TOWNSHEND

A short history of Townshend

The land grant for Townshend was chartered by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth, on June 20, 1753. The town was named after Charles Townshend, the Secretary of War under King George III. Between 1755 and 1761, plans and occupation of Townshend were abandoned due to the impact of the French and Indian War. The grant had required the settlement of the town within five years, so in August 1762, Townshend was regranted under the same stipulations by Governor Wentworth. However, proprietors had already begun meeting again in 1761, and settlement of the town was led by proprietor John Hazeltine in May of that year.

The western boundary of New Hampshire was obscure, and there was controversy over whether the area around Townshend was under jurisdiction of the colony of New Hampshire or New York. In 1764, when King George III officially set the New Hampshire boundary at the western bank of the Connecticut River, proprietors of Townshend and nearby settlers were fearful of being charged twice for the same land. New York authorities only requested documents of confirmation for their latest land, and left the settlers free of charge.

The first farms were treated to fertile soil where they could grow wheat, corn, buckwheat, rye, oats, and barley, but were plagued by tree stumps that were too strongly rooted to be removed by primitive farm machinery. Potatoes, turnips, apples, pumpkins, corn, and maple syrup were other popular harvests. Cattle, sheep, and poultry were common livestock, but hogs were invaluable because of their simple maintenance and abundance of meat upon harvest. Several rivers provided substantial irrigation for farms, and by 1797, two sawmills and one fulling mill had been constructed along the rivers.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Townshend had a total population of 1,376, and approximately 120 men fought in the War. Volunteering to fight in the ranks of the Union Army was incentivized by cash bounties, which were set as high as $500 in 1862. Following the same trend that was taking place across Vermont, many Civil War veterans from Townshend left the state after their service. This emigration pattern reflected the desire of former soldiers to explore larger cities around the country, and led to the shrinking of the Vermont population and economy.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Townshend, Vermont, revision 1379274101 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.