 

 and while one part runs to the north, 

 forming Steven's branch of Winooski 

 river, the other runs to the south, forming 

 the second branch of White river. The 

 turnpike from Ro3^alton to Montpelier 

 j passes along these streams, and is known 

 ' by the name of the Gulf Road, on account 

 of the deep ravine through which it pass- 

 I es in this township, near the head of the 

 i second branch. The hills here, upon 

 each side of the branch, are very high and 

 j abrupt, and approach so near each other 

 ' as hardly to leave space for a road be- 

 1 tween them. In this ravine a medicinal 

 ' spring has recently been discovered which 

 I is thoujrht to be equal to that at Claren- 

 don. This township is timbered princi- 

 pally with hard wood, and the soil is well 

 adapted to tlie production of grass. There 

 is a small but pleasant village near the 

 centre of the township, containing 2 or .3 

 ' meeting houses, 2 stores, 1 tavern, 1 tan- 

 nery, several mills and mechanics' shops, 

 ; and about 35 dwelling houses. Tliere 

 are in town 17 school districts and 16 

 : school houses, 1 grist, 1 clover, 1 fulling 

 and 8 saw mills. Statistics of 1840. — 

 Horses, 474 ; cattle, 2,909 ; sheep, 11,433; 

 swine, 1,960; wiieat, bush. 3,712; barley, 

 232; oats, 26,530 ; rye, 518; buckwheat, 

 : 3,927; Indian corn, 4,528 ; potatoes, 85,- 

 066 ; hay, tons, 5,459 ; sugar, lbs. 33,451 ; 

 wool, 20,555. Population, 1,620. 

 [ VViLLisTo.N, a post town in the central 

 I part of Chittenden county, is in lat. 44" 

 i 25' and long. 3^ 53', and is bounded north 

 : by Winooski river, which separates it 

 from Essex, east by Jericho and Rich- 

 mond, south by St. George, and west by 

 Muddy brook, which separates it from 

 Burlington. It lies 27 miles jiorthwest 

 from Montpelier, and was chartered June 

 7, 1763. It was called VVilliston in honor 

 of Samuel Willis, one of the grantees. 

 ' The settlement of this township was com- 

 menced in May, 1774, by Th'oTnas Chit- 

 tenden, who was joined in 1776, b)' Elihu 

 Allen, Abijah Pratt, John Chamberlin 

 and Jonathan Spafford. These families 

 had, however, but just arrived, when the 

 enemy advanced from Canada, and all the 

 ' settlements in this part of the country 

 were abandoned. John Chamberlain was 

 : attacked in his house by the Indians, and 

 a hired man and a child were killed by 



