Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-05-19

william Utley, Thomas Hill, ana stephen
Cozwell.
The colonial assembly of New York
passed, March "a, 1772, an act relating to
Cumberland county containing among 9th
er provisions:
Nv And be il further enacted by the authority
aforesaid, that theJudges and Justices of the Peace
of the said County shall assemble and meet to
gether at the Court House in the said Township
of Chester on the first Tuesday in May next and
that they or the major Part Of them so to be
sembled shall and they hereby are authorized and
required to form divide and distinguish such Parts
of the said County as are not erected into Town
ships under the Great Seal Of this Colony into
convenient Districts Of which description shall
be made in writing and subscribed by them and
filed with the Clerk of the said County. and the
same shall be recorded by him in a Book to be
kept for that Purpose. Aud the said Districts so
to be formed shall remain and continue Districts
until the same shall be erected into Townships by
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Col
ony"
And 1t shall and may be lawful to and for the
Freeholders and Inhabitants of each respective
District on the third Tuesday in May next TO elect
and choose from among the Freehoders and In
habitants of the same respectively one supervisor
two Assessors two Collectors, two Overseers OF
the Poor, three Commissioners for laying out the
Highways and also so many persons to be Sur
veyors and 0verseers of the Highways as the
major Part of the FreehOlders and Inhabitants Of
each Town and District shall judge necessary
two Fence Viewers and four constables'
The act further authorized the districts
to elect the same officers as towns until or
ganized into towns. The judges and JUS
tees met accordingly and divided the coun-
ty into districts. In this division
THE 9th District comprehends Rockingham.
10th District comprehends Tomlinson and the
lands to the Southwark not erected into a
Township as far South as Townsend line and to
the Northward of an East and West line from
thence to the West bounds Of Westminster and
the Lands not Erected into Townships to the
Westward as far as the West bounds of the
County.
18th District comprehends Townsend and the
Lands partly to the Eastward thereof not erect
ed into Township, and the Lands TO the West
ward thereof not erected into Townships to the
West bounds of the County.
18th District comprehends New Fame and the
Lands not erected into Township to the West
thereof as far as the west bounds Of the County.
18th District comprehends Fulham.
14th District comprehends Marlborough.
18th District comprehends so much of Whining.
ton or Draper as lieth within the County and
extends West to the County line.
10th District comprehends Halifax.
18th District comprehends Guilford.
18th District comprehends Hnsdale.'
Tomlinson is now Grafton; New Fame
had not then been chartered by New York |;
Fulham is now Dummerston, and Hins-
dale is now Vernon. These proceedings
account for the references to districts in
the records of some towns, notably, in
those of Dummerston and Guilford
The preamble to the constitution of Yer
mont cut the New York charters and grants
up by the roots, and the legislature regranted
the lands not before granted by the govern
or of New Hampshire. In Newfane and
Westminster the land titles are sometimes
said to have been derived from the New
York charters; but those New York char
tiers merely confirmed the New Hampshire
charters and the titles under them rest
back upon the latter.
A writer for Thompson's Gazetteer in
1928 stated with reference to the charter
of Guilford that by it Power was given
to the grantees to transact the business of
the town as a majority should see fit, sub
ject only to the control of the Parliament
of England" and that the settlers "as-
sumed the title which was virtually created
by their charter of little independent re-
public" This statement has been follow
ed and enlarged upon in THE Rangers, -
as cause of the rapid early growth of
that town, and been brought into this
book. But the charter contains no such
provision; it is the same in this respect as
those of all the other towns having New
Hampshire charters whereby the inhab-
itants are declared ''tO be Enfranchised
with IL Instituted to all Il every the Priv
hCSco N IluuuLltltS LlldI OlllcI lOWuS NllI-
in our said Province by Law Exercise &
Enjoy"
Gallup's Canada was granted to the de-
scendants of the soldiers of Capt. Gallup's
company in the Canadian expedition over
40 years after the service for which it was
granted, when they had become numerous,
and the rapid growth of Guilford is prob
ably due to their becoming actual settlers.
BrattlebOro was organized as a town I'M
der the laws of the colony of New York
on the first Tuesday in March, 176S, and
was the first to be organized in the county.
Dover was organized as a town on the first
Tuesday in March, 1871, having previously
been the South District of Wardsboro, and
is the last. Acton, the last before Dover,
was organized on the first Tuesday in
March, 1901, and became part of Towns
heud February l, 1851. No change in
the number or names of towns in this
county has been made since.