Norwich Vermont Genealogy – Page 3 of 5

Lord Family of Norwich Vermont

Jonathan Lord, Jr., and David Lord, the first of the name to locate in Norwich, came from Colchester, Connecticut, (in what year is not definitely known, probably about 1773). They were two of several children born to Jonathan and Ruth Lord of that place. Jonathan, Jr., was born February 17, 1752; was a voter in Norwich in 1784. He married, in October, 1782, Mary Smith, and their children were: Porter Lord. Russell Lord. John Lord. Polly Lord. Lydia Lord. John Proctor Lord Rachel Lord. Mr. Lord died at Norwich February 27, 1821. David Lord was born at Colchester August 4, … 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 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

History of the Industries of Norwich VT

Although the products of the industries in Norwich have not been of great magnitude they have been quite varied in character. Such information in regard to these callings as we have been able to obtain we will present to our readers, though not in strict chronological order. Among the earliest establishments coming under this head was a grist mill established as early as 1770, by Hatch and Babcock on Blood Brook, on or near the site of the grist mill now operated by J. E. Willard, a short distance up the stream from where it empties into the Connecticut River. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Captain Joseph Hatch

Captain Joseph Hatch came to Norwich with his elder brother, John, and located at the south end of Norwich Plain, where he built himself a log cabin on a site near the building now standing and formerly used by the late David Merrill for a paint shop. Subsequently, in 1771, he built the house on the opposite side of the way (now known as the Messenger house) which is believed to have been the first frame dwelling house erected at the Plain. He became the owner of a large amount of land, embracing much of the southern and eastern parts … 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

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

Biography of Solomon Howard Smith

SOLOMON HOWARD SMITH. – Mr. Smith, a most generous and public-spirited citizen, and a pioneer of so early a day as 1832, was born at Lebanon, New Hampshire, December 26, 1809. He came of Revolutionary stock, his maternal grandfather having been a soldier in the war for Independence, and a relative of the Greeley family. His father was an assistant surgeon in the war of 1812, and died at Plattsburgh, New York, in 1813. The boy Solomon was afforded good advantages, receiving his academic education at Norwich, Vermont; and he studied medicine with his uncle, Doctor Haven Foster, not, however, … Read more

Geographical Names of the Norwich VT Locality

Of the little settlements in the township of Norwich which seem to be existing in the sunset of their former glory, may be mentioned Beaver Meadow, or West Norwich. This place presents a notable instance of that decline in population and decay of business interests in a rural community, of which Vermont affords many examples since the advent of railroads and the fever of western emigration set in. For more than thirty years population, wealth, and enterprise have been drifting away from that section of the town. Probably the settlement reached the height of its prosperity previous to 1840. During … Read more

Biography of Benjamin Lyman Culver

Benjamin Lyman Culver, late a retired resident of Pembroke, Merrimack County, N.H., who died December 6, 1896, was born in Norwich, Vt., August 10, 1830, son of the Rev. Lyman and Fanny (Hovey) Culver. The Culver family is of French origin, and is said to have been founded in America by Benjamin L. Culver’s great-grandfather, John Culver, who, it is thought, emigrated from Paris, France. He settled in Connecticut, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits for the rest of his life. His son, James Culver, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Connecticut; and in early life … Read more

Biography of George Musalas Colvocoresses

Born in Scio, Grecian Archipelago, October 22, 1816. During the Greek Revolution the Turks invaded that island in 1822, and after narrowly escaping the massacre that followed, George with his mother and two young sisters were carried captives to Smyrna. Through friends in that city he was ransomed and sent in an American brig to Baltimore; much kindness was shown him by members of the Greek Relief Committee, and the story of his misfortunes excited the sympathy of Captain Alden Partridge, head of the military academy then at Norwich, who offered to receive and provide for young Colvocoresses as his … Read more

Brown Family of Norwich Vermont

The parents, birth, and birthplace of Ebenezer Brown are not known. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1778. He studied for the ministry and preached for a time in Bethel, Vt., but was never ordained. He soon settled in Norwich as a farmer on a farm on Christian St., lately occupied by Roswell Tenney, where he died May 10, 1830, aged 80 years. He was familiarly known in Norwich as “Deacon Brown.” He married Patience, daughter of Samuel Bell of Norwich. Ebenezer Brown, son of Shubael and Edith (Bradford) Brown, came to Norwich at an early age from Canterbury, Conn. … Read more

History of the Episcopal Church at Norwich

A small Episcopal church was organized at Norwich as early as 1835, chiefly through the exertions of Doctor Ira Davis. Between 1846 and 1850, services were held occasionally in different parts of the town, conducted by Professor Hill of Dartmouth College, and others. In 1851 Doctor Edward Bourne, an Episcopal clergyman, became president of Norwich University, and from that time regular services were held in the village until the removal of the University to Northfield in 1866, first in the chapel of the University, and after 1863 in a small church building erected that year just south of the parade … Read more

Murdock Family of Norwich Vermont

Hon. Thomas Murdock removed to Norwich from Preston, Connecticut, as early as 1767 (in which year he was recorded a voter in town), and located on the farm a little north of Norwich Plain and subsequently occupied by Jared Goodell, George Blanchard, Harvey Knights, and now by Judd Leonard. He married Elizabeth Hatch (sister of John and Joseph Hatch, early settlers in Norwich), to whom were born: Asahel, Constant, Jasper, Thomas, Jr., Anna, who became the wife of Ebenezer Brown, Esq., the first lawyer to locate in Norwich, and Margaret, who married Elisha Partridge, November 14, 1765. Mr. Murdock was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of General Lewis S. Partridge

General Lewis S. Partridge, son of Abel and Alpa (Lewis) Partridge, was born in Norwich, Vt., in 1818, a year prolific in the birth of sons in town. In early life he served in clerkships in mercantile business in Norwich, and in Hanover and Claremont, New Hampshire. He became a cadet at Norwich University in 1833, remaining there until 1836. Later on he entered into mercantile business on his own account in his native town. He was at one time proprietor of the “Union Hotel,” at Norwich. From early life Mr. Partridge took an active part in politics and was … 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

Cushman Family of Norwich Vermont

The Cushman family in New England dates from the year 1621, the first after the landing of the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, when Robert Cushman, who was a prominent leader and organizer of the Plymouth Colony, brought from England the earliest recruits and supplies to the wasted and famishing settlement. A century and a half later Solomon Cushman, a descendant of Robert, in the sixth generation, born at Plympton, Mass., in 1745, having married Sarah Curtis, daughter of Simeon Curtis, at Lebanon, Conn., in 1768, removed to Norwich, probably in company with the Curtis family. Solomon Cushman (afterward known as … 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

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.

Biography of Doctor Shubael Converse

The son of Shubael and Phoebe Converse was born at Randolph, Vt., September 7, 1805. He studied his profession with Doctor R. D. Mussey of Hanover, N. H., and at Dartmouth College, graduating at that institution in 1828. Soon after he settled in Strafford, where he resided in the practice of medicine until 1837, when he purchased the business and homestead of Doctor Horace Hatch at the southern border of Norwich village, and removing there was engaged in the active pursuit of his professional duties for a period of thirty years, until his sudden decease August 6, 1867. Doctor Converse … Read more