Whitingham, Vermont, USA (Jacksonville)
1849 - Whitingham

Windham Co. Deerfield River runs through the whole length of this town, along the western part, fertilizing some handsome tracts of meadow. There are many other smaller streams in different parts. There are two natural ponds. Sawdawda Pond is so called from an Indian of that name, who formerly lived near it, and was afterwards supposed to have been drowned in going down Deerfield River. This pond has been gradually decreasing for fifty years past, by land forming over the water, which, to the extent of seventy or eighty acres, rises and falls with the waters of the pond.

The surface of Whitingham is uneven, but the soil is generally good, and is timbered with maple, beech, birch, ash, spruce, and hemlock.

A mineral spring was discovered here in 1822, which was analyzed by Dr. Wilson, and found to contain the following ingredients, viz. : Muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, muriate of magnesia, carbonate and per-oxyde of iron, alumina, with an acid trace. It is said to be a specific for cutaneous eruptions, scrofulous humors, dropsy, gravel, chronic ulcers, liver complaint, and a variety of other diseases.

The western part of the town abounds with limestone, which is burnt extensively into lime, and transported to various places.

Boundaries. North by Wilmington, east by Halifax, south by Heath and Rowe, Mass., and west by Readsborough.

First Settlers. The settlement was commenced in 1770, by a Mr. Bratlin and Silas Hamlinton. In 1773, Messrs. Angel, Gustin, Nelson, Lamphire, and Pike, emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut, moved their families here.

There have been several instances of longevity. Mr. Benjamin Cook died here in 1832, aged one hundred and six years. His health and strength held out remarkably, and he celebrated his hundredth birth-day by making a pair of shoes without spectacles. Many of the first settlers of this town had numerous families of children. Mr. Pike had twenty-eight children; ten by his first wife, and eighteen by two others.

There are the usual number of religious denominations in the town.

Productions of the Soil. Wheat, 1,154 bushels; Indian corn, 3,270 bushels; potatoes, 4,978 bushels; hay, 4,999 tons ; maple sugar, 30,389 pounds ; wool, 6,809 pounds.

Distances. Seventeen miles west by south from Brattleborough, and eighteen east south-east from Bennington.

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

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