The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1867-10-08
To ne IAnahOlders and ne Legal Proa~s-
ION In Vermont,
Rrr1Axp CoVxTr Clrnks OFFeF.
gat,trs5ker 9Q 1867

II Is known 0Al4 ~ fe@ ~ Nhe IT.
pfiotors u lands aud lAnd.holders IN
tins State. that the records o. lands Of
large portion Of The towns, A. weil on
The east sido 81 the mountain a. on the
west, from the earliest settlement of the
State 10 tho Declaration a Independ-
enoe Of the State Ia 1T77. and even since
that time. are recorded in this Office.
The reasons for this. withou, going
into the history Of the organization Of
tho State. and in q few words. Is this
The territory on the west side Of the
mountain. which in TIA constituted the
county Of Charlotte, was in iT79 erected
into one county, by the name Of the
county Of bennington, except small
portion Of which for a time was styled
tho county Of Albany, and extended on
the west line Of the State 10 Canada
line, thence ON that line 80 far on tho
east side Of the mountain as 10 comprise
most of the towns on that side then
settled The remaining territory on
the east side Of the mountain was en-
braced in Cumberland County. Many
deeds also IN the towns now comprised
in the counties OF Windsor and Wind
ham are here recorded. Thus deeds
from almost all parts Of tho State, from
l76l, the date OF the earliest, continued
to be recorded in this office, until the
constitution in l775 and the Legislature
by Act Of 1873, made provision requir-
ing conveyaneos of lands to be rocoded
in the office OF the clerk OF tho town in
which tho land hes.
When these records camo into tho
hands Of tho present incumbent OF this
Office, they were in no proper condition
for reference; the first volume was
merely stitched together, unboundwi
newspaper cover, and without any
index, and the indcx OF all the volumes
were very imperfect and not such as are
now required by law in all town clerks
Offices; were not arranged alphabetical
" in the names Of the grantor and
grantee, but under the towns, the names
OF many OF which had long since chang
ed or become obsolete. II was abso-
lutely necessary, in order to refer to
them with any hope Of success, that
they should be thoroughly examined
page by page, and such an index made
MS would enable one to find not only
the grantor Of n deed, but the grantee.
II is also known to but few Of tho
legal profession of the State, that the
dockets, records and files Of the Su-
preme Court are deposited in this Office
when such court was held alternately
on the east and west side Of the noun
tain in almost every important town in
tho State, previous 10 the established
organization OF the Supreme Court in
each county, separately and indepen-
dent of each other.
The dockets came into my hands
from every comfy in the State, in every
form and size, with paper covers and
without indexes. The files being pro-
micously tied together in bundles, with
out any form or arrangement whatever,
it was almost impossible TO find any pa
per inquired for, however important
1t was only through an index partially
made that two gentlemen from Canada
we're enabled to find two documents OF
which they we're in search.
SO valuable we're these papers that
most of the compilation of Mr. Slade in
bis State papers was taken from them,
aud 80 looslely were they held that
some OF them taken for public purposes
have not been returned.
When the attention Of Chief Justice
Williams was called to the subject, such
was the interest he took in this matter.
that he Immediately procured On order
signed by all the Judges Of the Supreme
and County Courts directing the clerk
of this county to make general index
of al the deeds recorded in volumes,
which has been done.
Second-The dockets OF the Supreme
and County Courts to be arranged and
bound, which has been done In volumes.
Thirdly--The files Of the Supreme
Court TO be collected, arranged. num-
bercd and bound, which has been done
in ten volumes, and general index OF
the whole has been made.
Fourthly-The index Of tho causes
on the dockets Of the Supreme Court
has not yet been completed, although
much has been done, and some time YET
viii be required to accomplish it.
/ All this has been done at great labor
and deyoting such time, for several
years, az could be obtained from the
ordinary and daily duties Of the Office
and some Of it has been procured by the
clerk 10 be done, at his own expensee,
4 finding no more time to devote TO il.
4 II is proposed by those interested in
the early settlement Of the State andes
pecially by the land-holders, that the
index Of deeds before mentioned. II tho
Legislature shall so direct, be publish
in ID pamphlet form, in a cheap manner.
and bo distributed TO every town clerk
ia the State, affording thereby an easy