Windsor County VT Genealogy – Page 3 of 8

Biographical Sketch of Deacon Israel Newton

The inventor of the well known medical preparations widely known as “Newton’s Bitters,” “Newton’s Pills,” &c, and sold extensively for many years throughout New England and New York, died here in Norwich in January, 1856, seventy-three years of age. Doctor Newton was a thoroughly educated physician, though not in general practice of his profession, and was much respected as a man and a citizen. Besides his medicines, which were valuable, he invented and built a church organ, which was placed in the old first church and was there used for many years. He was gifted with rare mechanical skill, which … Read more

Biography of Edwin K. Burnham

EDWIN K. BURNHAM A BUSY, representative man, who has faithfully served his country both in a military and civil capacity, is the Hon. Edwin K. Burnham, the present careful, efficient superintendent of public buildings of the state of New York, whose official residence is now in Albany. In his veins flow the blood of the loyal, patriotic, enterprising race of New Englanders. Vermont is his native state, and in the rural town of Randolph – named, we believe, in honor of the famous Virginian orator and statesman John Randolph – he was born on the 8th of September, 1839. His … Read more

Windsor County, Vermont Census

1790 Windsor County, Vermont Census Free 1790 Census Form for your Research Hosted at Ancestry.com – Ancestry Free Trial 1790 Windsor County, Census (images and index) $ Hosted at Census Guide 1790 U.S. Census Guide 1800 Windsor County, Vermont Census Free 1800 Census Form for your Research Hosted at Ancestry.com – Ancestry Free Trial 1800 Windsor County, Census (images and index) $ Hosted at Census Guide 1800 U.S. Census Guide 1810 Windsor County, Vermont Census Free 1810 Census Form for your Research Hosted at Ancestry.com – Ancestry Free Trial 1810 Windsor County, Census (images and index) $ 1810-1890 Accelerated … Read more

Curtis Family of Norwich Vermont

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 his grave is found in the old cemetery at Norwich village among the graves of other early settlers and near that of his gifted son, Abel Curtis, who survived his father only four years. But little is now known of the Curtis family, as its … Read more

History of Norwich Vermont Education

High School Building, Norwich Village, Erected in 1898

From the town records it appears that the first attempt to divide the town into school districts, was at a town meeting held November 19, 1782, when John Slafter, Elijah Brownson, Ithamar Bartlett, Joseph Loveland, Paul Bingham, Joseph Hatch, Daniel Baldwin, Abel Wilder and Samuel Brown, Jr., were made a committee for that purpose. Soon thereafter the committee reported that they “could effect nothing on the business of their appointment,” and were discharged. No further move in town meeting towards districting the town for school purposes appears to have been made until March 30, 1785, when, on petition of persons … Read more

Biography of Charles H. Chandler

As state architect Charles H. Chandler had charge of some of the most important administrative and executive functions exercised by the state government. For many years before his appointment to the present office Mr. Chandler was recognized as one of the most competent and successful contractors and architects, and he had rendered valuable service since he became state architect in May, 1909, by appointment from Governor Stubbs. In 1911 he was resppointed by Governor Stubbs and had continued in the position under subsequent administrations. It will serve to indicate the importance of his office to mention some of the larger … Read more

Biography of George Edward Reed

GEORGE EDWARD REED – Laundry interests in Western Massachusetts have a most satisfactory representative in the Amherst Laundry Company, of which George Edward Reed is the president, and whose prominent place in Amherst industry he was the means of securing, through a far-sighted and successful endeavor to establish an up-to-date plant. Mr. Reed is an expert man in his calling; he has spent practically all his career in the one line of business; and he is highly regarded by his associates and by the general public. He is of Vermont parentage and ancestry, his grandfather, David Swan Reed, a farmer, … Read more

History of the Congregational Church of Norwich Vermont

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 been members of this church in Connecticut before settling here. These would naturally associate themselves for public worship, and as early as June, 1770, by the aid, it is said, of Reverend Peter Powers, the pioneer minister of Newbury, the nucleus of a church was … Read more

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

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

Biography of Doctor Joseph Lewis

Doctor Lewis was the son of William and Naomi Lewis was born at Old Lyme, Connecticut, in November, 1746, and came to Norwich, Vermont, in 1767. During his minority young Lewis showed a fondness for the study of medicine and devoted much of his time during the last years previous to his leaving Connecticut to the study of that science. After settling in Norwich he devoted a year or two to further study, after which he commenced the practice of medicine and continued in practice for more than fifty-five years. During a large portion of this time (from 1785 to … 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

Migration of Families out of Norwich VT

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 county (ten towns reported) was then but 1,205, mostly confined to the first and second tiers of towns west of the Connecticut River. Twenty years later, in 1791, Hartland led all the towns of the county with 1,652 inhabitants, Woodstock and Windsor coming next … Read more

Biography of John P. Rounsevel

John P. Rounsevel, formerly a well-known wool buyer of Claremont, was born in Unity, N.H., January 2, 1815, son of Royal and Betsey (Sweat) Rounsevel. Rounseville, the original spelling of the name, was changed to the present form by Joseph Rounsevel about the year 1768. In 1749 Thomas Rounseville wrote from Ottery St. Mary to Philip Rounseville, of England, who afterward came to this country. He settled in Freetown, Mass., and was called by the townspeople King Philip. His son Joseph, who, born January 3, 1737, died in 1827, went to Washington, N.H., between 1768 and 1772, from Middleboro, Mass., … Read more

Biography of Fairbanks Bush

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 returned to Norwich, where he died February 24, 1873, lacking but twelve hours of having rounded out a life period of one hundred years. Fairbanks Bush was Norwich’s minstrel poet. We are told that the spirit of our modern age is unfavorable to poetry. However … Read more

Biography of Julian Lee Perkins

President of the Perkins Appliance Company, Incorporated, of Springfield, Massachusetts, one of the outstanding industries of a great industrial community, is a native of Vermont. He bears a name which appeared in English history back in the reign of Richard II. He was born in Bridgewater, Vermont, August 23, 1879, and attended the public and high schools at Woodstock, Vermont. His father, Charles A. Perkins, likewise born in Bridgewater, was a farmer. His mother, Eliza M. (Dinsmore) Perkins, was born in Lansing, Michigan. The name was derived from Peterkin, and had several spellings. Peter Morley, Esquire, alias Perkins, was an … Read more

Biography of Honorable Daniel Azro Ashley Buck

Daniel Azro Ashley Buck, the eldest son of Honorable Daniel and Content (Ashley) Buck, was born at Norwich, Vt, April 19, 1789. He received a collegiate education, graduating at Middlebury in 1807, in the same class with William Slade and Stephen Royce, a class which is said to have contained more eminent men in proportion to its numbers than can be matched in the record of any American college. The following year he graduated from West Point Military Academy, and was appointed second lieutenant of engineers, to date from January 25, 1808. Oliver G. Burton, a native of Norwich but … Read more

Biography of Dr. Henry Foster

Dr. Henry Foster was born in the town of Norwich, Vermont, January 18, 1821. He was the son of Henry and Polly (Hubbard) Foster, who were the owners of a farm of six hundred acres of intervale land, and were apparently established for life in a beautiful home. As one of a family of seven children, Dr. Foster spent a happy and healthful childhood. When he was fourteen years of age financial reverses came to the family and they removed to western New York and from thence to Ohio, where the boys of the family made a home and cared … Read more

First Settlements in Norwich Vermont

Having glanced thus briefly at the action of the Norwich proprietors in opening a way to reach their new township in the wilderness, and in dividing up a portion of its surface into lots suitable to become the homesteads of future settlers, let us pause a moment and see what had meantime been done in the work of actual settlement. I am indebted to Rev. Edmund F. Slafter of Boston for an interesting account of what was unquestionably the first attempt at settlement made within the limits of the town. I quote from the Slafter Memorial: “Samuel Slafter [of Mansfield, … Read more

Biography of Frank T. Vaughan

Frank T. Vaughan, one of the younger lawyers of Newport, was born May 4, 1864, in Woodstock, Vt., son of Edwin and Elizabeth L. (Tenney) Vaughan. The father, who graduated at the Albany Law School, New York, followed the legal profession, and at the time of his death was Judge of Probate. Edwin Vaughan commenced his law practice in New York City; but in 1859 he removed to Claremont, N.H., and entered into partnership with Colonel Alexander Gardner. In 1861 he enlisted in the New Hampshire Battalion of the First Rhode Island Volunteer Cavalry, and was afterward transferred to the … Read more