The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-06-01

which might be appropriately styled the" Gem
of the Connecticut Valley" There is not an
other town of its population in the whole
length of this fertile valley that presents SO
many and varied attractions as home.
The village of Bradford is the most impor-
portant trading point in Orange county, To-
Gated on the Passumpsic River Railroad, now
operated as the Passumpsic Division of the
Boston & Maine Railroad, and is about mid
way between the north and the south lines of
the state. Its location is one of the most
beautiful and advantageous that could be i'm
agined. The business and residence portion
of the village, with its greatest length from
north to south, is built upon natural terrace
high upon the side of the green hills which
border the Connecticut upon the west From
tanned views, especially those towards the
east, of surprising grandeur, including the
broad eXpanse of the valley below dotted here
and there with tidy farm houses surrounded
by their cultivated fields, while just beyond
are the towns Of Piermont and Haverhill,
n. H., backed by the rugged forms OF Mt.
Moosilauke and Mt. Lafayette in the distance.
Then in the southern portion of the village,
where the lovely little stream digniied by
the name of Waits River experiences troub-
lesome time passing over series of precipices,
many bright bit of rustic scenery stands out
in strong relief. 1t would be tedious to at
tempt to describe the beauties with which the
village Of Bradford is surrounded. Long be-
fore the end of few days visit to the place
our stock of expletives is exhausted, and, as
we realize the extent and beauty of the scenes
midst which we are placed silence seems the
best expression for the rapture with which
we are filed.
Bit of Early History.
Surveys were made in the neighborhood of
what is now known as Bradford as early as
1l60, in which year the governor of New
Hampshire commissioned one Joseph Banch-
ard, of Dunstable, in that state, to make a
survey of the Connecticut River northward
from No. 4, as Charlestown, n. H.. was then
called, and it is on account of the unfairness
of this and other ancient surveys that the
town of Bradford is so much smaller than the
average of other towns in Orange County.
The first settlers of Waits River Town, or
WaitstOwn, as Bradford was originally called,
came as adventurers, and took up land by
what was styled "pitches" without authority
from anybody. This mode of procedure con-
tinued from the first settlement by John Os-
mer, or Hosmer. on the north side of Waits
River at its confluence with the Connecticut,
in 1865, to the year 1710. AT this time the
settlers numbering 30, they applied for
charter and received il from George the
Third, ,"by the grace of God. of Great Britain, |
France and Ireland King defender of the faith |
and SO FORTH" ON MAY 3, 100. This charter |
changed the name Waitstown TO Mooretown
in honor of Sir Henry Moore. Baronet, but in |
11sS the General Assembly of Vermont in a
session at Manchester changed this name to |
Bradford, probably after Bradford, Mass,
and in 1871 granted the township to Israel
Smith, Alexander Harvey and James White /
law.
The first town meeting of which any record 1
has been preserved was held In 1113, when 4
Stevens Mcconnell was elected town clerk. Ii 1
was held at the house Of Samuel McDuffee.
who was drowned in Connecticut River in