Barre, Vermont, USA (Graniteville) (South, East)
1849 Barre

Washington Co. Barre is a pleasant and flourishing town. It is considered one of the best farming towns in the State. Large quantities of pot and pearl ashes, beef, pork, butter, and cheese, are annually taken from this place to Boston market. It is well watered by Stevens' and Jail branches of Winose River, which afford good mill privileges. Inexhaustible quantities of granite are found here, of the excellent quality with which the capitol at Montpelier is built.

Boundaries. North by Montpelier and Plainfield, east by Orange, south by Williamstown, and west by Berlin.

First Settlers. This township was granted November 6, 1780, to William Williams and his associates, and chartered by the name of Wildersburgh. This name being unpopular with the inhabitants of the town, in the year I 1793, a town meeting was called, to be holden at the house of Calvin Smith, for the purpose of agreeing on some other name, to be presented to the legislature for their sanction and approval. The meeting being opened, freedom was given for any one to present the name he chose, and the choice among the number presented was to be decided by vote of the town. Several names were proposed, such as Paris, Newburn, &c. Two of the voters present, Capt. Joseph Thompson and Mr. Jonathan Sherman, the first from Holden, the other from Barre, Mass., each in their turn strenuously contended for the name of the town from which he came; and as the matter seemed to lie chiefly between these two, it was proposed that it should be decided between them by boxing, to which they readily agreed. The terms were, that they should fight across a pole, but if one should knock the other down, they might then choose their own mode of warfare. The meeting then adjourned to a new barn shed, erected by said Smith, over which a floor of rough hemlock plank had just been laid, and on this the issue was to be decided. Agreeably to this arrangement, the combatants advanced upon each other, and soon Thompson, by a well directed blow, brought his antagonist to the floor, and springing upon him at full length, began to aim his heavy blows at his head and face ; but Sherman, being more supple, avoided them, and they generally fell harmless on the floor, except peeling his own knuckles. During this process, Sherman was dexterously plying his ribs from beneath, when Thompson was soon heard to groan, and his blows became palsied and without effect. Sherman then rolled him off, and, springing upon his feet, exultingly exclaimed, ' There, the name is Barre by __!' Accordingly a petition for the name of Barre was presented, and sanctioned by the legislature the same year. The day following this encounter, Sherman called on Dr. Robert Paddock, the physician of the town, who was an eye witness of the transaction, and who related these particulars to the writer, and requested him to extract from his back and posteriors the hemlock splinters he had received, while writhing on the plank floor. In 1788, Samuel Rogers and John Goldsbury, one from Bradford, the other from Hartland, Vt., with their families, moved into this town, and began converting the wilderness into farms. The next year a number of other families came in, and from this time the town settled rapidly by emigrants from Worcester county, Mass, and from New Hampshire and Connecticut. The town was organized, March 11, 1793, and Joseph Dwight was first town clerk.

First Ministers. The Rev. Aaron Palmer was ordained to the pastoral care of the Congregational Church in 1807 ; he died in 1821. The Rev. Justus W. French was ordained in 1822, and dismissed in 1832.

Productions of the Soil. Wheat, 3,560 bushels; Indian corn, 9,170 bushels; potatoes, 120,337 bushels; hay, 6,938 tons; maple sugar, 62,158 pounds; wool, 26,621 pounds.

Distances. Six miles south-east from Montpelier. The great Northern Railroad passes through the town.

A gazetteer of Vermont... by John Hayward Boston - Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason 1849

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