Burton

Biography of John W. Burton

John W. Burton was born in Lawrence County, Indiana, November 29, 1842. His father, Eli Burton, is a native of North Carolina, and is now in the seventieth year of his age; his grandfather, John H. Burton, was a native of Virginia. Eli Burton migrated to Indiana, when a young man, bought a farm. on which was a small log house, and there the subject of this sketch was born, and there his father continues to live, but the log cabin has given way to a handsome modern residence, surrounded by the broad acres of a well-improved farm, instead of … 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

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

Postmasters and Postal Service in Norwich Vermont

Norwich Vermont Street Scene

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

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 Honorable Daniel Buck

Daniel Buck came to Norwich in 1784 or ’85, and opened the first lawyer’s office in town, on the hill near the old center meeting house, then just being completed and there continued to live and transact business for twenty-five years, or until he removed to Chelsea in 1809. Norwich then contained probably about one thousand inhabitants, but no village, there being at that time not over three or four dwellings where Norwich village now stands. But little is known of Mr. Buck previous to his coming to Norwich. He was born at Hebron, Conn., November 9, 1753, and was … 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

Biography of Joseph Ralph Burton, Hon.

Among the men who have come out of the Hoosier State to aid Kansas in its. real growth and development, there had been no finer man nor better citizen than Hom. Joseph Ralph Burton. Youthful in years as he was in experience when he came to Kansas in 1878, he plunged at once into the heart of affairs and gained ready recognition from the people. Senator Burton had at that time the ability to impress others with his reliability; he gained public confidence; he possessed the power of making people know that his talents were not merely skin deep but … Read more

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

Mrs. Betty Hackney Maynard – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Betty Maynard, 80, a longtime Baker City resident, died Monday, March 25, 2002, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center. Her funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 2177 First St. Betty was born March 12, 1922, at LaMar, Mo., to William H. and Nell Murray Hackney. The family moved to Salem when she was 5 years old. When she was 12 they moved to McMinnville She graduated from high school there. On Aug. 11, 1940, she married John C. Maynard in McMinnville. They moved to Baker City in 1958. Betty worked for … Read more

Free Masonry in Norwich Vermont

It does not appear that any Masonic Lodge has ever existed in Norwich. Quite a number of our citizens, however, as might be expected, have at different times belonged to lodges in adjacent towns. In the list of members of Franklin Lodge, established at Hanover, N. H., in 1796, we find the names of the following Norwich men, with the year of their admission: Reuben Hatch, Freegrace Leavitt (1798), William Sumner (1799), Thomas Brigham, Erastus Leavitt, and Moses Hayward (1800), Reuben Partridge, Andrew Dewey, William Little, Levi Richards, Aaron West (1801-1807), Lyman Lewis, Elijah Slafter, Simon Baldwin, Enos Lewis, Jasper … Read more

Slave Narrative of Mandy Cooper

Interviewer: Wm R. Mays Person Interviewed: Frank Cooper Narrative of: Mandy Cooper Location: 715 Ott St., Franklin, Indiana Died at Age: 115 Wm. R. Mays Dist. 4 Johnson County, Ind. July 29, 1937 SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY FRANK COOPER 715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind. Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to him by his mother. Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she died; she was owned by three different families: the Good’s, the Burton’s, … Read more

History of the Bridges Between Hanover NH and Norwich VT

Norwich-Hanover covered bridge

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 bridge now is. In this canoe the family and household goods of John Hutchinson were brought over from the Hanover side in the late fall of the same year, at the completion of their long journey from Ashford, Conn., to their new home. This family … Read more

Marriages of Charlotte County Virginia, 1784-1815

1911 Map of Charlotte County Virginia

This volume, “Marriages of Charlotte County, Virginia, 1784-1815,” compiles the marriage bonds and minister’s returns from Charlotte County during the specified period. The original work was painstakingly copied by Catherine Lindsay Knorr and published in 1951. The book spans 119 pages and includes a wealth of historical data on marriages that took place in this Virginia county. This publication presents several challenges for readers. Some pages are slightly tattered and torn, and the manuscript features irregular pagination. Additionally, there are tight or nonexistent margins, particularly at the bottom of the pages, and one page is typed on different paper than the rest.

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

1910 Census of Fort Shaw Industrial Indian School

Girls at the Fort Shaw Indian School

Fort Shaw Industrial Indian Boarding School opened in 1891 in Montana. It was discontinued 30 June 1910, due to declining enrollment. In 1904, it had a famous girls’ basketball team that barnstormed its way to St. Louis playing basketball and performing, and won the “World Championship” at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. This census was requested by the Department of the Interior for a listing of all the Indians enrolled at Fort Shaw Indian School for June 1910 in answer to Circular #448. Key to Relation Father – F    Mother – M Sister – S    Brother – B Aunt … 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