Springfield's Unjust Beginning

On August 20, 1761, the town charter was awarded to a bunch of elites 75 miles south who in the following year tried to run out of town those who had previously settled here!


From the Gazetteer of Windsor County, Vt., for 1883-84:

The first settlement within the limits of the township was made as early as 1753, by Daniel SAWTELL, Jacob SAWTELL, Oliver SAWTELL, Combs HOUSE, Oliver FARNSWOTH, Samuel DOUGLASS, Joseph DOUGLASS, Noah PORTER, Nathaniel POWERS, Simeon POWERS and Simeon POWERS, Jr. These settlers, at the close of the French war, made a futile effort to secure from Governor Wentworth a patent of the lands which they had improved. He took no notice of their petition; but, however, on the 20th of August, 1761, gave a charter of the township of Springfield to lawyer Gideon LYMAN and sixty-one associates, the large majority of whom were residents of Northampton, Mass., and its vicinity. No one of these persons became an actual settler, it is believed.

At a meeting of the proprietors, held in Northampton, on the 19th of July, 1762, measures were taken to secure the ejectment of the first settlers from the lands which they occupied. This action resulted in judgment against "John NOTT and others," in the spring of 1764. NOTT and most of his associates, however, became permanent residents of the town. The first settler under the charter was John KILBURN, who is said to have purchased a right in 1761, and to have entered upon it shortly after. As the first allotment of land among the proprietors was made on the 21st of June, 1762, he could not have been in possession previous to that date.



This and other interesting bits of local history can be found on the website of the North School Preservation Society which has placed dozens of local history links at the top of its home page.