The Bennington daily banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1877-1877, 1877-08-15

THE FOUNDERS OF VERMONT AND THE
nay WE CELEBRATE.


ment of Bennington, the cradle of its
infancy. In January 1749 parties from
Portsmouth, N. II. obtained from her
Governor, Benning Wentworth, in the
name of King George the Second, a
grant of land six miles square, six miles
north of Massachusetts, line and twenty
miles east of the, Hudson: Among the.no-
table features of this charter were the
provisions reserving one of the original
81 shares for the first settled minister,
and one for schools. This township
called Bennington after the name Of
the New Hampshire governorremained
a wilderness for thirteen years until
Captain Samuel Robinson, returning
from the French War, saw and liked
the country, and witt. his companions
brought out the original grantees and
came hither. This Samuel Robinson
was moderator of the first proprietors
meeting and John Fassett clerk; the
first public meeting as town taking
place Feb. 18th, 1862. The first emf.
grafton took place June 18th, 176l, and
consisted of Peter and Eleazar Har-
wood; Samuel and Timothy Pratt OF
Amherst, Mass, and Samuel and Leon
ard Robinson of Hardwick, Mass, with
their families, in all twenty-five persons.
During the summer and fall Samuel
Robinson. and John Fassett of Hard
wick, Mass. Joseph Stafford, John
Smith, John Burnham and Benajah
Rood froml, Newint, Conn, Elisha
Field and Samuel Montague from Sun
derland. Mass, and several others ar
rived with their families to the number
of some thirty additional persons. The
first work was to fix place for "the
meeting house, which was first occu.
pied in 1866, but not entirely finished
evidently until 1774. This injecting
house" seems also to have served as a
town house when necessary. In it
thanks ss:.were given for Ticonderoga,
and so warmly did Parson Dewey give
the glory to Almighty God that Ethan
Allen interrupted Ehim with "Please
mention to the Lord about my being
there" here this same Parson Dewey
preacheda war sermon the Sunday be-
fore Bennington here the Hessians
captured in that battle were confined ;
here the first Legislature met in June
IT'S; here the, General Assembly OF
1873, and that of 1880 met and several
successive Legislatures. This meeting
house" was also once used as a court
house. The first test of the mettle OF
the new settlement was the celebrated
Gland Title Controversy" which orig
mated in 1853, Dec. %, when Governo
Golden of N. Y, by proclamation
claimed jurisdiction for New York az
far as the Connecticut River under al
old, absurd and untenable charter grant
ed in 1865 by Charles the Second tc
his brother the Duke of York. This
charter to the Duke of York applied
alike to Connecticut and Massachusetts
as it gave the Duke of York all lands
from the west side of the Connecticut
River to the east side of Delaware Bay
and was therefore stupidity inconsistent
with previous charters. Upto the dat
of Governor Coldens proclamation NJ
jurisdiction had ever been asserted, anC
at this time 124 land patents had beer
issued by Wentworth; valuable i'm
provements had been made, when sud
denly these hardy settlers found them
selves threatened with loss of hous
and land on writs of ejectment unles
they repurchased the lands they ha'
already paid for and improved at
ruinous price from the greedy NeN
York land spectators to whom Ian
patentsIhad been issued by Golden. AL
surd as this claim was in law and equit
the Vermonters would have submitte
if this proclamation of Golden ha
only meant change of prosperity
Jurisdiction, but the Y orkers" insiste
not only on Jurisdiction but on thei
right to all the lands that had been PR
viously sold by New Hampshire, an
to retrospective Jurisdiction. Governo
Golden thus granted over two million
of acres in Vermont to land speculi
tors, officials, &c, and Gov. Golden pu
in his pocket $4,000 of fees, so tina
the men of Bennington had good cas-
both in law and equity and resisted
robbery that to most of them mean
abject poverty. There followed one c
the most singular contests in history,
bitter, determined, effectual resistanc
on the part of the settlers to the legd
officers of New York which Taste
from 1894 to 1870, remarkable also 70
its bloodlessness, for not a man wa
killed, not even a gun fred by the Sc
tiers during the whole struggle. TIL
principal leaders of the settlers PR
vious to the Revolution were the Gel,
brated Ethan Allen, and Seth Warne
Allen came to Bennington from Litcl
field, Conn, about 1869, and lived Z
Bennington until he was taken prisonC
in 1775. Warner came also from Coz
necticut in January 1865, and remain
ed here until 1884 when he removed {