Genealogy in Bennington County, Vermont

Town of Arlington

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Arlington lies in the west central part of Bennington County and is roughly bounded by Salem (in Washington County, New York) on the northwest, Sandgate on the north, Manchester on the northeast, Sunderland on the east, Glastenbury on the southeast, Shaftsbury on the south, White Creek on the southwest, and Jackson on the west (the preceding two towns in Washington County, New York). Arlington was chartered July 28, 1761 and settled in 1763. The town of Arlington includes the locales of Arlington, Chiselville, East Arlington, and West Arlington.

In 1853, Zadock Thompson described the town of Arlington as follows:

ARLINGTON, a post town in Bennington county, lies in lat. 43° 4' and long. 3° 54', and contains 39 square miles. It is bounded north by Sandgate, east by Sunderland, south by Shaftsbury, and west by Salem, New York, and is situated 40 miles from Troy, 40 miles from Saratoga springs, 40 from Whitehall and 40 from Rutland. It was chartered July 28, 1761, to a number of persons mostly belonging to Litchfield, Connecticut. 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. The early records of this town were lost or destroyed in the year 1777, by Isaac Bisco, then town clerk, who became a tory and fled to Canada. Hence the precise time the town was organized, is not known. It was about the year 1768, and Remember Baker, an active and distinguished leader in the controversy between the New Hampshire grants and New York, was the first town clerk. Thomas Chittenden was a resident in this town during the revolution, and was chosen to represent it in the first assembly after the adoption of the constitution, but, being elected governor the same year, was succeeded as representative by Ethan Allen. This town was originally settled by Episcopalians, and an Episcopal society was organized here some years before the revolution, which has existed ever since. The records of this church, which is called St. James' Church, go back to August 16, 1784. The first rector of this church was the Rev. James Nichols, settled in 1786. His salary was £20 a year, which was raised by an assessment upon "the grand list." His conduct proving irregular and unsatisfactory, he was dismissed about the year 1792, and the Rev. Russell Catlin, whose conduct proved still more exceptionable, succeeded him. In the beginning of 1803, the Rev. Abraham Bronson took charge of this church for half the time. This connexion, happy and much blessed, lasted till January, 1826. He was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph H. Coit. In 1828, Mr. C. was succeeded by the Rev. James Tappan, who, the next year, was succeeded by the Rev. Wm. S. Perkins, who resigned in 1833. Since that time the ministers have been the Rev. Luman Foote, the Rev. John Grigg and the Rev. Anson B. Hard, who is a native of the town and the present rector. The first church was erected in 1786, by a tax assessed on the grand list. In 1831 a new and elegant stone church was erected at a cost of $10,000. Total baptisms 352; present communicants 80. Arlington, lying lower than the surrounding towns, has the principal streams in the county passing through it. Roaring branch enters the eastern part of the town from Sunderland, Mill brook the southeast part from Glastenbury, Warm brook the south part from Shaftsbury, and Green river the north part from Sandgate. These streams all fall into the Battenkill, which enters the town near the northeast corner, runs southwesterly about three miles, thence nearly west about six miles further, and crosses the west line of the town into Washington county, New York. These streams afford many very excellent mill privileges, and along their banks are considerable tracts of the finest intervale land. The principal elevations are West Mountain and Red Mountain, which extend from south to north through the west part of the town. These mountains are separated by the Battenkill, in its westerly course through the township. They are covered with a considerable variety of timber, consisting of white, red and black oak, white and black birch, chestnut, hickory, &c. The soil is rich and very productive of English grain. The soil in the eastern part of the town is chiefly loam, and the timber principally beech, maple, ash, birch, elm, bass and butternut. A glade of land, three miles in len[g]th, and one in breadth, extending from north to south, near the foot of West mountain, was formerly covered with an extraordinary growth of white pine. The soil of this tract is sandy. Several extensive quarries of granular limestone or white marble, have been opened here, from which large quantities are annually taken and wrought into tombstones and for other purposes. The value of the marble manufactured in 1840 was $8,300. There is also an abundance of compact limestone from which lime, of a superior quality, is manufactured. Near Aylsworth's mills in the east part of the town, is a medicinal spring, which is resorted to by the inhabitants of the vicinity as a remedy for cutaneous diseases, ophthalmies, &c. The water is strongly impregnated with ferrugenous matter, and rather unpleasant to the taste. It contains a minute portion of hydrogen gas, but no carbonic acid. Its temperature is about the same as that of the springs in the neighborhood. Near the northeast corner of the town is a cavern which is much visited as a curiosity. Its entrance is on the east side of a steep hill, and of a capacity sufficient for one person only to enter at a time. From the entrance to the bottom it is about 20 feet, and the passage makes, with the horizon, an angle of about 45°. The cavern then extends westerly in a horizontal direction 13 rods. Its other dimensions are somewhat various in different parts of its course. Its medium width is about eight feet, and its height about the same. In some places, it contracts so as barely to admit a person to pass along, and in others expands into capacious rooms or vaults. Near the western extremity is a large room of a conical form, the sides of which are very regular. Its height from the base to the apex is more than fifty feet, and its sides are limerock incrusted with stelactites. The bottom of the cavern is mostly a fine white clay, and a stream of very pure water runs through its whole length. The road from Bennington to Rutland passes through this town. There are two houses for public worship, two grist and three sawmills, one woollen factory, one fulling mill and one tannery. Statistics of 1840.--Horses, 145; cattle, 830; sheep, 12,005; swine, 583; wheat, bu. 743; oats, 9,025; rye, 3,556; buck wheat, 1,092; Indian corn, 5,145; potatoes, 211,212; hay, tons, 4,631; sugar, lbs. 7,420; wool, 27,750. Pop. 1,035.

(Source: Thompson, Zadock, 1796-1856. History of Vermont : natural, civil, and statistical ... / by Zadock Thompson. -- Burlington : Z. Thompson, 1853. -- pt. 3, p. 4-5)