Lamoille County

Morristown, Lamoille County, Vermont

MORRISTOWN VERMONT, an irregularly outlined town in the central part of the county, lies in latitude 44 32′, and longitude 4° 20′, bounded north easterly by Hyde Park, southeasterly by Elmore, southwesterly by Stowe, and northwesterly by Johnson and Cambridge. It was granted November 6, 1780, and chartered to Moses Morse and sixty-four associates, August 24, 1781, containing 23,040 acres, until November 14, 1855, when a portion of Sterling was annexed to its territory. Sterling was a township chartered February 25, 1782, and settlement commenced therein in 1792. The people, however, soon grew tired of a separate organization. The first … Read more

Newspapers of Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

During the first half of the present century, began the establishment of a newspaper in Lamoille county, an important era in the growth of any community, for it marks the sure progress of enterprise. Since that time, except two or three intervals of a short period each, the people have not been without a home paper. The Christian Luminary The Christian Luminary, the first paper established in the county, was begun at Stowe, in September, 183o, issued by “a publishing committee,” with Josiah Knight, contracting agent, and Rev. Jehiel P. Hendee, father of ex-Gov. Hendee, editor and proprietor. This was … Read more

Railroads of Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

The St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad The St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain railroad, extending from Maquam bay to St. Johnsbury, crosses this county, passing through the towns of Cambridge, Johnson, Hyde Park, Morristown, and Wolcott. It was formerly called the Lamoille Valley railroad, and was completed through to Swanton, and the first train of cars passed over it on Tuesday, July 17, 1877. Soon after this, the road was completed from the village of Swanton to the bay, about two miles. The first train passed over this portion of the road August 23, 1877. The present officers of the … Read more

Lamoille County Vermont and the Revolutionary War

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

With Vermont, the Revolutionary contest possessed a double interest, and while she lent her aid to redress national grievances, she also maintained a spirited contest on her own account, resolving to secure her independence from New York. The territory treated of in this work, however, has none of -the romantic stories and, traditions of this period that grace the annals of localities earlier settled. The people of the New Hampshire Grants, as may well be supposed, entered with an especially hearty zeal, into this contest.. Their schooling had been such as to render them an exceedingly undesirable foe to meet, … Read more

Early Settlement in Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

The first settlement in Lamoille county was made in May, 1783, when John Spafford located in Cambridge. He came on from Pierpont, New Hampshire, and cleared two acres of land, which he planted with corn, and then proceeded to build a log house, covering it with bark. Most of his crop of corn was destroyed by an overflow of the Lamoille river, but what was left he harvested in the autumn, and returned to New Hampshire for his wife and two children. In this small cabin, furnished with no windows, and with a bed-quilt for a door, they passed the … Read more

Lamoille County, VT Staples Production in 1870

Most of the county is an uncommonly fine farming territory, with a soil varying from clay and gravel to the finest alluvial deposits, and well adapted to grazing purposes and the manufacture of butter and cheese. Considerable attention is also given to raising fine bred horses and cattle. As the soil, etc , will be found more particularly mentioned in connection with the several town sketches, we will, at this point, only give some idea of the extent of the products by the following statistics, taken from the census reports of 1870. During that year there were 106,638 acres of … Read more

Stowe, Lamoille County, Vermont

Gazetteer and business directory of Lamoille and Orleans counties, Vt title page

STOWE VERMONT  is situated in the southern part of the county, in lat. 44° 28′, and long. 4° 20,’ bounded northeasterly by Morristown, southeasterly by Worcester, southwesterly by Waterbury, and northwesterly by Cambridge and Underhill. The town originally contained an area of 23,040 acres, chartered by Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, June 8, 1763, to Joshua Simmons and sixty-three associates, in seventy shares. It was named after a town in England, and originally spelled S-t-o-w, the a having been annexed during the last forty years. In 1848, the legislature passed an act annexing to its territory the town of … Read more

Formation of the State of Vermon

During these wars, also, grants of land lying within the present limits of the State had been made by the Dutch, at Albany, by the French, and by the colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, and each claimed jurisdiction over them. All of these claims, except that of New York, however, were relinquished without much controversy, of which more will be spoken on another page. But at the cessation of hostilities the lands were sought so eagerly by adventurers, speculators, and settlers, that in a single year subsequent to 1760, Gov. Wentworth, of New Hampshire, granted in the … Read more

Geographic Features of Lamoille

Lamoille county, as now constituted, once formed a part of the original counties of Albany, Charlotte, Bennington, Rutland, Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Orleans, and Washington. The old Dutch county of Albany, with Albany, N. Y., as its capitol, extended north to the Province line. During the controversy between New York and the New Hampshire grantees, numerous writs of ejectment, executions, and other legal processes were issued out of, and made returnable to the courts at Albany, and were served, or at least were attempted to be served, by the sheriffs of that place. On March 12, 1772, New York, in order … Read more

Belvidere, Lamoille County, Vermont

BELVIDERE VERMONT, a very mountainous, pentagonal shaped town, located in the northwestern corner of the county, in 44° 47′ north latitude, and in longitude 4° 19′ east from Washington, is bounded north by Avery’s Gore, and Montgomery, in Franklin county, east by Eden, south by Johnson and Waterville, and west by Waterville. It was granted to a Mr. John Kelley, of New York city, March 5, 1787, and chartered by Vermont, November 14, 1791, by the name of Belvidere. The town originally contained an area of 30,100 acres, but was shorn of its limits November 15, 1824, when a portion … Read more