In 1835, the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy became “Norwich University,” by virtue of an act of incorporation granted by the legislature of Vermont the previous year. Captain Alden Partridge remained at the head of the institution until 1843, and soon after sold the buildings and grounds to the Trustees of the University. There […]
The strength of the great political parties that have divided the suffrages of the country almost since the union of the States under the Constitution has usually been pretty evenly balanced in Norwich. Elections have been sharply contested, and party feeling has frequently run high. Up to the formation of the Republican Party (1854 or
At the first enumeration of the inhabitants of eastern Vermont, as made by the authority of New York in 1771, Norwich was found to be the most populous of all the towns of Windsor County, having forty families and 206 inhabitants. Windsor followed with 203, and Hartford was third with 190. The aggregate population of
From 1890-1903, the Dedham Historical Society in Dedham Massachusetts printed a quarterly pamphlet for it’s historical society called the “Dedham Historical Register.” In this pamphlet a variety of genealogical data was published on families of Dedham and the villages emanating from the early residents of Dedham, such as Dorchester, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Needham, and Sharon, etc.
Dedham Massachusetts Historical Society Register 1890-1903 Read More »
Samuel Partridge, Sr., was born in Preston, Connecticut, in 1721. He married Ruth Woodward, and with her and seven of their children (one son remaining in Connecticut to care for the “old folks”) came to Norwich for a permanent settlement about 1765, and settled on a hill farm about one mile west from Norwich village,
BRADFORD ELLIOT JONES, of Brockton, one of the best known merchants of southeastern Massachusetts, is also one of that city’s most enterprising and successful business men, and as a citizen has been prominently identified with the growth and development of its business and financial institutions. Mr. Jones was born Sept. 22, 1840, in North Bridgewater, now Brockton, son of Rosseter and Hannah (Marshall) Jones, and a descendant of several of New England’s earliest settled families. A record of that branch of the Jones family to which Mr. Bradford E. Jones belongs follows, the generations being given in chronological order.
ELIZABETH PARTRIDGE, of Flushing. Leaves one fourth of estate “to all my grandchildren equally.” The rest “to all my children equally.” Makes “Mr. Elias Doughty, of Flushing,” executor. Dated May 23, 1669. Written at order of Elizabeth Partridge by me, Anthony Waters, Clerk. Proved June 9, 1669. Debts mentioned as owing to her from Robert
In 1895, Cyrus Henry Brown began collecting family records of the Brown family, initially with the intention of only going back to his great-grandfathers. As others became interested in the project, they decided to trace the family lineage back to Thomas Brown and his wife Mary Newhall, both born in the early 1600s in Lynn, Massachusetts. Thomas, John, and Eleazer, three of their sons, later moved to Stonington, Connecticut around 1688. When North Stonington was established in 1807, the three brothers were living in the southern part of the town. Wheeler’s “History of Stonington” contains 400 records of early descendants of the Brown family, taken from the town records of Stonington. However, many others remain unidentified, as they are not recorded in the Stonington town records. For around a century, the descendants of the three brothers lived in Stonington before eventually migrating to other towns in Connecticut and New York State, which was then mostly undeveloped. He would eventually write this second volume of his Brown Genealogy adding to and correcting the previous edition. This book is free to search, read, and/or download.
Notwithstanding the fact that Norwich had for many years within its borders a collegiate institution of its own, founded and directed by its most distinguished son, the relations of their people towards Dartmouth College on the opposite bank of the Connecticut were always intimate and friendly.
Peter Olcott had a store near his residence at the Center, in the time of the Revolutionary War. Abel Curtis was for a time associated with him in this business. Stephen Burton, eldest son of Elisha Burton and a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1790, was probably the first to open trade at Norwich Plain,
Abstracts of wills on file in the surrogate’s office city of New York 1660-1680. From May 1787 to the present, county surrogate’s courts have recorded probates. However, the court of probates and court of chancery handled estates of deceased persons who died in one county but who owned property in another. An 1823 law mandated that all probates come under the jurisdiction of the county surrogate’s courts. Each surrogate’s court has a comprehensive index to all probate records, including the unrecorded probate packets. Interestingly enough, there are wills existing and on record at the Surrogate’s Office in New York City for the time-span of 1660-1680. Genealogical extracts of these wills have been provided below.
Abstracts of Wills on File in the City of New York Surrogate’s Office 1660-1680 Read More »
In America the germ of political organization is the Township, older than the County, older than the State. In New England we find towns established as independent communities, endowed with distinctive rights and privileges, as early as the middle of the seventeenth century. It is to these town governments that we must look for the
Having glanced thus briefly at the action of the Norwich proprietors in opening a way to reach their new township in the wilderness, and in dividing up a portion of its surface into lots suitable to become the homesteads of future settlers, let us pause a moment and see what had meantime been done in
Muster Roll of Captain Joseph Anthony’s Company of Infantry in the Detachment of drafted Militia of Maine, called into actual service by the State, for the protection of its Northeastern Frontier, from the twenty-fifth day of February, 1839, the time of its rendezvous at Augusta, Maine, to the nineteenth day of April, 1839, when mustered.
Muster Roll of Captain Joseph Anthony’s Company of Infantry Read More »
This history of Seneca County, New York published in 1876, provides a look at the first 75 years of existence for this county, with numerous chapters devoted to it’s early history. The value of this manuscript may be found in the etched engravings found throughout of idyllic scenes of Seneca County including portraits of men, houses, buildings, farms, and scenery. Included are 35 biographies of early settlers, and histories of the individual townships along with lists of men involved in the Union Army during the Civil War on a township by township basis.
It was fifteen years after the admission of Vermont into the Federal Union, and forty years after the settlement of the town, before Norwich had a post office. The first post office was established at Norwich Plain, July 1, 1805, and Jacob Burton was appointed postmaster. Postmaster Burton kept the office in his harness shop
Postmasters and Postal Service in Norwich Vermont Read More »
General Lewis S. Partridge, son of Abel and Alpa (Lewis) Partridge, was born in Norwich, Vt., in 1818, a year prolific in the birth of sons in town. In early life he served in clerkships in mercantile business in Norwich, and in Hanover and Claremont, New Hampshire. He became a cadet at Norwich University in
Biographical Sketch of General Lewis S. Partridge Read More »
Hon. Thomas Murdock removed to Norwich from Preston, Connecticut, as early as 1767 (in which year he was recorded a voter in town), and located on the farm a little north of Norwich Plain and subsequently occupied by Jared Goodell, George Blanchard, Harvey Knights, and now by Judd Leonard. He married Elizabeth Hatch (sister of
For nearly two hundred and seventy-five years the Packard family has been one prominent and influential in New England, and it has become a most numerous family, too, many of whose members both at home and abroad have given a good account of themselves. Samuel Packard, the immigrant ancestor of this family, became one of
Ancestry of Elmer C. Packard of Brockton Massachusetts Read More »
The contest with New York in regard to land titles was the first of a series of political commotions that arose to disquiet and vex the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, to turn their thoughts and energies away from the improvement of their little properties, and check their growing prosperity. In this contest the
Norwich Vermont in the Controversy with New York Read More »
