The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-06-06
Burlington and Colchester Got Mixed

How many of our readers have
ever heard that the territory called
Burlington was deprived of her
rightful name? That tale, whether
fiction or fact was printed in an At
las of Chittenden county published by
Beers, Ellis and Soule, in 1869. A
copy of that book is in existence The
story goes that Burlington and Col
chester were chartered on the same
day and like Gilbert's babies the
charters got mixed and Colchester
and Burlington changed places on the
map
The historian who developed this
story names no authority for his al
legged history His sketch of the his
tory of Colchester tells the alleged
fact as follows:
Colchester was one of the Hamp-
shire grants. II was chartered June
7, 1863 to Edward Burling and sixty
six others in 20 shares as a six mile
square township, 2S.04O acres. There
is however but 10000 acres of land
aside from the waters of Malletts bay
which extends from the western
range of the township each about two
and half miles towards the center
There were ten grantees in the char
ter of the name of Burlington: and
as this town and Burlington were
chartered the same day, ii is sup
psed that by some mixing up of
clerks or papers Burlington got the
name that belonged to Colchester
In his sketch of Burlington the his
f,Rf 90 he. ~ h. Dr.
lings were not among grantees of
the town but owned several tracts of
land in it, and occupied after the
charter was granted. The origin of
the name of Burlington is not definite
ly known but probably comes from
the Burling family of Westchester
county New York Colchester first
had the courts but they were remov-
ed by legislation to Burlington in
1890 The legislature held its SEES
sion here in 1902.
Who knows what the vision of
Joseph Hoag was who 'labored for
the diffusion of the gospel in Char
lotte? He was one of the earlier set
tiers and his remarkable vision"
about 1903 attracted much attention
|
the settlers were at first obliged to
go to Whitehall to mill. When they
came to Charlotte first some came
by boats and some on horseback by
blazed trees" Gen. Hezekiah Bar
mes and his wife came to Charlotte
in this way each bringing two chill
dren one on the horse behind and
one before" Surely the earlier set
tiers had great difficulties to sur
mount There was what almost
amounted to a famine. The town
had its whipping post and stock
which stood in front of Mr.. Strongs
residence" This veracious chroni-
cler tells many more interesting
things about the towns of the county
In Essex the first man appointed
postmaster was Ralph Rice but, de-
clining to serve William Farrar was
appointed in his stead The p o.
was at Pages corners, so was the
first tavern. In few years the post
Office died out for want of support
and for nearly 20 years there was
none in town. In 1926 to 90 the p.
o. was re-established at Buffers Cor
ners and Roswell Butler was appoint
ed postmaster His compensation
for the year was 1896.
The settlers who came to Vermont
in those heroic days were strong,
courageous and God fearing people
The story is practically the same in
all the towns. These pioneers were
the enterprising men of the world
They we're seeking peace and quiet
But they did not always find it, as
the Indians were still numerous. The
first thing to do was to secure site
and build a block house. Then farm
ing began for sustenance and mills
to saw and grind. Then they organ
lied a simple government, followed
at once by churches and seminaries
and academies. 1t was their pur-
pose to found a great commonwealth
of good people with religious scrup-
les and strong corner stone of edu-
cation. That is why Vermont has
. always been nursery for men,
RurIiu ptnn Nawg