Archive Record
Metadata
Title |
Towns: Somersett, VT: copy of the 1761 New Hampshire charter |
Object Name |
Documents |
Creator |
New Hampshire (Colony) |
Dates of Creation |
1809 |
Scope & Content |
Form certified to be a copy of the original New Hampshire charter and list of grantees/proprietors as issued September 9, 1761 for Somersett, Vermont. May 1809 entry at the bottom of page three notes this is a copy of the original Somersett charter. |
Information |
The town of Somersett (now spelled Somerset) was chartered on September 9, 1761 by Benning Wentworth to 62 original grantees, including Samuel Robinson and Jonas Fay of Bennington. Somersett was one of 63 Vermont townships chartered by Wentworth in less than five months, between early July and late November of 1761, after having chartered only 13 towns since Bennington in 1749. It seems the New Hampshire governor saw the settlement of Bennington in June of 1761 as a sign of things to come and he began granting huge tracts of land in the area. As was typical practice, Wentworth reserved a plot of land in the northwest corner of Somersett for himself, indicated with his initials on the plan. The town lies in rough,mountainous terrain and therefore failed to grow into a lasting sustainable community. The population reached 300 by 1850, but declined thereafter, leading to the 1937 disenfranchisement of the town, dwindling to the current population of five. Somerset is one of only two towns in Vermont, Glastenbury being the other, to have been incorporated then unincorporated after a sharp decline in population. |
Credit line |
Bequest of Hall Park McCullough |
Catalog Number |
2009.163.113.13 |
Parent Object ID |
2009.163.113 |