Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-06
The Cambridge Centennial.

The attention of the citizens of the
town of Cambridge is called to the sub
Joined letter, to the fact that this year
1S73-is the centennial year of the old
town. Measures should be taken at the
respective town meetings to properly
commemorate the event.
1t is probably not generally known
that the present is the centennial year of
the organization of the town Of Cam
bridge The first town meeting was
held at the house of Capt John Wood,
on the first Tuesday in May, 1773. New
York was at that time a province of
Great Britain. and Albany county ex-
tended to the Battenkill all north and
east OF the Battenkill was called Char
lotte county. New York claimed that
her line extended to the Connecticut
river on the other hand the province of
New Hampshire claimed to the Hudson
river, and thus the territory between the
two rivers was disputed ground. A ter
riblc feud among the settlers ensued
The anti-rcnt troubles, of which we
know something, were tritiing in com
parisOn. Benning Wentworth was the
Provincial Governor OF New Hampshire,
and to strengthen the claims of his prov
ince to the disputed territory, issued
Gland grants to persons who would set
tie the territory in dispute. All theland
about Bennington, SALISBURY and other
parts Of Vermont was taken up by what
were termed Hampshire Grants" Ben
nington was named for Benning Went
worth, the Governor, who issued the
grants Four years subsequent to the
organization of Cambridge (1777) Col.
Baum came through the valley with two
hundred men and one hundred Indians,
on his way to Bennington. When Baum
left Burgoyne's army north of Schuyler
vile, he had to chop road the entire
way to Cambridge valley. AS there was
no bridge across the Battenkill, he had
to 90 ronnd the bend of the XIII at
Greenwich After he came up the hill
from the Hudson river he went south to
near the residence of John Eldridge,
thence east by the residence of John SAT-
ford to Mr.. Eddy's foundery, thence
south along the creek to the first left
hand road, thence eastward to the resi-
dence of Mr.. Tabor, thence eastwardly
by the residence of the late Matthew
Hillman, over the hill as the road now
runs to the residence of the late Hon.
Peter Hill. The whole road had to be
chopped in order that cannon and bag
gage wagons could pass. When the
army arrived in Cambridge valley they
found the few log houses deserted, and
all the stock and every movable thing
of value carried away. The inhabitants
fled in the greatest CONSERVATION, for the
Indians secuted ahead and began to show
themselves three days before the arrival
of the army on the Cambridge flat. AT
ter the Revolutionary war; Congress
organized the State of Vermont out of
the disputed territory, leaving New York
a strip of land east of the Hudson river,
twenty miles wide to the head of Lake
Champlain, and this is now our beloved
Washington county. In 1916 jackson
and White Creek was erected from por-
tions of Cambridge. One hundred years
have now sunk into oblivion since. Cam
bridge had name, and all who assisted
to establish it have gone to their rest;
vet it is most agreeable reflection to
know, as it is personally to the writer
of this article, that the high standards of
morality and the christianity set up by
the noble men.and women who were the
pioneers of the old town of Cambridge
are to-day carried with firm and CON
slant hands by their lineal descendants.
Cambridge Post.