|
|
Home
> Vermont Towns
> A
Land Grants That Became the Towns of
Vermont
-A-
ACTON. About 5,045 acres in Windham County granted by Vermont, February 23,
1872, to Moses Johnson & Company, thirty-three in number. This tract was granted under
the name of Johnson's Gore and it was so known until it was incorporated November 6,
1800, as the township of Acton.
ADDISON. Town in Addison County, granted by New Hampshire October 14, 1761.
AIKIN'S GORE. About 930 acres in Windham County granted by Vermont
February 25, 1782, to Edward Aikins [later spelled Aiken], Nathan Brown, Peter Sylvester,
Peter Sylvester 2d, William Aikin and Nathaniel B. Brown, and by the terms of the charter
annexed to Londonderry which had been granted in 1781. It forms the southwest part of
Londonderry, and most, if not all, of this gore was included in the 26,000 acre grant made
by New York, August 9, 1770, called Virgin Hall.
ALBANY. Town in Orleans County. A grant was made June 27, 1781, by resolution
of the General Assembly to Colonel Henry Emanuel Lutterloh and Major Thomas Cogswell
and their associates to the number of sixty-five officers and soldiers then in the continental
army, of a tract of land six miles square to be located and return made of the location to
Ira Allen, Surveyor General, "to obtain a charter of incorporation." The town was chartered
as Lutterloh (sometime written Lutterlock), June 26, 1782, Col. Antipas Gilman being one
of the grantees. Col. Henry Emanuel Lutterloh was a New York officer appointed Deputy
Quarter-Master-General by General Washington, June 30, 1777. Major Thomas Cogswell
was a Massachusetts officer, then of Haverhill, Mass., and afterward of Gilmanton, N. H.
Name of Lutterloh changed to Albany in 1815. Part of Lowell authorized to be annexed to
Albany in 1870.
ALBUGH GORE. Referred to in Governor and Council, 4-352, 354, 358 and 428.
Probably that part of Albugh east of Missisquoi Bay which was annexed to Highgate
November 1, 1792.
ANDERSON'S GORE. About 1730 acres of land in Windham County granted to
James Anderson and nine others by resolution of the General Assembly, February 27, 1782,
which was read in Council October 17, 1782.
ANDOVER. Town in Windsor County granted by New Hampshire, October 13,
1761. The Vermont charter of Benton's Gore, a tract of about 5,000 acres, constituted it
a part of Andover after October 25, 1781. Andover was divided October 26, 1799, and the
western part thereof with Benton's Gore was incorporated as the town of Weston.
ARLINGTON. Town in Bennington County granted by New Hampshire July 28,
1761. Lieut. Gov. Colden of New York granted about 26,000 acres under the name of
Princetown, May 21, 1765, to Isaac Vrooman and twenty-five others, covering part of
Arlington, Sunderland, Manchester, and Dorset; this being the first New York patent (except
perhaps some of the 154 military patents issued by New York in 1765), for land in what is
now Vermont. October 30, 1765, Lieut. Gov. Colden granted (by the second New York
patent other than military) to James Napier a tract of 10,000 acres described as "lying partly
within the townships of Shaftsbury, Glastenbury, Sunderland and Arlington, formerly granted
under the Province of New Hampshire." March 19, 1771, Gov. Dunmore of New York
granted John Munroe 4,000 acres lying chiefly in Arlington. Ethan Allen, Remember Baker,
and Thomas Chittenden were sometime residents of Arlington, Chittenden being its first
representative and Allen its second.
ATHENS. Town in Windham County granted by Vermont May 3, 1780. May 16,
1767, Gov. Moore of New York granted John Adair a tract of 5,000 acres which lies partly,
at least, in Athens.
AVERILL. Township in Essex County granted by New Hampshire June 29, 1762.
AVERY'S GORE. Samuel Avery was of Westminster as early as 1780 and as late
as 1799, and there were issued by Vermont to him, or in his behalf, charters of eight tracts
of land. Six at least of these tracts both in neighborhood speech and legislative phrase were
each called Avery's Gore. Some of the enactments distinguished the gore to which they applied by adding the
name of the county in which it was situated; others did not. The six tracts referred to were
all chartered direct to Avery, and one of them, that in Orleans County and now a part of
Troy, was often called Avery's Grant as well as Avery's Gore. Direct reference to the
smallest of the tracts, a gore of only 554 acres which was also granted direct to Avery and
was between Franklin (then Huntsburgh) and Sheldon (then Hungerford), as not been found
in any enactment or legislative record. The tract chartered on Avery's account to
Thomas Pearsall, being the 3,926 acres that from 1803 to 1856 constituted the unorganized township
of Bradleyvale and that now forms part of Concord and Victory, probably never went by the
names of Avery's Gore. The story of these grants is illustrative of the time.
In an article on New York Land Grants in Vermont it is stated that to Samuel Avery
(and others) there was granted August 16, 1774, 28,000 acres in Lincoln and
Ripton; to
Humphrey Avery September 6, 1774, 24,000 acres in Lincoln, Ripton and Granville; and
October 28, 1775, to Samuel Avery, 4,000 acres under the name of
Whippleborough, in
Starksborough and vicinity. In each of these cases there is no doubt that the grant was to
the party named and his associates. As early as 1780 and 1782 some arrangement seems to
have been made between the grantees so that Samuel Avery (who was perhaps a son of
Humphrey Avery of New London, Connecticut) had come to own the New York title to the
first two tracts, and Mary Whipple (who was perhaps the widow of Daniel
Whipple, of Brattleborough) that title to the third, or Whippleborough. Avery also laid claim to 1,000
acres in Middlesex (the New York Grant, now Randolph), and to some interest in Thomlinson (now Grafton). He evidently depended mainly on his claim to the first two
tracts, covering together 52,000 acres, and from his persistent efforts to obtain them or an
equivalent came the numerous Avery's Gores. His original 52,000 acres granted by New
York were part of the Lydius tract, or what was known as the Otter Creek Lydius tract, to
distinguish it from his Wood Creek tract.
Col. John Henry Lydius, born in Albany, 1694, son of a Dutch minister, became a
trader with the Indians, a resident of Montreal until he was banished therefrom in 1730,
afterwards a resident on his Wood Creek tract in New York near Fort Edward, and from
1767 a resident in England where he died near London in 1791. He obtained a paper
purporting to be a deed from certain Mohawk Indians of a tract extending sixty miles south
of the mouth of Otter Creek and to the east twenty-four miles. This covered nearly all of
what is now Addison County and a good part of Rutland County. His "deed" was dated
February 1, 1732, and is about the only evidence that the Mohawks themselves ever counted
the land as theirs. Lydius obtained August 31, 1744, from Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts a
paper purporting to ve a confirmation of his Indian deed and an absolute conveyance to him
of the lands it described in fee, "in obedience to His Majesty's special command of the 5th
of Octo. last." Hiland Hall believes there never was any such command. Lydius also
received his title of Colonel from Gov. Shirley. The claimants to parts of this tract have
been so numerous that in giving some account of them it is a relief as well as somewhat of
a surprise to know that Arthur Orton and Dr. Kenealy never pretended that any of it
belonged to the Tichborne estate. About an eighth of it was granted to Mons. Hocquart (to
whom curiously was due the banishment of Lydius from Montreal) by a French grant in
1743 or 1745, and Hocquart's tract was sold by him in 1763 to one Michael Chartier de
Lotbiniere who was making claim of Great Britain in 1776 for "His Lordship of
Hocquart," which "Lordship of Hocquart" was described as lying on the east side of Lake Champlain
extending four leagues in front and five leagues in depth. It was opposite Crown Point and
was pretty nearly what is now the southwesterly part of Addison County. Following the
Mohawk-Lydius-Massachusetts claim and the French claim, were the
New Hampshire grants made in great number on this tract. Lydius had made a plan of this
tract dividing it into thirty-five townships. New York followed, granting a number of
townships within its limits and a still greater number of military patents here and there.
Durham (now Clarendon) and Socialborough were within its limits. Durham was settled by
grantees under the Lydius title who obtained a subsequent charter from New York; and it
was in Durham that the "Bennington mobb" in 1773 erected a "judgment seat" upon which
Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and Robert Cochran, who had been appointed
by "the proprietors of the New Hampshire grants * * to inspect and set things in order,"
took their places as judges and held such a court as never was before or has been since on
land or sea. The object of the expedition was to make the settlers recognize the New
Hampshire title, not to drive them off the lands they had made settlement on, or to make
them pay exorbitant prices in recognition of the New Hampshire title. These Durhamites were holding their lands by the same title Avery had to the 52,000
acres claimed by him with the addition that they were actual settlers. Avery, who in 1781 said he had "been near twenty years in the pursuit of those land,
constantly attending thereto," continued eight years more in that pursuit before the Vermont
legislature in 1789 took the action that resulted in the creation of Avery's Gore.
Pursuant to the above action the following grants were made of tracts which with one
or two exceptions each went under the name of Avery's Gore with some distinguishing
addition to designate the particular tract referred to.
1. Avery's Gore in Chittenden County. This consisted, according to the statement in
the charter, of 5,910 acres west of Fayston, but it is stated in a table of Avery's patents made
by Joseph Fay to have contained but 4,000 acres. This gore was one of three gores of which
Avery obtained a charter in one instrument dated January 27, 1791. Part of it was annexed
to New Huntington (now Huntington) October 22, 1794. This gore lies between Buel's Gore and Fayston and is commonly mentioned in
connection with the former under the name of "Avery's and Buel's Gore"; though the two
gores, because now so much reduced in area, or for some other reason are together called
sometimes "Buel's Gore," and sometimes "Avery's Gore." Elias Buel, November 16, 1788,
after he had located his "flying grant" of 1784, petitioned to have the land in question given
to him and united with his own newly acquired gore under the name of Montzoar, but his
request was not complied with and the land became Avery's.
2. Avery's Gore in Addison County. This gore contained 8,744 acres and was the
second one named in the charter of three gores to Avery, dated January 27, 1791. It was
bounded north by Lincoln, east by Kingston (now Granville, since 1834), south by Hancock
and west by Ripton. Part was annexed to Kingston in 1833, and the remainder was annexed
to Lincoln in 1847.
3. Avery's Gore in Essex County. This gore of 10,685 acres, still existing [in 1902] as
chartered, was the third named in the charter of January 27, 1791. When it was chartered
it was within the bounds of Orange County as that county was then constituted. This Gore
lies west of Lewis.
4. Pearsall's Gore. This was a gore chartered to
Thomas Pearsall by a separate
charter dated January 27, 1791. It was incorporated as Bradleyvale in 1803; and Bradleyvale
was annexed to Concord and Victory in 1856.
5. Avery's Gore in Franklin County. This gore was chartered to
Samuel Avery by
chartered dated October 29, 1791. It contained 9,723 acres and was in Chittenden County
when chartered. The annexation of part to Montgomery was authorized in 1858; and
provision was made for establishing the line between it and Belvidere in 1866. According
to the Grand List of 1894 it contains 7,305 acres [in 1902].
6. Avery's Gore in Windham County. This was a tract of 1,380 acres of land described
in a resolution of the General Assembly passed November 3, 1791, as "lying between
Thomlinson [name changed to Grafton in 1792] and Athens." This resolution directed the
Governor to issue a charter of this tract to Samuel Avery pursuant to a grant made to him
in October 1789. Part of Avery's Gore in Windham County was annexed to Athens in 1815,
and the remainder was annexed to Grafton in 1816.
7. Avery's Grant. A tract of 11,040 acres now constituting the north part of the town
of Troy. Its charter to Avery was dated October 27, 1792, but did not issue until December
28, 1792, because of an attachment on this tract made by Ira Allen who had sued the State
of Vermont in the United States Court.
8. A tract of 554 acres for which Samuel Avery received a charter dated June 28,
1796. This tract was a narrow strip of land between Huntsburgh (now Franklin) and
Sheldon. It is not referred to in legislation but probably took its place within town lines by
reason of an act establishing the line between Huntsburgh and Sheldon, passed November
5, 1810. The last charter of 554 acres left, according to Mr. Fay's list, yet to be granted to him
to make up his 52,000 acres, 1938 acres more, but Mr. Fay called Avery's Gore adjoining
Fayston but 4,000 acres while its charter described it as 5,910 acres. Upon this last basis
Avery had received within 28 acres of the required 52,000 acres, and no doubt the state
"called it even" when the 554-acre charter issued.
AVERY'S GRANT. A tract of land now constituting the north part of the town of
Troy in Orleans County, containing 11,040 acres of land, granted to Samuel Avery of
Westminster by a charter signed by Gov. Chittenden Oct. 27, 1792, which issued from the
Secretary of State's office December 28, 1792, and was in further and part execution of a
grant to Avery of 52,000 acres voted by the General Assembly and concurred in by the
Governor and Council, October 29, 1789. Avery's Grant and Kelly's Grant (the latter
containing 12,000 acres) were incorporated into the township of Missisquoi (spelled
Missiskouie at that time) October 28, 1801. The name of the town was changed to Troy
October 26, 1803.
Home
> Vermont Towns
> A |
|
|
