"This town was chartered in 1761. The time of its organization is not known as one Bisco, a Tory, the town clerk in 1777, destroyed the records. It is finely watered by Green River, Mill and Warm Brooks, and Roaring Branch, which fall into the Battenkill, at the north part of the town.  These streams afford excellent mill sites, and on their banks are large bodies of superior meadow land. 

    West and Red Mountains extend through the west part of the town, and supply a great variety of good timber. Excellent marble is found here; considerable quantities of which are wrought and transported.

    The first settlement was made in the year 1763 by Dr. Simon Burton, William Searls and Ebenezer Wallis.  In 1764, Jehiel Hawley, Josiah Hawley, Remember Baker, and Thomas Peck, removed into this town. The former was a principal land owner, and has left in this place a numerous and respectable posterity. 

    An Episcopal Society was organized her some years before the Revolution, which has existed ever since. The records of this church, which is called Saint James Church, go back to August 16, 1784. The first rector of this church was the Rev. James Nichols, settled in 1786." 
 

Gazetteer of Vermont, Hayward, 1849.

     EXTENDING from the western border of the State eastward to the foot of the Green Mountains lies the town of Arlington. In the northeastern part the summit of Red Mountain towers aloft to the height of 3,017 feet above sea level. Adjacent rises West Mountain and further south Spruce Peak. These three extending north and south constitute a section of a short range of mountains of which Equinox in Manchester is the loftiest peak, and form an almost impassable barrier, save where the Battenkill breaks through between the Red and the West. Extending westward from this range and gradually decreasing in height are three ranges of hills, amongst which, opening towards the west, are as many valleys, of which the largest and most northern is the Battenkill. At the State line this valley has a minimum elevation above sea level of about five hundred feet. being perhaps the lowest altitude of the surrounding towns in the county. Arlington is located in latitude 430°, 4', and longitude 30° and 50', and is bounded on the north by Sandgate ; east by Sunderland; south by Shaftsbury, and west by the State of New York, and contains thirty-six square miles. The Battenkill River enters the town from the northeast ; thence flows about two miles in a southwesterly direction, then turning nearly west passes across the line into the State of New York. Among other tributaries it receives within the town the waters of the Roaring Branch from Sunderland, Peter's Branch from Glastenbury, Warm Brook from Shaftsbury, and Green River from Sandgate, and forms the outlet for the waters of substantially all that portion of the county lying north of the middle portion of the town of Shaftsbury.

     Arlington was chartered July 28, 1761, by Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, to sixty-two original proprietors, the most of whom lived in Litchfield, Conn. The township is six miles square, beginning, as the charter has it, at a point six miles due north from the northwest corner of Bennington. It was to be divided into sixty-eight equal shares, one to each of the original proprietors, two to Governor Wentworth, one to the society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, one for a glebe for the Church of England, one for the first settled minister, and one for the benefit of schools. Among the privileges given by the charter was the right, when fifty families should have settled in the town, to hold two fairs annually, also the right to hold a market day each week. The charter was conditioned that there should be paid annually for the first ten years as rental for said township, one ear of Indian corn, and after the expiration of the decade each proprietor should pay annually forever at the rate of one shilling for each one hundred acres. It was finally provided that the first meeting of the proprietors of the township for the choice of town officers should be holden in the town of Pownal on the first Wednesday of October, 1761. The first meeting of which there is any record was held at the house of Isaac VAN ARNUM in .Pownal on the 22d day of October, 1762. John Searl was chosen moderator, and Simon BURTON, proprietors' clerk. The meeting adjourned to the next day, when Isaac SEARL, John SEARL, Simon BURTON and others were appointed a committee to lay out part of the new township. A collector and treasurer were elected, and a tax voted to defray the charges of laying out the town and clearing roads. The committee was instructed to lay out a road through North Shaftsbury at the expense of the proprietors of Arlington. The meeting adjourned to convene at the house of William SEARL in Arlington on the first day of June, 1763. The proprietors met at SEARL's pursuant to the adjournment, and among other things voted "to give Mr. VAN ARNUM of Pownal nine shillings L. M. Y. for troubling his house for sundry meetings holden there."

     The first settlement in Arlington was probably made in 1762, but the exact date is not known. William and John SEARL, Simon Burton and Ebenezer WALLACE were the first settlers. Jehial HAWLEY and Josiah HAWLEY, Remember BAKER and Thomas PECK were among the settlers who came to town the next year. To encourage immigration the proprietors voted at a town meeting holden June 1, 1763 a bounty to the first ten persons settling in town within one year.

     The seventh meeting was held at the house of Simon BURTON May 16, 1764, and Jehial HAWLEY, who from that time until the breaking out of the Revolution was one of the most influential men of the section, was chosen to fill several offices. Remember BAKER who afterwards bore a conspicuous part in the history of the locality was also elected to office. The proprietors at this time voted to "give fifty acres of land to any man that will set up a grist-mill on a stream about east from Simon BURTON (who then lived where Mrs. Sally MCLAUGHLIN now resides), if said mill be up and fit to grind by the first day of November next." This bounty was voted to Remember BAKER July 22, 1766, he having built the grist-mill and a saw-mill near by. The site of these mills was substantially the same as that of A. R BROWN's grist-mill in East Arlington at the present time.

     December 3, 1767, Captain HAWLEY was chosen proprietors' agent to go to Stockbridge to treat with the Indians concerning the lands. There is no knowledge of the nature of this Indian claim. Tradition says there were Indians then residing in the town who possibly were related to those in Stockbridge. However, the matter was probably satisfactorily arranged as the record makes no future mention of it.

     In 1770, pursuant to a vote of the town, the burying ground now near the Episcopal Church was laid out By the report of the committee who did the work it contained one acre, and was about the middle of the town green, which contained three acres surrounding it.

     Tradition, if not history, has it that in 1777 the records of the town were lost or destroyed by Isaac BISCO, the then town clerk, who is said to have turned Tory and fled to Canada. It is said that after the Revolution he was written to and visited by persons interested in recovering the records and that he claimed they were buried in a kettle. Tradition says also that with the records he buried gold and silver coin. It is possible that the records of some of the earliest conveyances of real estate or the deeds themselves, as there may be doubt if there was any record made of many of them, were lost or destroyed. The charter certainly is missing. The fact is. however, that with hardly a break, the records of town meetings from the first, though some are so worn as to be hardly legible, remain in the town clerk's office; likewise a record of a large number of the earliest surveys and deeds. It may therefore be properly a matter of doubt if any substantial portion of the records ever were destroyed. The first town meeting to be held in any but a private house was held in the Episcopal Church in 1787.

     During the troublous times before the breaking out of the Revolution while the contest between the settlers of the New Hampshire Grants and the inhabitants of New York was being carried on, and contemporaneous with the period when the "beech-seal" was at diverse times impressed upon the backs of the Yorkers, Arlington was the scene of some stirring events.

     In the extreme eastern part of the town, near his grist-mill, lived Remember BAKER, for whose capture, as. well as that of others of the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, Governor TRYON of New York had offered a reward. About daylight March 22, 1772, a band of men led by John MUNROE, of Shaftsbury, surrounded and broke into his house, wounded BAKER and his wife, and finally made off towards New York with him a prisoner. An alarm was at once given. BAKER's friends rallied, pursued MUNROE and his party some miles across the border, overtook them, and after dispersing his captors, returned with BAKER. Historians differ as to whether the rescuing party was composed of men from the vicinity or of residents of Bennington. Without attempting to decide who were entitled to the credit of being his rescuers it would seem as probable that the Arlington party composed of Joseph and Lemuel BRADLEY, Curtis HAWLEY, Ebenezer WALLS, and others equally energetic, all of whom were his neighbors, would as likely be his rescuers as the residents of Bennington, some fifteen miles away. At the opening of the Revolution BAKER joined the Provincial forces and was with MONTGOMERY's command in the operations against St. Johns, Canada. In August, 1715, while reconnoitering the position of the enemy he was shot by an Indian. After ALLEN and WARNER there was no man who rendered better service to the settlers, or who bore a more distinguished part in the contest over the New Hampshire Grants than Remember BAKER. At the time of his death he was only thirty-five years of age.

     During the latter part of 1772 Captain Jehial HAWLEY was one of the agents sent to England to solicit the interposition of royal authority to settle the titles of the grants.

     November 25, 1773 one Jacob MARSH was arrested by Seth WARNER and Remember BAKER, and tried at a tavern kept by Abel HAWLEY. He seems to have been charged with having accepted a commission as justice of the peace under the authority of the State of New York, and of having acquired or claimed title to lands under the jurisdiction of the same colony. After hearing he was admonished to desist from any acts acknowledging or extending the authority of New York under "pains of having his house burned and reduced to ashes, and his person punished at their pleasure," and dismissed with a certificate of his trial signed by the judges, Samuel TUBS, Nathaniel SPENCER and Phillip PERRY, attested by Seth WARNER. In 1774 Dr. Samuel ADAMS was so active in his advocacy of the New York side that he was arrested and carried to Bennington. After a hearing he was convicted as an enemy, and punished by being hoisted to the catamount sign and there suspended for two hours.

     During a portion of this period, and perhaps later, Ethan ALLEN was residing in the town near the site of the present railroad station, and the well now in use just south of it tradition says was dug by him.

     The beginning of the Revolution found a large portion of the citizens of Arlington sympathizers of the Tory cause. Sooner or later many of the principal landholders and influential men of the town either voluntarily left or were driven out, and their estates confiscated by the Provincial government.

     In the early part of the struggle an event occurred in Arlington, which can perhaps be best given in the language of Rev. F. A. WADLEIGH: "After the battle of Hubbardton, Colonel WARNER and his men came south to Manchester, where they stopped for a time. It was probably during this progress that another tragedy occurred worthy of record. Men were sent out as usual for provisions. Colonel LYON with a company, of whom David MALLORY was one, started for the purpose of taking cattle from the Tories. Samuel ADAMS collected a company for resistance. As MALLORY had been a member of his family (having studied medicine with him) he warned him of the probable consequences. Hard words passed, and they separated to execute their respective intentions. Colonel LYON's company collected quite a drove of cattle and were driving them up from "down river," or West Arlington. Opposite the present residence of Solomon GOEWEY is an island on which ADAMS and his men were concealed. As soon as MALLORY appeared ADAMS showed himself and ordered him to stop. A threat was the only reply. ADAMS coolly said that in case himself was shot there were men ready who would instantly riddle him. Upon this MALLORY raised his piece, but not being quick enough was instantly shot down by ADAMS. Just then a horn was heard calling laborers to dinner. This was taken as a signal for the gathering of the Tories. LYON's men fled, the cattle returned to their owners, and the wounded man, abandoned by friends and foes, with difficulty got to the roadside. He was taken up by one passing by and carried to the house of Ebenezer LEONARD, where after a few hours he died." ADAMS fled to Canada, and in 1778 his property was confiscated and his family sent within the British lines. At the battle of Bennington it is said that men from Arlington were fighting on each side, and when Burgoyne surrendered five or six of the inhabitants of this town were among those serving in his army and made prisoners.

     About 1777 Governor Thomas CHITTENDEN, Matthew LYON and John FASSET moved to Arlington. Governor CHITTENDEN took possession of Captain HAWLEY's house, which is the one north of the old "West store," as it is called. HAWLEY before this had sought the protection of Burgoyne, and his large estates had been confiscated. LYON took possession of a house a short distance away from Governor CHITTENDEN's, and very near the site of the present railroad station. Between these two houses a vault was dug and walled up, which was used as a place of confinement for such persons as fell under the displeasure of the council. April 7, 1778 the governor and council met at the house of Elnathan MURWIN, and after that many meetings of this body were held in Arlington. FASSET for several years was commissioner for the sale of confiscated land. The owners of several farms as well as some other real estate in Arlington to-day derive title to their lands from the Council of Safety. At the freemen's meeting of 1778 Ethan ALLEN was elected to represent the town. He refused to serve, and Matthew LYON was chosen in his stead. Soon after the close of the war Governor CHITTENDEN and his associates removed from Arlington. Though much might be said of these men, their lives are so much a matter of general history that no further mention need here be made. With peace came a renewal of prosperity. Some who had left the town during the war came back; new settlers came in; a committee was appointed to revise, correct and complete many half-finished surveys; the records were carefully written up new roads were laid out and new enterprises undertaken.

     On November 25, 1782 the town was divided into five school districts. While there is no record evidence of the fact there is no doubt but the first school was held in what is now called District No. 2, several years anterior to the time of this first districting of the town. In 1823 the town was divided into substantially the same school districts as at present-nine in number -- save that subsequently Nos. 4 and 8 were consolidated, leaving eight districts at present There have been none but common schools in town, except that the Episcopal Society has at intervals maintained a parochial school.

     In 1859 the town house, containing a commodious hall on the second floor for town meetings and rooms underneath used by the Young Men's Association for library and reading rooms, was built.

     The first recorded action of the town in regard to the town highways was made on June 20, 1764, when it was voted that the main road north and south be four rods wide. This formed subsequently a section of the stage-route from Rutland to Troy, N. Y. It passed through the village of Arlington, where stood the first post-office and probably the first tavern in the town. The former was kept in the house now owned by Jesse BURDETTE. The first postmaster, Norman HINSDALE, was appointed April 1, 1805. He was succeeded in 1816 by Martin C. DEMING, and this office for many years was the only one in town. This building was also for many years used as a store. The Bennington and Rutland Railroad passes through the town, having its station at the " street."

     In 1812 a mill for sawing marble was erected near the present site of E. M. LATHROP's. This was perhaps the first in the State, save the one at Middlebury. Several extensive quarries of marble were soon opened, other mills erected, and the output of manufactured marble soon reached an annual value of thousands of dollars. To-day none is quarried, but large deposits of this valuable product still lie underneath the surface awaiting only the judicious application of captial to yield rich returns. The publication of the American Register, a weekly newspaper, was begun in 1817 by E. Gilman STORER. This paper was probably published two years or more. Three copies of different issues are now possessed by Mr. Z. H. CANFIELD. The printing office was in the house now owned by Michael MORISSEY; and it may be remarked in passing that it was built as a residence by Daniel CHURCH, the first lawyer who lived in town.

     October 12, 1799 a Masonic body was chartered, under the name of Newton Lodge. In the time of anti-Masonic excitement, in common with many other lodges, it disbanded. Red Mountain Lodge, 63, F. and A. M. was chartered January 10, 1863, and is a prosperous body.

     Dudley Post G. A. R., No. 28, was chartered November 28, 1870, with eleven charter members. The rooms of the Young Men's Library Association are used for their meetings.

     Arlington contains but a small proportion of tillable land. The soil is fertile, and if properly cultivated yields large returns. Sheep raising is an important industry. The mountains and hills are covered with quite a variety of timber, consisting principally of chestnut, oak, beech, birch, maple and elm. There is also considerable pine and some walnut in the town. On the Battenkill are located, near the west line, the woodworking shop and saw-mill of WILLIAM'S & TEFT, and at the "street," the shop and mills of E. M. LATHROP. Near the railroad station are the woodworking shops and saw-mill of D. G. BARNEY, and the old car shop works and machine shop of G. W. MILTIMORE, each driven by steam power. At East Arlington are located the extensive chair shops of H. A. HALE, the saw frame factory of JUDSON & DEMING, the machine shop of Ira CANFIELD, the grist-mill of A. R. BROWN, and the woodworking shop of B. W. Safford.

     A.S. CANFIELD and Warren COLE also own and operate a saw-mill in town. Arlington has for many years produced a large amount of manufactured wooden goods of different varieties, and furnishes a profitable market for the wood and timber of the surrounding towns. It is also the shipping point for a large amount of lumber from Sunderland and Sandgate. The mercantile interest is represented by JUDSON & DEMING, and N. G. HARD, at East Arlington; WOODWORTH & CANFIELD, O. E. ADAMS, and C. B. VIAULT, at the "street; " and H. T. EATON, at West Arlington. The hotel is located at the "street," and is conducted by W. C. BARTLETT. In beauty and magnificence the scenery of Arlington is unrivaled. Nowhere can be found more picturesque drives than among her hills and valleys, and a clear sunset in June, when old "Sol" goes to rest in the notch where the "Kill" breaks through between the mountains, is a sight when once seen is never to be forgotten. From near the house where dwelt Governor CHITTENDEN, gazing westward, one beholds the landscape represented on the State seal. The legend is that an English officer who had secret business with the governor was so impressed with the beauty of the view from the west window of the house that he engraved the same upon one of the governor's drinking cups. This cup was made of the horn of an ox, and had a wooden bottom. The engraved cup afterwards came to the attention of Ira ALLEN, and with a slight alteration was adopted for the State seal.

     Churches. -- The exact date of the organization of the Episcopal Church is unknown. Its records open at August 16, 1784. Meetings for public religious worship were held, and the church society undoubtedly had an organization long before the Revolution. Jehial HAWLEY was for several years lay-reader. James NICHOLS, the first settled minister, was hired in 1784, at an annual salary of twenty-five pounds, and to increase as the grand list of the members increased. but not to exceed thirty pounds per annum. The services for public worship prior to 1784, and probably most of the time prior to 1804, were held in private houses. The records of the society show that on the 6th day of November, 1784 a committee was appointed to confer with Governor CHITTENDEN concerning the location of the church. At a meeting of the society held on the 15th day of the same month it was voted to build a church in the east part of the town, and a committee appointed to superintend the work. In 1788 Mr. NICHOLS was dismissed, and from that time until 1803, when it was voted to complete the church, there were, so far as the records show, but three or four business meetings of the society.  From this, and the fact that the town supported religious worship in the interim, it is safe to say that the church society did not. November 7, 1791 the town voted to and subsequently did hire Rev Russell CATLIN for four years on the following terms : seventy pounds for a set tlement and an annual salary of fifty pounds, to increase as the grand list increased, but not to exceed sixty pounds yearly. The settlement was payable in cattle and grain, and the salary in grain. A tax was voted on the grand list of the town to defray this, and a collector appointed to collect the same.

     Mr. CATLIN preached under this contract until November 7, 1796, when by a vote of the town he was dismissed at his own request. During his incumbency the records of the town meetings show that it was voted to finish the church, but nothing appears to show that the vote was carried out. With the expiration of Mr. CATLIN's service the support of preaching by the town as such seems to have ended, and so far as appears from the records of either town or church no settled minister preached in town after Mr. CATLIN until February 1, 1803 when the Rev. Abram BROWNSON was hired. The church was finished by the society about this time, and preaching has been maintained by it ever since. The building was known as the "Yellow Church," and occupied the site of the present stone church. At this time a goodly portion of the members of the Episcopal Society resided at the west part of the town, some four or five miles distant. And in the latter part of the year 1802 those persons met and voted to build a church. It was finished in 1804, and is the same church now standing on what is known as the "Green," in West Arlington.

     The "Yellow" church was for a long time known as "Bethel," and the one on the "Green" as "Bethesda." "Bethel" has now for many years been called "St. James." In 1823 the society at the "street," in compliance with the general act of the Legislature. was formally organized under the name of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Arlington. In 1829-30 the old "Yellow" church was torn down and the present stone edifice erected. This society always has, and does now hold and collect the rent of what is known as the "glebe," vested in it by virtue of the town's charter. In course of time the control of "Bethesda" church seems to have passed, by tacit consent, from the Episcopal Society, and is now used for public worship by a Union society.

     As a curious circumstance connected with the hiring of the minister by the town it is recorded that the question of hiring a candidate to preach was several times that year brought up in the town meetings. At one of these the committee appointed for that purpose reported that there was no. prospect of finding any. At another it was voted to hire none. And the evident fight culminuted in a motion "to have the town divided into two separate and distinct societies so far as appertains to religious worship, supporting a minister of the Gospel, building houses of public worship, etc." On this motion the vote was sixteen ayes and sixteen nays. At the next meeting harmony seemed to prevail, and the town voted to hire its preacher without a dissenting voice.

     November 2, 1843 the Congregational Church Society of Sunderland and East Arlington was organized with nine members. The present Congregational Church in East Arlington was completed and dedicated July 20, 1848. Rev. Mr. KITCHEL and Rev. A. W. NOTT supplied the pulpit for the first six years. Preaching has been maintained most of the time in the church. The Rev. Joshua COLLINS who was ordained and installed March 27, 186o being the only regular pastor.

     In 1856 a Methodist Society was organized in East Arlington, and a church was completed and dedicated February 22, 1857, Rev. S. W. CLEMENS being the first appointed minister. At the present time the pastor has charge of this church and also the one at Sandgate.

     The St Columbia Roman Catholic Church, located at the "street," was dedicated in 1878, Rev. T. J. GAFFANY filling the pulpit for the first ten years.
 
 

History of Bennington County, Vt.
With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich.
Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1889.
Chapter XXII, page 398- 406

Transcribed by Karima, 2004
Material provided by Ray Brown

      Arlington was chartered by the Governor of New Hampshire, July 28, 1761. It is one of the central of the western border towns and contains 24,960 acres. The surface is extremely uneven. The principal mountain peaks are Red, Bald, Big Spruce, West and Grass Mountains, Spruce Peak and Buck Hill, of the Taconic range. The principal stream is the Battenkill River, entering the town from Sunderland near the north-east corner, flowing in a tortuose course southwesterly; when it turns nearly at right angles and flows northwesterly, between Red and West Mountains, and, then westerly into New York State. Warm Brook and Peters Branch rising in Shaftsbury, and Roaring Branch from Sunderland, flow north into the Battenkill. Green River flows south into the same river. Elderkill Brook flows west from Big Spruce Mountain, south-west into New York. In the valleys of the Battenkill and of Warm, Brook, the soil is fertile-, but generally elsewhere in the town, the surface is too rugged and barren for profitable farming.

      Natural wells or sink holes are found in the town, one two-thirds the way up from the river, towards the top of Red Mountain, has been explored by lead and line for a distance of 170 or 180 feet without finding bottom. A cave in the north-east corner of the town has its entrance at the side near the bottom, and has been explored with torches by climbing to the height of 75 or 80 feet without finding its top, and proved to be a narrow well. These wells originated in the disintegration of the lime stone and slate rocks by the action of water in the remote ages. An intermitting spring and several blowing springs, one of which it is said will extinguish a candle at a considerable distance, are among the natural curiosities of the town.

      Several valuable marble quarries have been worked in this town, but at present none are operated except for local building purposes.

      The Bennington & Rutland Railway passes through the eastern part of the town.

      The population of the town in 1880, was 1,531, all of which were white.

      During the year ending September 30, 1880, the town contained nine school districts, and employed four male and thirteen female teachers, at a cost for wages of $1,260.35. The number of pupils attending the common schools was 325; the amount expended for school purposes was $1,356,30. Rev. J. C. MCCOILOM was the superintendent.

      ARLINGTON, a post village, in the central eastern part of the town, and a station of the B. & R. Railway, is beautifully situated in the valley of the Battenkill. The summit of the hill north-east and a short distance from the village of Arlington, affords quite extensive views in three directions, north, west and south, that combine in a very rare manner the picturesque and the sublime.

      The gorge, formed by the sudden breaking down of mountains nearly 3,000 feet high on either side, through which the Battenkill flows, west to the Hudson, gives the village during the summer, sunlight an hour and a half after it has disappeared to those who reside half a mile north or south of it, and often furnishes sunset- cloud scenes of surpassing brilliance and beauty.

      The village contains two churches, (Episcopal and Roman Catholic,) one hotel, two general stores, one hardware store, one wagon, shop, two blacksmith shops, one chair factory, one shoe peg factory, one planing mill, one bending shop, one shoe shop, and, a little west of the village, one handle factory, planing, clap-board and feed mill, and about 400 inhabitants.

      W. & J. G. Flint's Shoe Peg Factory was erected in 1863, since which time it has been under the superintendency of Lysias E. WHITE. Seven to eight hundred cords of wood are converted into about 40,000 bushels of shoe pegs annually, a large portion of which find a European market.

      Orlando CANFIELD manufactures sash and blinds in the building formerly occupied by the car shops.

      The Arlington Manufacturing Company, Limited, was organized May, 1879, with a capital stock of $200,000. R. T. HURD is president. The company own 50,000 acres of timber land employ 150 men. They manufacture, at Arlington, chairs, telegraph pins, brush backs and wagon stock; in Sunderland, lumber and clothes pins, and in Sandgate, shoe peg stock and lumber.

      EAST ARLINGTON, a post village on Warm Brook and Peters Branch, one mile easterly from the Arlington station, of the B. & R. R'y, contains two churches, (Congregational and M. E.,) one hotel, two general and two millinery stores, one chair factory, one wash-board and buck-saw frame factory, three handle and general wood turning and finishing shops, one planing mill, one machine, two blacksmith, one wagon, and one harness shop, one livery stable and a tailor shop. 

      Dorrance BARNEY's saw mill and brush handle factory, on Warm Brook, at East Arlington, has built in 1866, at a cost about $15,000 He manufactures about $800 worth of brush stock per month, and 250,000 feet of lumber per annum.

      B.W. SAFFORD's handle and pump factory, on Peters' Branch was first built about fifty years ago for a woolen mill, by Henry GALUSHA; about twenty-five years later it was converted into a wash-board factory, and for the last four years the present business has been conducted. Mr. SAFFORD also owns a saw mill a few rods above, (originally built about 1805) which cuts now about 400,000 feet annually.

      The Arlington Edge Tool Company's Works stand on Roaring Branch just over the line in Sunderland, nearly a mile from East Arlington. Formerly known as the Douglas Manufacturing Company, the present title was assumed in 1877. They manufacture about $10,000 worth of edge tools per annum, but the works have capacity for $100,000 worth, the main building being 250 by 30 feet, and driven by water power, almost inexhaustible, having a head equal to sixty-five feet. The upper dam is thirty-five feet high by seventy-five feet long, firmly built between solid ledges of rocks. A reservoir of fifteen or twenty acres can be obtained if needed.

      JUDSON & DEMING's saw-frame, saw-buck and wooden wash-board factory at East Arlington, was established about 1852, by Billings & Co. Several changes were made in the firm previous to 1877, since which time it has been as now. Mr. J. R. JUDSON added about 1875, to the business, that of making boys saws and saw-bucks, and several other articles of small ware. They employ twelve to fifteen men and manufacture $15,000 to $20,000 worth of goods annually.

      HALE’s chair factory, recently erected on Roaring Branch, East Arlingtonn, is an extensive establishment.

      MEERWORTH & BROWN's East Arlington grist mill, on Peter's Branch, was probably built about 1789, for in February of that year a grist mill, principally owned by Ozi BAKER, was burned, undoubtedly the same his father, Remember BAKER, had built a little more than twenty years before.

      WEST ARLINGTON, (p. on.) on the Battenkill, is a hamlet containing two general stores, one harness, one blacksmith, and one marble shop, and about a dozen houses.

      About 1872, O. & A. D. CANFIELD organized a stock company, with a capital of $52,000, for the manufacture of railway cars at Arlington. At the end of about four years the business was abandoned, the CANFIELD's continuing the sash and blind business, at which they had been engaged for many years, and being the same now managed by Orlando.

      Warren COLE erected a saw  mill, on road 25, in the winter of 1879-80. In connection with this he has a carriage shop built in 1842, and a cider mill. He manufactures from 50 to 100,000 feet of lumber, and 1,000 to 2,000 barrels of cider annually. Warren's father, Simeon, came from Saratoga County to this town, about 1820, and located on the farm now owned by Warren. Simeon moved to Illinois about 1863, and from there to Iowa.

      The first settlers in Arlington were, John, Isaac and William SEARL, Dr. Simon BURTON, Ebenezer WALLIS. ____ Peck, who located in 1763. The next year, Capt. Jehiel HAWLEY and his brothers; Abel, Josiah and Gideon; Phineas HURD, Isaac BISCO, Samuel ADAMS, Ebenezer LEONARD, Zacheus MALLORY, Thomas PECK, James FRUME, and others, came in from Newtown, Conn. Remember BAKER, a millwright from Roxbury, Conn., also joined the party. Soon after the arrival of this party, a proprietors meeting was held, May 16, 1764, at which Capt. Jehiel HAWLEY, was elected moderator. It was "voted to give fifty acres of land, including a valuable mill privilege, to any man who will erect a grist mill within certain limits, if ready and fit to grind before Nov. 1, 1765." Remember BAKER accepted the offer and built a grist-mill and saw mill, near the present grist mill at East Arlington.

      The first female child born in town was, Sarah Ann, daughter of Andrew and Ann Hurd HAWLEY, Andrew HAWLEY was a son of Jehial HAWLEY.

      Between the years 1765 and 1780, the following persons, mostly from Newtown and New Milford, Conn., moved into town; Austin SEELE, David WATKINS, George and Daniel OUTMAN, Caleb and Josiah DAYTON, Eliakim STODDARD, Zadok and James HARD, David CROFUT, John GRAY, Lemuel and David BUCK, Andrew, Daniel and Israel BURRITT, George MITCHELL, Pitman BENEDICT, Nathan and Israel CANFIELD, Simeon HICKS and others.

      Like the settlers in other towns, these had located under the New Hampshire grants, and purchased their lands in good faith. "The settlers were actively engaged in securing the necessaries of life, and in laying out and improving the lands they had purchased. Some were sending for their wives and younger children, who were as yet in their old homes, while some were sending for relatives and neighbors. They were in no doubt as to the validity of their land title. Even the proclamation of the Governor of New York, in 1764, advising the people of the king's order respecting the future jurisdiction of the territory, did not alarm them, for they supposed that the titles under the ‘great seal' of a royal governor, would be respected, and not be disturbed."

      So anxious were the people to make their titles secure for themselves and their successors, that in this town, as well as in others on the west border of Vermont, agents were elected and sent Jan. 1, 1761, to treat with the Stockbridge Indians, who claimed twelve townships of land, the people agreeing to pay whatever sums their agents covenanted to give to the Indians.

      The nature of this claim does not appear in any records at our command. As regards Arlington, "tradition only relates that there were Indians residing near the northwest corner of the town, who may have been connected with those at Stockbridge."

      The encroachments by New York patentees, became as troublesome in Arlington as in other towns in the New Hampshire grants,"

      Ethen ALLEN, who then resided in Sunderland, (not yet having moved to Bennington,) Remember BAKER, the Arlington miller, and others, were prominent in their opposition to the surveyors and other agents sent here by the New Yorkers. In several instances the surveyors were roughly handled, and sent out of the Grants with the advice never to return.

      Complaints of these interferences being made to the Governor of New York, he issued proclamations, offering rewards for the apprehending and securing of the leaders, sometimes naming one set of men and sometimes another set. He also reiterated by proclamation the right of New York to the territory west of the Connecticut River, and warned the people against opposing his authority. These threatening proclamations increased, rather than allayed, the ill feeling of the settlers. A proclamation of Gov. TRYON, Dec. 9, 1871, offering rewards for the apprehension of ALLEN, BAKER, and Robert COCHRAN, the latter of whom held title under New Hampshire, "was treated by them with defiant contempt by issuing and circulating extensively, over their signatures, a painted burlesque proclamation, offering a reward of fifteen pounds for the apprehension and delivering at ‘Landlord Fay's,' in Bennington, of James DUANE; and ten pounds for Attorney General KEMPE, who were described as common disturbers of the public peace."

      John MUNRO, justice of the peace, acting under New York authority, and who resided in Shaftsbury, near the west line, was an agent of DUANE and others, and being anxious to serve his principal, and to stand well with the government, resolved, if possible, to capture Remember BAKER, and take him to Albany jail.

      BAKER lived at East Arlington, about twelve miles from MUNRo's residence.

      By means of a spy, MUNRO, having learned of the situation at BAKER's, proceeded with his constable STEVENS, and a party of ten or twelve others, and surrounded-the house before daylight, on March 21, 1772, where, after a desperate struggle in which BAKER was severely wounded, and his wife and little son also much injured, they succeeded in arresting him. He was immediately bound, and placed in a sleigh and driven towards Albany.

      Two neighbors of BAKER, Caleb HENDERSON and John WHISTON, attempted to stop the sleigh, but failed. WHISTON was taken prisoner, and carried off by the party, but HENDERSON escaped.

      A messenger was immediately dispatched to Bennington, from whence ten men were at once rallied, who rode with all possible speed to the ferry across the Hudson, where the city of Troy now is; arriving there, as they had hoped they would, in advance of MUNRO and his party, they turned back on the road to Arlington, and after traveling six or seven miles, met them.

      On seeing the Green Mountain Boys, most of the party fled to the woods, but MUNRO and his constable were captured and held, until the rescuers were well on their way with BAKER toward Bennington. BAKER was so exhausted by loss of blood, that he had to be held upon his horse by a man riding with him.

      Reports somewhat conflict as to who the rescuing party were, but the most authentic accounts agree upon the following, designated by their subsequent titles, viz: General Isaac CLARK, Col. Joseph SAFFORD, Major Wait HOPKINS, Col. David SAFFORD, and Messrs. Timothy ABBOTT, Stephen HOPKINS, Elnathan HUBBEL, Samuel TUBBS, Ezekiel BREWSTER and Nathaniel HOLMES. This attack upon BAKER heightened the animosity of the settlers against the Yorkers, and strengthened their determination to resist their encroachments at all hazards. -- [Condensed from Gov. Hall.]
 

      In Justice MUNRO's account of the rescue, to the Governor of New York, he names the rescuers as follows: "Joseph BRADLEY, Lemuel BRADLEY, Jesse SAWYER, Isaac VERNERNUM, Abel CASTLE, Jr., Curtis HAWLEY, Elisha SHERMAN, Philo HURLBUT, Abijah HURD, Ebenezer WALLIS, John WHISTON, Austin SEELA, Justin SHERWOOD, Caleb HENDERSON." – [Ver.  Hist. Mag.]

      By an act of the Colonial Assembly of New York, passed March 12, 1772, a new county by the name of Charlotte was constituted, having its boundaries somewhat indefinitely defined, as extending from Canada on the north to the Battenkill River, and the south line of the New York patent of Princetown on the south, and extending west beyond lakes George and Champlain, and lying east of the Green Mountains.

      Within these boundaries were included large parts of the towns of Arlington, Sunderland, and the other towns lying north of them. Prior to the passage of the foregoing named act of the New York Assembly, the territory embraced within the boundaries of the new county, constituted a part of Albany County, but after the declaration of independence, and the organization of a State Government, in 1777, by the people of Vermont, they denied the right of New York to have jurisdiction over the new county, and claimed that Charlotte County belonged to a separate territorial government, established by Great Britain, over which General Philip SKENE was appointed governor. The validity of this claim was recognized by many persons in the new county, and in February, 1781, the general Assembly of Vermont declared its jurisdiction to extend to the Hudson River; and in April following appointed a convention to be held at Cambridge the next month, to which delegates were chosen to represent Vermont. This convention was held in May, 1781, at which the following districts, (districts under the Colonial law were the same as towns,) were represented by delegates: Hoosick, Schaghticoke, Cambridge, Saratoga, Upper White Creek, (Salem,) Black Creek, (Hebron,) Granville, Skenesboro, Kingsbury, Fort Edward, and Little Hoosick, at which these districts resolved to recognize the jurisdiction of Vermont. John ROGERS was chairman of the convention, and Moses ROBINSON, chairman of the committee.

      Representatives were chosen to the Vermont Legislature, who took their seats June 16, 1781.

      The next year, March 1, another convention met at Cambridge, at which it was resolved to re-consider the action of the previous year, retract the union with Vermont, and petition the State of New York to restore them to their former situation.

      This controversy continued several years afterwards, partly in consequence of the resistance by New York to the admission of Vermont into the Federal Union.

      In 1784, the Assembly of New York changed the name of Charlotte County to Washington, and in 1791, when Vermont was admitted into the Union as a sovereign State, the present boundary between Washington County, New York, and Bennington County, Vermont, was established.

      The people had become weary of these exasperating land controversies, and at a meeting held at Manchester, October 21, 1772, by deputies from Bennington and the adjacent towns, Jehiel HAWLEY and James BREAKENRIDGE were appointed their agents to repair at once to London for the purpose of soliciting the confirmation of the New Hampshire grants. HAWLEY was chosen on account of his being a large proprietor, a prudent man, and favorable to remaining under the jurisdiction of New York, and because the people represented by him were mainly decidedly attached to the church of England. It was natural, therefore, to hope that he would aid in gaining a powerful influence in behalf of the settlers. What success attended their efforts does not appear. The order of the King was not regarded by the New York officials. The people here were united as against this common danger, but in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was sent out to the world, friends became enemies. Some were honestly loyal to the King, others from policy, believing the cause of the revolutionists could not succeed, while the majority were ready to act in concert with the others who had declared for an independent nationality.

      Jehiel HAWLEY, "a man of great conscientiousness and fervent piety,'' was a loyalist. Although taking no active part, his known sympathies with the mother country brought, first upon his children, and then upon himself, loss of property, and the necessity of leaving all and fleeing to Canada. Under Burgoyne's protection, and while on his way to Canada, he died on Lake Champlain, November 2, 1777, aged 66. At Bennington and at Saratoga were men from Arlington in either army. One was killed in the ranks of the enemy, and several were surrendered as prisoners at Saratoga. Several from this town were engaged by the British as spies.

      At this time Thomas CHITTENDEN, Matthew LYON, and John FASSETT Jr., moved into town and took possession of confiscated property; Ethan ALLEN lived here at that time, and Ira ALLEN in Sunderland. The Council was held here. Upon the adoption of a State Constitution, and the election of Thos. CHITTENDEN as Governor, the Council of Safety was merged in the Governor and Council, and acquired a legal form. While in Arlington, Gov. CHITTENDEN occupied the house built and previously owned by Jehiel HAWLEY.

      Remember BAKER, who was so conspicuous in his opposition to the Yorkers, entered the army, early in the revolution, and went with Montgomery to Canada, where, while on duty reconnoitering the position of the enemy, he was shot by an Indian, his head cut off and put on a pole. It was purchased from the Indians by the Americans for a guinea, that it might be buried. Thus died Capt. Remember BAKER, at the early age of 35, leaving one son, Ozi.

      Zadok HARD, from Newtown, Conn., came to Arlington, in 1768, and located on road 32, where he lived until his death, about 1828. He had 11 children, all of whom lived to old age; the oldest died at 94. Noble, son of Zadok, died on road 32, Aug. 23, 1856; Levine, son of Noble, lives in town now. Zadok HARD, son of Zadok, born in Arlington, in 1775, died at the age of 86. Oran, son of Zadock, now lives on road 25, at the age of 76. There are numerous descendants of the HARD family in town.

      Nathan and Israel CANFIELD, came from Conn. to Arlington about 1768. The former, though probably inclined to be a loyalist, was a man of great prudence and sagacity, and held the confidence and respect of both parties. He was for many years a justice of the peace, and was town representative in 1786 ; he died April 16, 1809, in his 70th year. Israel, supposed to be a cousin of Nathan, was in the American service. About a hundred years ago he lived in a house still standing on the farm of Caleb ANDREW. The descendants of the CANFIELDs are numerous, and among them are leading men of the town.

      Putnam BENEDICT, and his son Ichabod, came from New Milford, Conn., previous to the Revolution, and settled on the farm where Ichabod's son Samuel, now lives. It is said that no other farm in town has been held so long by one family. Charles I., son of Abel, lives on the east part of the same farm.

      Lemuel BUCK came from New Milford, Conn., about 1780. He had four sons and four daughters. Zadock was born, where he now lives, eighty-six years ago. His sons were Edward, Lemuel, Elijah, Thomas, William, Samuel, and Ezra; two are dead; Edward, Samuel and Ezra live in this town. He had one daughter, Sarah. Lemuel was doubtless a miller, for we find in Vermont Gaz., March 1788: "The grist mill in the west part of the town belonging to Samuel BUCK, was burned."

      The BUCK family has many representatives in town.

      George OUTMAN came from Connecticut to this town, bought a farm, and built a house a little north-east of Duck Pond, in Jan. 1776. George deeded to Daniel, his son, a small tract. A house built that year is still standing, and is owned by his grandson, David. From the first the property has been owned by the family, who sometime since adopted the name of OATMAN. Eber HILL, of Stratton, Vt., moved to Arlington in 1824, lived in the village until 1877, when he moved with his son Hobart to road 25, where Hobart now resides. Eber died Jan. 25, 1880.

      The place occupied by Andrew HAWLEY, son of Capt. Jehiel HAWLEY, several years before the Revolution, belongs now to two of his great grand sons, Z. H. and A. S. CANFIELD, and is part of the farm on which A. S. CANFIELD now lives. The brick house in which he resides was erected nearly one hundred years ago by Dr. Jonathan TODD. There a numerous family were born. The youngest child in the family, the only one not born there, was the eminent Dr. TODD, preacher, author, &c.

      Rev. Eli H. CANFIELD, D. D., a native of this town, but for many years rector of Christ Church, Brooklyn, is spending life quietly at Arlington on his ancestral estate, where the rich blessings of his highly educated and cultivated mind shed light and enjoyment among his numerous friends.

      The following extract from a number of the Vermont Gazette of 1786, relates to this town: "On Wednesday evening, July 19, a mad wolf emerging from the woods proceeded along the road, biting every beast that fell its way; hogs, cows .and oxen alike shared the fatal effect of his fury, and geese were killed by him. At length a Mr. HARD was attacked and his great coat torn from him, by which means he escaped without being bit. Mr. H. afterwards killed the wolf." The same paper says, editorially, on the 14th of August following: "We hear from Arlington that distress on account of hydrophobia still continues. Two mad wolves have been killed and a third has appeared. Several hogs have been killed; one ox, a number of hogs and other creatures are infected with the malady. A cow, several dogs, hogs and other creatures being still supposed to be infected. When the malady will end God only knows."

      The early town records are lost. They were buried by Isaac BISCO, a loyalist, (who was then town clerk,) on the eve of his departure for Canada to avoid arrest for boldly counseling submission to the British.

      Soon after Jehiel HAWLEY built his house, in 1764, (which was the first frame house in town,) Episcopal services were held there each Sunday, Mr. HAWLEY reading the service and a sermon. In 1784, the people resolved to call a minister and build a church. Rev. James NICHOLS accepted a call, and held services in private houses, until the church should be erected. The Vermont Gazette of Aug. 14,1786, says: "The dedication of St. James Church, (Arlington,) will be on Thursday, 24th of August, inst., Rev. Mr. NICHOLS, the pastor, will deliver the sermon."

      The money to build the church was raised by a tax upon the grand list of the town, and for a few years the meetings of the vestry were called by the selectmen of the town.

    "In 1787, the church was represented in convention of the Prot. Ep. Church, at Stratford, Conn., by Nathan CANFIELD, Esq., who was appointed delegate." The old yellow church was torn down in 1829, and during that and the following year the present stone edifice took its place.

      It was erected at a cost of $10,000, and was consecrated in 1831. The present number of communicants is _____. The present pastor is Rev. John RANDALL; the church property is valued at _____.

      St. Calumba's Roman Catholic Church of Arlington, was organized with 75 members in 1853, by Rev. C. BAYLAN, the first pastor. The church edifice was erected in 1876, at a cost of $3,000, and will seat 300 persons, the present number of members. The present pastor is Rev. Thomas J. GAFFNEY, our informant.

      The East Arlington and Sunderland Congregational Church at East Arlington, was organized in 1843, with seven members, by Messrs. SANDERSONS, LYMAN and others. The first pastor was Rev. A. W. NOTT. The first and present house of worship was erected in 1845, at an expense of $3,000, and will comfortably seat 250 people. The present value of church property is $5,000. The membership is 50, who are under the pastoral care of Rev. Julius C. MCCOLLOM.
 
 
 

Town of Arlington, Page 68-80.
Gazetteer and Business Directory of 
Bennington County, VT. For 1880-81. 
Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child; Dec., 1880.

This chapter was provided by Martha Rudd
and Transcribed by Karima Allison, 2003