History Topics – Page 11 of 155

List of the Principal Pioneer Settlers in Norwich Vermont

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 to Cumberland County; the remaining portion of the state to the north-ward, then mostly unsettled, was called the county of Gloucester. By the census of 1771, the population of the two counties of Cumberland and Gloucester was returned as 4669, (Cumberland, 3947; Gloucester, 722). Norwich … 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

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

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

Norwich as a Province of New Hampshire

“George the Third by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come, greeting, Know ye, that We of our special grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, for the due encouragement of settling a new plantation within our said Province, by and with the advice of our trusty and well-beloved Benning Wentworth, Esq., our Governor and Commander in Chief of our said Province of New Hampshire, in New England, and of our council of said Province, have upon the conditions and reservations hereinafter made, … 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

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

Autauga County Alabama Officials 1819-1870

James Jackson represented the county in the constitutional convention of 1819; George Rives, sr., in that of 1861; and Benjamin Fitzpatrick in that of 1865, over which he presided. The following is a list of the members of the general assembly from the county 1819-Howell Rose. 1822-Dunklin Sullivan. 1825-James Jackson. 1828-William R. Pickett. 1831-William R. Pickett. 1834-Robert Broadnax. 1837-Samuel S. Simmons. 1841-Dixon Hall. 1843-William t. Yancey. Senators. 1844-Sampson W. Harris. 1847-Seth P. Storrs. 1849–Seth P. Storrs. 1853-Thomas H. Watts. 1855 -Adam C. Felder. 1857-Adam C. Felder. 1861—Samuel F. Rice. 1865–Adam C. Felder. [No election in 1867 or since,] Representatives. 1819-P. … Read more

The Hudson River

The Hudson River has played a prominent roll in the history of the State of New York and America. This collection of writings documents a writers sojourn along the Hudson River as he explains in poignant language the features, locations, history and tales of the Hudson River.

From Hudson to Albany along the Hudson River

Directly opposite Hudson, and connected with it by ferry, is the classically named village of Athens. An old Mahican settlement known as Potick was located a little back from the river. We are now in the midst of the great Ice Industry “Ice Industry,” which reaches from below Staatsburgh to Castleton and Albany, well described by John Burroughs in his article on the Hudson: “No man sows, yet many men reap a harvest from the Hudson. Not the least important is the ice harvest, which is eagerly looked for, and counted upon by hundreds, yes, thousands of laboring men along … Read more

Narrative of Lewis Solomon

Lewis Solomon was the youngest son of William Solomon, who was born in the closing years of the last century, of Jewish and Indian extraction. This William Solomon lived for a time in Montreal, but entered the service of the North-West Company and drifted to the “Sault’, and Mackinaw. Having become expert in the use of the Indian tongue, he was engaged by the British Government as Indian interpreter at the latter post during the War of 1812. During his sojourn at Mackinaw he married a half-breed woman named Miss Johnston, the union resulting in a family of ten children, … Read more

Great Osage Village of Kansas – White Hair

The one village of the Great Osages on the Neosho mentioned by Colonel Sibley was that of White Hair. It was established about the year 1815, as noted before. In 1796 when the Arkansas band was induced to settle on the Lower Verdigris by Chouteau a trail from these Lower Towns to the old home on the Little Osages, in Vernon County, Missouri, where Pike had found the Osage Nation, was marked, and thenceforth used by traders and Indians alike. This trail followed up the Marmaton, in what is now Bourbon County, Kansas. It crossed over to the waters of … Read more

A Short History of Michilimakinak

No more colorful settlement existed in the Middle West than the mission and fort at the Straits of Mackinac, for the French early realized its importance and directed their westward explorations from this base. The concentration point for the fur trade of the Middle West, Mackinac held an important place for many years, both during the British and American regimes.

Miscellaneous Notes In The Mackinac Registers

In the original Mackinac Register these are scattered through the register, in the neighborhood of entries on other subjects. They are here brought together under one head. July 22, 1787, after invoking the enlightenment of the Holy Ghost, we, the undersigned, elected by a majority of votes, as church wardens of the church of Ste. Anne de Michilimakina, messieurs Ch. Chaboillé and Daniel Bourassa, who formally promised and undertook to care for the interests of the Said Church as their own and on their soul and conscience. In testimony whereof they have signed with us. Payet, missionary priest. Chles Chaboillez; … Read more

The English In Georgia

History of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period

We have shown that South Carolina had been established as a colony for some years, that its seat of government was at Charleston, and that its inhabitants, in endeavoring to extend the English trade to all the Western Indian nations as far as the Mississippi river, had many conflicts and difficulties with the French, who occupied the territory of Alabama. They were also constantly opposed by the Spaniards of the Floridas. In order to interpose a barrier to these foes, as well as to protect the citizens from the attacks of the Creek Indians, the King of England and the … Read more

Terrible Massacre at Fort Mims

In the meantime, the wealthy half-bloods about Little river had dropped down the Alabama, in their boats, and had secreted themselves in the swamp about Lake Tensaw. Uniting with the whites, they soon began the construction of a fort around the residence of Samuel Mims, a wealthy Indian countryman, to whom we have often alluded, and who, originally, was one of the pack-horsemen of the Honorable George Galphin. Being about to relate a horrible affair, in which people of all ages and both sexes were subjected to savage butchery, a particular description of the place where it occurred is deemed … Read more

Terrible Massacre At Natchez

The colony of Louisiana was now in a flourishing condition; its fields were cultivated by more than two thousand Negroes; cotton, indigo, tobacco and grain were produced; skins and furs of all descriptions were obtained in a traffic with the Indians; and lumber was extensively exported to the West India islands. The province was protected by eight hundred troops of the line; but the bloody massacre of the French population of Fort Rosalie, at the Natchez, arrested these rapid strides of prosperity, and shrouded all things in sadness and gloom. Our library contains many accounts of this horrible affair, which harmonize very well with each other; but in reference to the causes which led to it, more particularly, we propose to introduce the statement of Le Page Du Pratz, who was residing in Louisiana at the time.

Battle of Burnt Corn

Map of the War in South Alabama 1813-1814

Peter McQueen, at the head of the Tallase warriors; High Head Jim, with the Autaugas, and Josiah Francis, with the Alabamas, numbering in all three hundred and fifty, departed for Pensacola with many pack-horses. On their way they beat and drove off all the Indians who would not take the war talk. The brutal McQueen beat an unoffending white trader within an inch of his life, and carried the wife of Curnells, the government interpreter, a prisoner to Pensacola. The village of Hatchechubba was reduced to ashes. The inhabitants of the Tombigby and the Tensaw had constantly petitioned the governor … Read more

Battles of Tallasehatche, Talladega and Auttose

The arrival of an express at Nashville, with letters from Mr. George S. Gaines to General Jackson and the governor, conveying the distressing intelligence of the massacre at Fort Mims, and imploring their assistance, created great excitement, and the Tennesseans volunteered their services to avenge the outrage. General Jackson, at the head of a large force, passed through Huntsville, crossed the Tennessee at Ditto’s Landing, and joined Colonel Coffee, who had been dispatched in advance, and who had encamped opposite the upper end of an island on the south side of the river, three miles above the landing. Remaining here … Read more