A good part of the soil is good, some very excellent. On the hills towards  the East and Black branches of the Nulhegan river is some very fine farming  land. Charles Cook owns a large amount of fine land and is a prosperous  farmer. He pays special attention to raising fat stock, and excels in this  vocation. There is considerable land only valuable for the growth of timber  and pasturage. The market for country produce at South Bloomfield and  North Stratford, N.H., directly opposite, is very good. The timber lands are fast  being denuded of their growth by the great capacity of the Nulhegan Lumber  Company. Much of the timber is also being put into Connecticut river and  sold to the lumber companies operating on the same. 

       The Nulhegan river and its tributaries, the East and Black branches,  with the Connecticut along its eastern front, constitute the rivers of the town.  Bloomfield is a pleasant and generally healthy place in which to live. Its  inhabitants constitute a community which is certainly up to the average for  intelligence, morality, and religion. It has no place where intoxicating liquors  are sold, and is consequently free from that greatest curse of mankind as far  as not to deal it out to others. Unfortunately a very few are so unhappy as to  sometimes procure and imbibe the liquid poison from without the town.  

       In 1880, Bloomfield had a population of 627.  In 1886 it had four school  districts and five common schools, employing one male and ten female  teachers, to whom was paid an average weekly salary, including board, of  $5.00 and $5.31 respectively. During the year 155 scholars attended school,  The entire income for school purposes was $760.07, while the whole expend-  itures were $703.05, with Mrs. H. Fuller, superintendent.  

       Bloomfield was chartered by Governor Benning Wentworth, June 29,  
1762, under the name of Minehead. The charter of the township was granted  to Rev. Noah Waddams and sixty-three others, in seventy equal shares, two  shares being granted to Governor Wentworth, one share to the Incorporated  Society for the Propagation of the Gospelin Foreign Parts, one share for a  glebe for the church of England, and one share for the first settled minister,  and one share for the benefit of a school in said town. After the independence  of the United States, the glebe share was granted for the use of schools by  legislative enactment. The town is six miles square, containing 23,040 acres. A  share consisted of three lots and one town plot of one acre. Andrew Beers  made a survey of the first division of lots, on the Connecticut river, afterwards  surveyed by E.W. Judd, in 1798. The survey of Jonas Baker, in 1802, is the one  that was finally accepted, and has always been acted upon as the true survey.  This survey divided the town into lots of 112 acres each, three lots to each  share. On July 23, 1802, a proprietor's meeting was held, at the house of Gaius  Kibbe. “Voted, to draw the several lots laid out, and Jonas Baker, an  indifferent person, was appointed to draw the same.” The following persons  who had made “pitches” previous to the allotment were allowed to retain the  lots upon which they had made improvements in lieu of their drafts, viz..  Ayers and Raymond Fuller, Peter Mills, Esq., Harvey Johnson, Stone Mills,  Gaius Kibbe, Victory Jennison, Job Holbrook, A. Parmenter, Cummings  Buffington, Ebenezer Wright, James P. Frazier, Abijah Mendil, Isaac  Lampkin, Job Holbrook, Jr., Daniel Austin, Daniel Holbrook, Asahel Wright,  David W. Holbrook, Christopher Morey, William Babb, Timothy Ross, Charles  Ashley, Col.??Ashley, Ebenezer Wright, Jr.   Besides these, John French, who  came from Brattleboro, Joseph Stevens, Gratis Spencer and Samuel Healy  were among the early settlers in the town. The descendants of the Holbrooks,  Fullers, Stevenses, and Frenches are still inhabitants of the town. Also the  descendants of Arad Silver, Joseph Clough, Ebenezer Lurvey, and Abraham  Broker, early settlers, are still residing in this town.  

       A meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town was held  at the dwelling house of Gaius Kibbe, on the 9th day of August, 1802, for the  purpose of effecting an organization of the town by electing officers. The  meeting was called by Mills De Forrest, a justice of the peace of the town of  Lemington. The following persons were present: Gaius Kibbe, Ayers Fuller,  Abijah Mendil, Thomas Lampkin, Job Holbrook, John J. French, James P.  Frazier, Raymond Fuller and Asahel Wright, and took the oath of allegiance  to the state of Vermont, and freemen's oath.  Gaius Kibbe was chosen  moderator of the meeting. The following town officers were chosen: Gains  Kibbe, clerk;  John J. French, Ebenezer Wright and Job Holbrook, selectman  Harvey Johnson, Ayers Fuller and John J. French, listers; Thomas Lampkin,  constable. The first freemen's meeting was warned by Thomas Lampkin,  constable, and was held at the house of Gaius Kibbe, September 7, 1802. The  vote for governor was, Isaac Tichenor three votes, Israel Smith six votes.  Leut.-governor, Paul Dillingham eight votes, Nathaniel Niles one vote. Gaius  Kibbe was elected town representative.  

       It is supposed that Thomas Lampkin was the first settler in town, and  that he came in 1796. Gaius Kibbe, for a number of years from the first  settlement of the town, seems to have been the most influential and important  man in town.  It is supposed he came from New York city, as he held five full  shares of land in the town, conveyed to him December 7, 1801, by Isaac Kibbe,  of  New York city, supposed to be his father.  He was the representative of this  town to the general assembly in the years 1802, '03, '04, ‘05 and '06, and again  in 1813; town clerk for the first six years of the town's corporate existence,  and usually holding other town offices.  In 1814 he resigned his offices in town  and removed to New York. The population of the town increased very slowly.  The first inhabitants were poor and had many obstacles to overcome to obtain  a living. Money, as was the case throughout this newly settled country, was  exceedingly scarce and difficult to obtain. Many persons did not live in the  town but a short time before becoming discouraged and quitting it. 

*For this sketch we are indebted to William B. Perkins.
 

(Source:  Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, VT.; 1764-1887, Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child; May 1887, Page 389-391)

This excerpt was provided by Tom Dunn.