History of Norwich VT Collections

The Proprietors of Norwich Vermont

The larger part of the names of the grantees of Norwich are names of Connecticut men then resident in Mansfield and neighboring towns. Captain Hezekiah Johnson, Samuel Slafter, Joseph Storrs, and William Johnson 3rd, are known to have lived in Mansfield; Amos Fellows, James West, Adoniram Grant, and Samuel Cobb were of Tolland; Ebenezar Heath, Captain Abner Barker and William Johnson of Willington, towns adjacent to Mansfield on the north. The last nine names are those of New Hampshire and Massachusetts men, several of them members of the provincial government in the former province. Major Joseph Blanchard was of Dunstable, … Read more

The Original Grantees of Norwich Vermont

The following is a list of men who received grants of land in the future town of Norwich Vermont on 5 July 1761. Most of these men resided in and around Mansfield Connecticut. Many of the men never set foot in the actual town of Norwich, choosing at some point not to accept Eleaer Wales Daniel Welch Abner Barker Ebenezer Wales Ebenezer Heath William Johnson ye 3d Gideon Noble James West Daniel Baldwin Calvin Topliff Samuel Johnson Elisha Wales Seth Wales Amos Fellows Jedidiah Brinton John Fowler Nathan Strong Robert Turner William Johnson Samuel Root Solomon Wales Joseph Blanchard Josiah … Read more

The Ministerial Act of Vermont

“The Ministerial Act,” as it was called, for the building of meeting houses and the support of preaching by a tax upon the property and polls of the inhabitants of towns, was passed by the legislature of Vermont at its session at Westminster, in October, 1783. The Norwich meeting house had been built, as we have seen, wholly by the voluntary contributions of the people. It was decided, however, in the fall of 1785, that the cost of the building should be assumed by the town, under the provisions of this law, and so become the town’s property. At a … Read more

The Founding of Norwich Vermont

As we have already seen, Norwich virtually had its origin in the colony of Connecticut in the year 1761. On the 26th day of August of that year, at the house of William Waterman, inn-holder, in the town of Mansfield, in said colony, were convened the proprietors or grantees of a newly granted township of land situated 150 miles away to the northward, in a wilderness country then just beginning to be known as the “New Hampshire Grants.” These men were assembled to decide upon the first steps to be taken to open up to settlement and improvement a tract … Read more

The Founding of Dartmouth College

The founding of Dartmouth College at Hanover in 1769 was an event of great interest and importance to the early settlers of Norwich. Besides the advantages it promised for the convenient higher education of their children, advantages to which they were fully alive, as shown by their liberal subscriptions in land and money to its endowment, the building up of such an institution in the immediate neighborhood created an instant demand for labor and supplies of every kind. The president, Doctor Wheelock, through his Indian pupil, Samson Occum, and other agents, had collected in England and Scotland several thousand pounds … Read more

The Emerson Brothers of Norwich Vermont

About the year 1792, Elihu Emerson, just then arrived at his majority, came to Norwich Vermont from Westfield, Massachusetts; followed in 1795 by Joseph and later by Thomas, two younger brothers. These young men became heads of families, and were prominent residents in town for many years. Elihu was a blacksmith by trade, and carried on business in a shop that he built a short distance north of his residence on “Norwich Plain” For his first wife Mr. Emerson married Thankful Grant, and for his second wife Cynthia Brooks. The first wife died in 1834, aged fifty-eight years, and the … Read more

The Bush Family of Norwich Vermont

Captain Timothy Bush, the progenitor of this family in town, came to Norwich in the early days of its settlement (from what place is not known). He married Deborah House, and they had ten children (five of whom were born in Norwich), viz., John Bush, married Abigail Marvin and had at least one son: George Bush. Barzilla Bush. Timothy Bush. Fairbanks Bush. Alexander Bush. Bela Bush. Harry Bush. Nathaniel Bush. Mary Bush, who married Nathaniel Seaver. Lavina Bush, who married Doctor Hamilton of Lyme, New Hampshire. Captain Bush appears as a voter in town in 1772, and March 9, 1799, he was chosen one of the board … Read more

Postmasters and Postal Service in Norwich Vermont

It was fifteen years after the admission of Vermont into the Federal Union, and forty years after the settlement of the town, before Norwich had a post office. The first post office was established at Norwich Plain, July 1, 1805, and Jacob Burton was appointed postmaster. Postmaster Burton kept the office in his harness shop on the main street of the village, nearly opposite the present residence of Mrs. William E. Lewis. Probably the duties of the office were not so great as to interfere much with the prosecution of his trade. It is doubtful if Mr. Burton had more … Read more

Political Parties in Norwich Vermont

The strength of the great political parties that have divided the suffrages of the country almost since the union of the States under the Constitution has usually been pretty evenly balanced in Norwich. Elections have been sharply contested, and party feeling has frequently run high. Up to the formation of the Republican Party (1854 or 1855) a majority of the voters in town generally ranged themselves with the political disciples of Jefferson and Jackson, though on several occasions, notably in the Harrison campaign of 1840, their ascendancy was successfully contested by the Whigs. In the state election of 1854, the … Read more

Partridge Family of Norwich Vermont

Samuel Partridge, Sr., was born in Preston, Connecticut, in 1721. He married Ruth Woodward, and with her and seven of their children (one son remaining in Connecticut to care for the “old folks”) came to Norwich for a permanent settlement about 1765, and settled on a hill farm about one mile west from Norwich village, which farm remained in the possession of the Partridge family for three generations, until sold by the representatives of the estate of Abel Partridge, of the third generation, to the late Deacon John Dutton, who demolished the old mansion. The farm is now owned by … Read more

Olcott Family of Norwich Vermont

Hon. Peter Olcott was born at Bolton, Connecticut, April 25, 1733; married Sarah, daughter of Peletiah Mills, Esq., of Windsor, Conn., October 11, 1759, and removed to that place in 1772. That year or the following one he came to Norwich, Vermont. He was the oldest of his parents’ four children (two sons and two daughters), and the only one of them to come to Norwich to reside. Mr. Olcott‘s name first appears in the town records of Norwich in 1773, when he was chosen one of the overseers of the poor, at the annual March meeting. He early took … Read more

Norwich Vermont Proposed Union with New Hampshire

In this chapter are recorded the proceedings looking towards a union of the towns of Newbury, Moretown, Norwich and Hartford with the State of New Hampshire after the failure of the Second Vermont Union with New Hampshire towns in 1782. The facts here subjoined are from New Hampshire State Papers.

Norwich Vermont in the War of 1812

In the spring of 1812, war with Great Britain again seemed imminent. Causes of complaint against the aggressions of the British government had existed for a long time, and the irritation was now increasing on all sides. It did not seem possible that actual war could much longer be postponed, although public opinion in the United States was still far from unanimous for an immediate appeal to arms. Norwich, as had been her wont in Revolutionary times, again let her voice be heard when great public and national interests were being agitated before the people. At the close of a … Read more

Norwich Vermont in the Revolutionary War

The sources of information in regard to the part taken by the town in the Revolutionary struggle are few and scanty. The earliest allusion in the town records to this important epoch of the country’s history is found in the election of a Committee of Safety at the annual town meeting, March 11, 1777. This committee was five in number: Deacon Joseph Smalley, Samuel Hutchinson, John Hatch, Captain Hezekiah Johnson and John Hopson. There is much reason to believe, however, that this was not the first Committee of Safety that acted for the town; but was a new committee selected … Read more

Norwich Vermont in the Controversy with New York

The contest with New York in regard to land titles was the first of a series of political commotions that arose to disquiet and vex the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, to turn their thoughts and energies away from the improvement of their little properties, and check their growing prosperity. In this contest the inhabitants of the upper valley of the Connecticut in general took no active part. They all held their lands under New Hampshire Grants, and as New York never re-granted the same lands to other parties, or attempted to dispossess them or molest them in any … Read more

Norwich Vermont in the Civil War

During the four years of war for the suppression of the Rebellion, Norwich furnished 178 different men for the armies of the Union. There were seven re-enlistments, making the whole number of soldiers credited to the town 185. By the census of 1860, the number of inhabitants was 1759. It appears, therefore, that the town sent to the seat of war rather more than one in ten of its entire population, during the four years’ continuance of hostilities. About the same proportion holds good for the state at large, Vermont contributing, out of an aggregate population of 315,116, soldiers to … Read more

Norwich Vermont and Dartmouth College

Notwithstanding the fact that Norwich had for many years within its borders a collegiate institution of its own, founded and directed by its most distinguished son, the relations of their people towards Dartmouth College on the opposite bank of the Connecticut were always intimate and friendly.

Norwich Vermont an Independent Township

In America the germ of political organization is the Township, older than the County, older than the State. In New England we find towns established as independent communities, endowed with distinctive rights and privileges, as early as the middle of the seventeenth century. It is to these town governments that we must look for the foundation of republican liberty, to the town meeting, where all citizens meet on a plane of equality to choose their local officers and manage their local affairs. Here is the firm basis upon which all free institutions can rest. Ralph Waldo Emerson once proposed that … Read more

Norwich Soldiers in War with Mexico

Names of soldiers from Norwich Vermont in the War with Mexico T. B. Ransom, Colonel 9th United States Infantry. Killed at Chapultepec, September 13, 1847. Henry O. Brigham, Drummer 9th United States Infantry. Died at Detroit, Mich. James Crangle, Hudson Kimball, Oramell Chamberlain, Ezekiel V. Hatch, George Hatch, Rowell, Elijah Hatch. Died at Tunbridge, Vt. Frederick K. Spear. Died at West Point, N. Y.

Norwich Plain Meeting House

The present meeting house at Norwich Plain was built in 1817, and dedicated November 20th of the same year. On the following day, Reverend R. W. Bailey was ordained pastor and continued as such till November, 1823, when he was dismissed. The ordination sermon was preached by Nathan Perkins, Jr., A. M., pastor of the Second Church in Amherst, Mass., from Isaiah LXII, 6-7. — “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night; ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, … Read more