1771 Map Shows Vermont’s Disputed Origins

Dateline: January 6, 2011

The Vermont Historical Society has acquired an important map from the conflict between New York and New Hampshire in the early 1770s over land that would later become Vermont. The map, in clear black ink on vellum, was drawn in 1771 by surveyor Benjamin Stevens to delineate plots of land in the town of Newbrook that had been parceled out to members of the gentry by Lt. Gov. Cadwallader Colden of New York. It is an example of New York’s attempts to lay claim to land that was already granted by New Hampshire’s governor, actions that eventually led to armed conflict in the disputed territory.

Paul Carnahan, librarian of the Vermont Historical Society, says that the map is a beautiful example of 18th century map-making. Because it was rendered on vellum instead of paper the map has withstood the trials of time. “We have one other map in the collection that shows a New York patent,” said Carnahan, “It is an 1851 copy of a 1771 map on paper and is in very poor condition. This is the only map that I know of in Vermont that shows a New York patent with such clarity,” he said.

Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire made 135 grants for land in what is now Vermont between 1749 and 1764. In July 1764 King George III issued an order establishing the Connecticut River as the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire. The order failed to invalidate the grants already made by Wentworth west of the river and thus created further confusion over land ownership.

New York stepped into the breach and between 1765 and 1776 issued 107 patents for town-sized tracts of land in what is now Vermont. Newbrook was one of those patents, sometimes called “paper towns,” because they existed solely on paper without any settlement on the ground. Newbrook was granted to high-ranking New York officials whose initial grants in New York State had proven to be unfit for cultivation.

Newbrook included an area that now includes Barre and Berlin, as well as a portion of Williamstown. The newly acquired map shows four rivers or branches of rivers intersecting in an area that was subdivided into smaller lots as if it were the location of a future town; that area is now Barre City. The map also shows the “Great Road from New England to Canada” passing through the center of the future settlement.

One of the rivers is labeled “Ouinouischick or Onion River.” This river is now considered two rivers: the Jail Branch and Gunner Brook. Another river coming from the southeast is labeled “Little Ouinouischick.” This is what is now called the Stevens Branch (not named for the New York surveyor who made this map). Berlin Pond, labeled simply “a pond,” can be seen in the upper left quadrant of the map.

According to Carnahan the map is an important artifact of the conflict that eventually led to the birth of Vermont. The creator of this map was a year later apprehended by Ira Allen and Remember Baker further west along the Winooski River. Allen and Baker summarily tossed out the New York surveying party from the territory, burning one man in the ensuing scuffle. This so infuriated New York officials that they issued a bounty for the arrest of Allen and Baker, a bounty that was never collected but which became the opening salvo in what would become Vermont’s fight for independence.

Carnahan commented, “I think that it is important this year when so many towns are celebrating the 250th anniversaries of their charters that we remember that Benning Wentworth wasn’t the only guy out there making grants in Vermont.” “If things had come out differently,” he added, “we could all be living in towns with names like Newbrook, Leyden, and Kingsborough.”