At the first enumeration of the inhabitants of eastern Vermont, as made by the authority of New York in 1771, Norwich was found to be the most populous of all the towns of Windsor County, having forty families and 206 inhabitants. Windsor followed with 203, and Hartford was third with 190. The aggregate population of …
The youngest son of Dr. Joseph and Experience (Burr) Lewis, was born at Norwich, Jan. 19, 1784; studied medicine with his father and at Dartmouth Medical College, where he graduated in 1804; surgeon in the U. S. Army, 1808-1810; afterwards practiced his profession in Norwich. He married Katurah, daughter of Beebe Denison of Stonington, Connecticut, …
The counties of Cumberland and Gloucester had been organized by New York in 1766, out of the territory lying between the Green Mountains and Connecticut River. In the year 1771 a census of these counties was made under the authority of that province. All the towns in Windham and Windsor Counties, as now constituted, belonged …
List of the Principal Pioneer Settlers in Norwich Vermont Read More »
Compiled by Harold F. Wilson, while in Bethel, Vermont, in August, 1948, and completed in his home in Pitman, New Jersey, November, 1948. Material from: (1) James J. Wilson family Bible, notes taken by H. F. W. while convalescing at the M. L. Wilson Homestead in Bethel; (2) conversations with H. F. W.’s Aunt, Miss Susan E. Wilson, and with his Uncle, John J. Wilson; (3) data from two scrapbooks of James J. Wilson at the home on North Main Street, Bethel, just north of Christ Church; (4) letter from Mrs, Jennie Wilson Dustin, of Randolph, Vt., Nov., 1948; (5) material from H. F. W.’s father’s Scrapbook (Guy Wilson’s); (6) data from Charles Knowles Bolton, Scotch-Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America (Boston, 1910); information from Charles A. Hanna, The Scotch-Irish, Vol. II (New York, 1902); also from Osgood, American Colonies in the 18th Century, Vol. III for the Scotch-Irish background, and from Robt. P. Tristram Coffin, The Kennebec, Cradle of Americans (New York, 1938), and from John Fiske, New France and New England (Boston, 1902) for the Merrymeeting Bay episode.
Charles O. Eastman, formerly the Postmaster of Claremont, was born October 25, 1824, in Lisbon, N.H., one of the seven children of Nicholas and Hannah (Baker) Eastman. Until he reached the age of twenty-one years he remained with his parents, receiving his education in the district schools and the Methodist Seminary at Newbury, from which …
Prior to the year 1800, Methodism had scarcely gained a foothold in Vermont. The first Methodist society in the State is said to have been formed at Vershire by Nicholas Suethen in 1796. Two years later, only one hundred church members were returned as residents in the Vershire Circuit, then including the whole of eastern …
History of the Methodist Church at Norwich Vermont Read More »
Born in Norwich, April 3d, 1847, only son of Captain George Musalas and Eliza F. Colvocoresses. During the civil war he served in the navy as captain’s clerk for over two years on board the U. S. ships “Supply” and ” Saratoga.” He was a cadet at Norwich University and subsequently entered the U. S. …
Joseph Savage, born in Hartford, Vt., came to Stowe in 1812, where he resided until his death, in 1838, aged fifty-seven years. R. A. Savage, son of Joseph, born in this town, is a deacon of the Congregational church, at Stowe village. He has served two terms as associate judge. Joseph and his wife were …
Ebenezer Dike emigrated to Morristown from Woodstock, Vt., in 1800, where he commenced a settlement near the center of the town. Linus, his second son, born in Woodstock, reared a family of eight children, five of whom are living. Wilson, the fourth child, resides in this town, on road 47.
John Austin, from Windsor, Vt., located in the western part of the town, in 1810, where he died in 1843, aged seventy years. Enoch, the eldest of his eight children, born in 1804, is still a resident of the town.
Edward C. Willis, superintendent of the State Orphans Home at Atchison, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and came to kansas nearly forty years ago with the equipment and training of a oultured New Englander. His work in this state had been largely of an educational nature, and he had taught, had been superintendent of …
Among the well known and highly respected citizens of northern Idaho who have borne an important part in the development of the state is Chester P. Coburn, of Lewiston, whose name is enrolled among the pioneers who came to this section of the country in 1862. He aided in the organization not only of the …
Samuel Barnes, from Rochester, Vt., came to Stowe in 1838, and located on road 51, upon the farm he still occupies.
Jacob Burton It is quite impossible to indulge in even a brief review of Mr. Burton‘s advent into Norwich from Preston, Conn., without repeating something of what is said of him in other places in this volume. Mr. Burton came to Norwich, to reside, in the latter part of 1765, bringing with him his sons, …
The earliest form of transportation across the Connecticut River between Norwich and Hanover of which we have any information was the canoe of Nathan Messenger, who sometime in the summer of the year 1765 established a hunting camp near the bank of the river, a few rods south of where the west end of Hanover …
History of the Bridges Between Hanover NH and Norwich VT Read More »
The Congregational Church of Norwich is among the oldest of the Congregational churches of Vermont, only four others having preceded it in the date of their organization, viz.: those of Bennington, Newbury, Westminster, and Windsor. It was the earliest and for many years the only ecclesiastical organization in town. Some of the first settlers had …
History of the Congregational Church of Norwich Vermont Read More »
Among the well known educational institutions in our land during the early part of the past century, was the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy, the forerunner of Norwich University, founded by the late Capt. Alden Partridge in 1819, in Norwich, his native town. The corner-stone of the Academy building was placed August 4, 1819, …
American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy Read More »
Simeon Curtis came to Norwich from Lebanon, Connecticut, as early as the year 1773, in which year he was elected one of the town assessors, and located near the south line of the town, on the farm where Henry S. Goddard now lives. Mr. Curtis died in 1779 at the age of fifty-eight years, and …
Ora C. Davis, an esteemed resident of Plainfield, was born in the town of Hartford, Vt., March 8, 1847. His great-grandfather, Jeremiah, was a native of Sutton, N.H. Jeremiah and his father were the first of the name to settle in the part of Grantham, N.H., now called Plainfield. He was a farmer by occupation, …
It is probable that Fairbanks Bush, son of Captain Timothy Bush, came to Norwich with his father when the latter settled in town. His place of birth is not known to us. He first appears as a voter in town in 1807. He married Amy Yeomans. Previous to 1796 he removed to Orange, Vt., but later …
