Page 11 – Vermont Genealogy

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

Early Manufacturing in Lamoille County, Vermont

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

The first manufacturing in the county was purely domestic. It was in the early days when the beautiful spring weather always found the men busy at the ” break and swingle-board,” and within doors the busy hum of hetcheling, carding, and spinning, was constantly heard. The early settlers were obliged to raise their flax and manufacture their own wearing apparel, for it must be remembered it then required sixty-four bushels of barley to buy one yard of broadcloth, and one bushel of wheat to purchase a yard of calico. The first general business and article of commerce was potash or … Read more

Johnson, Lamoille County, Vermont

JOHNSON VERMONT, lies in the central part of the county, in latitude 44 40′, and longitude 4° 19′, bounded northeasterly by Belvidere and Eden, south easterly by Hyde Park and Morristown, southwesterly by Morristown and Cambridge, and northwesterly by Waterville and Cambridge, containing an area of little over 23,040 acres. The tale of its charter breathes somewhat of romance. As early as 1780, a Mr. Brown, an early settler in Jericho, Vermont, secured a grant of the township. He caused the outlines to be run, and commenced the allotment in the eastern part of the town, and gave to it … Read more

Coosucks and St. Francis Indians

The territory embraced within the present limits of Vermont, previous to any occupation by Europeans, was claimed as a hunting-ground by several tribes of Indians who were hostile to each other, consequently it was often the scene of their savage wars, and constant invasion prevented its being made their permanent home. Indeed, it was Champlain’s nominal purpose to help the Canadian Indians in their war with those in the region of the lake, that first brought him upon its waters. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, was a powerful confederacy composed of several tribes of Indians, who had planted themselves in … Read more

Lamoille County, Vermont Genealogy

Welcome to our Lamoille County genealogy website. The purpose of this site is to provide genealogists with an accurate historical view of Lamoille County, Vermont. While we provide, or link to, an extensive collection of biographies, cemetery transcriptions, census extractions, census images, directories, historical sketches, military records, and vital records for Lamoille County; the intent of our website is in providing a glimpse of Lamoille, it’s history, and the people who lived in and helped create it. Though it is not the purpose of this work to enter minutely into the history of the territory of which it treats, it … Read more

Hyde Park, Lamoille County, Vermont

HYDE PARK VERMONT, the shire town, and geographical as well as political center of the county, lies in lat. 44° 37′, and long. 4° 26′, bounded northeasterly by Eden, southeasterly by Wolcott, southwesterly by Morristown, and northwesterly by Johnson. It has an area of 23,040 acres, its boundary lines being each about six miles in length, thus forming a square, which is set diagonally, north and south. No changes have been made in the territorial limits of the town since its original survey. It was granted by the State, November 6, 1780, and chartered August 27, 1781, to Jedediah Hyde … Read more

Lamoille County Vermont Courts

The act of the legislature incorporating the county provided that when some town should erect a suitable court-house and jail, the county should be deemed organized. This of course gave rise to much competition, as each town would naturally wish to secure to itself. the advantages and dignity appertaining to the county seat. . The lower portion of the county considered it the most advantageous to have Johnson made the shire town, while the northern portion wished to have it vested in Morristown. Finally the mooted question was left for a committee to settle, and Joshua Sawyer, a member of … 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

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

Early Exploration of Vermont

It has been aptly said, that “that country is the happiest which furnishes fewest materials for history;” yet, if rightly considered, the duty of the historian will be found not limited to the narration of the dramatic events of war, but equally applicable to the arts of peace, and that the true heroes of mankind are those who have manfully encountered and overcome the difficulties which might have hindered them from arriving at honorable ends by honest means. Viewed in this light, the pioneer who has subdued the wilderness of nature, and surrounded his home with the luxuries of a … Read more