page 44 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.

FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN ADDISON COUNTY--CONQUERED BY THE BRITISH AND THEIR RETREAT--GRANTS OF LAND BY THE FRENCH.

The first settlement by Europeans in the County of Addison, was made by the French, on the east shore of Lake Champlain, opposite Crown Point, in pursuance of their plan to extend their settlements, arid fortifications, and set limits to those of the English. In the year 1730, a few individuals or families, came up the lake from Canada, and established themselves at Chimney Point, in Addison, and built a block house and windmill, on the point where the tavern house now stands. The next year troops were sent out and erected Fort Frederic, on the west side of the lake, now known as Crown Point. They afterwards in 1756 built a fort at Ticonderoga. Other settlers followed in the train of the army, and probably most of them were in some way attached to the garrison. Both the French and English, regarded the control of this lake of great importance, as one of the most convenient lines of communication into each other's territory, in the northern part of America. The British, in the early part of that century, planned several expeditions through the waters of the lake to Canada, for the purpose of subduing that province to the crown of England, but they uniformly failed. After the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, a season of peace prevailed, between the English and French, which gave the French in Canada, an opportunity to improve their condition; and alien wars afterwards succeeded, they were confined to other disputed territories, on this continent, by which the French were enabled to extend themselves in this direction without opposition. But during the French and Indian war, which commenced in 1755, one of the principal objects of the British, was to make an effective descent upon Canada, and for that purpose an expedition was set on

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foot every year from the commencement of the war, to proceed with a large force through the lake. A disgraceful failure attended them all, until the expedition under General AMHERST, in 1759. These failures occurred through the ignorance and indiscretion of ministers at home, or the imbecility of the officers entrusted with the command of the troops. In the year 1758, more efficiency was given to the war by the appointment of Mr. PITT to the ministry. General ABERCROMBIE was that year appointed to command the expedition against the French forts on Lake Champlain, and prosecuted the enterprise with more vigor than his predecessors. He advanced as far as Ticonderoga, and made a violent assault on the fort; but meeting with unexpected obstacles, he retreated without taking the place. In the year 1759, General AMHERST, commander in chief of the British 'forces in America, took command of the expedition, reached Ticonderoga, and without much opposition captured the fort there on the 27th of July, and before he reached Crown Point, the French garrison had burnt their forts on both sides and abandoned them. The settlers also in the neighborhood retreated with the army, and thus ended the French settlement in the County of Addison.

The French settlers had cleared off the timber along the shore of the lake, three or four miles north of Chimney Point. Most of it probably had been used in erecting the forts and other buildings connected with them, and the cabins of the settlers, and by the garrisons and families in the neighborhood. This was probably the extent of the settlement, although the population was rather thickly crowded together. The cellars and other remains of numerous huts were found afterwards by the English settlers, scattered over the whole tract, and many of them are still seen there. On the STRONG farm were four, on the VALLANCE farm three or four, and on others two or three. The buildings of the French settlers were burnt the next year after their retreat, by the Mohawks. KALMER, the author of an early history, which Hon. JOHN W. SRONG found in Montreal, gives all account of his visit to the place in 1749. He says, "I found quite a settlement, a stone windmill and fort, with five or six small cannon mounted, the whole inclosed by embankments." The remains of these embankments, surrounding

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Chimney Point, we have seen within a few years, and they are probably still to be seen. KALMER further says, that, within the enclosure, they had a neat little church, and through the settlement well cultivated gardens, and good fruit, such as apples, plums and currants. Old apple trees and plum trees, planted by them are still standing.

The first permanent settlement by the English in this County, was on that tract. This clearing and its beautiful location on the borders of the lake, were the occasion that a prosperous neighborhood was found here earlier than elsewhere, and it was for some time considered the most eligible place for holding the courts, when the County was first organized. In the spring of 1765, ZADOCK EVEREST, DAVID VALLANCE and one other person came from Connecticut, and commenced a clearing on their respective farms, on which they lived and died, about three miles north of Chimney Point. They put in some crops and remained until fall. In September, of the same year, JOHN STRONG and BENJAMIN KELLOGG, came on by the lake to Crown Point, then in possession of the British. After stopping a day or two, they extended their explorations east and south, and went as far east as Middlebury Falls. While on this expedition, they were delayed by a violent storm and swollen streams for several days, until their provisions were exhausted, and they were two days without food. When they returned to the lake, STRONG concluded to settle on the farm on which he resided until his death, and which is still in the possession of his grandson, Judge STRONG. With the aid of the settlers, STRONG erected a log house an old French chimney, near the lake. VALLANCE, in a similar manner, converted the remains of another French but into a tenement, which he afterwards occupied, for some years, with his family. In the fill they all returned to Connecticut. In February following, STRONG came on with his family, and was the first English settler, it is said, in Western Vermont, north of Manchester, and his fourth son, JOHN STRONG, Jun., in June 1765, was the first English child born north of that place. EVEREST and KELLOGG, who were married during the winter, came on with their wives in the spring, and VALLANCE also returned with his family the same

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season. From JOHN W. STRONG, mentioned above, we have obtained many of the above details. His father's family resided in the house with his grandfather, and he learned the facts from his grandparents, and especially from his grandmother, who lived to a great age, and often amused him in his childhood with the stories of their early history.

The result of AMHERST'S expedition was, that on the opening of the campaign of 1760, Montreal was surrendered to him; and Quebec and every other French post in Canada having been conquered and captured, the whole province, by the treaty which followed on the 10th day of February 1763, was surrendered to the British government.

The French, having had uninterrupted possession of Lake Champlain for nearly thirty years, not only claimed the control of its waters, but the right to the lands on both sides of it, and made grants of seigniories to favorite nobles and officers, and of smaller tracts to others. The grants in the County of Addison were less numerous than at the north part of the lake. As early as the year 1732, a grant had been made to one CONTRE COUER, Jun., lying on both sides and including the mouth of Otter Creek. On the 7th day of October 1743, a grant was made to "SIEUR HOCQUART Intendant of New France," of a tract "about one league in front by five leagues in depth, opposite Fort St. Frederic, now Crown Point, bounded on the west by the lake, east by unconceded lands," north and south the lines running east and west. And on the first of April 1745, another grant was made to HOCQUART, lying north of and adjoining the other tract, three leagues in front on Lake Champlain, by five leagues in depth. Both these, making four leagues on the lake, and five leagues east and west, constituted the "Seigniory HOCQUART," which extended from Willow Point, near the south line of Addison, north, and included the whole of the towns of Addison and Panton, and is represented on an old English map, as extending, as it must, some distance beyond Otter Creek, and included Middlebury and other lands east of that stream. Soon after the execution of the treaty, by which the French government surrendered Canada to the British, on the 7th of April 1763, HOCQUART

page 48 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.

conveyed his seigniory to MICHAEL CHARTIER LOTBINIERE. As the inhabitants of Canada, by the treaty, became the subjects of the British government, it was claimed that the grants by the French government were valid, and should be confirmed by the British government, and LOTBINIERE prosecuted his claim perseveringly before the latter goveenment, from the time of his purchase until the year 1776, before it was settled.

LOTBINIERE claimed, as evidence of his title, the "frequent clearances," and "various settlements," on these lands, which the war load not wholly obliterated; although it is probable that none of them were made under the authority of this grant. It is stated by Governor TRYON of New York, in a letter to Lord DARTMOUTH, president of the board of trade and plantations, "that when the French, on the approach of Sir JEFREY AMEERST, in 1759, abandoned Crown Point, there were found no ancient possessions, nor any improvements worthy of consideration, on either side of the lake. The chief were in the environs of the fort, and seemed intended mostly for the accommodation of the garrisons."

The lines between the provinces of Quebec and New York, had been settled by the British government on the 20th of July 1764, at the latitude of 45° on the lake. It was finally decided, that as the territory south of the River St. Lawrence, including the lands on Lake Champlain, was owned by the Iroquois, or Five Nations, and that these tribes, by treaty, had submitted to the sovereignty and protection of Great Britain, and had been considered subjects, all the possessions of the French on Lake Champlain, including the erection of the forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, were an intrusion and trespass, and of course that government had no right to make grants there, and therefore the British government denied the claim of LOTBINIERE, as they did all others, for lands south of latitute 45°, but consented to give him lands in Canada.

In the meantime, all the lands, which had been granted by the French government east of Lake Champlain, had been granted anew by the governor of New Hampshire, in the name of the British crown, and the governor and council of New York had spread their grants to the reduced officers and soldiers of the army, which

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had been disbanded after the conquest of Canada, on the top of the New Hampshire grants.

And previous to all these, and many years even before the settlement of the French, in 1696, GODFREY DELLIUS purchased of the Mohawks, who claimed the whole of this territory, a large tract of land extending from Saratoga along both sides of Hudson River and Wood Creek, and on the east side of Lake Champlain, to twenty miles north of Crown Point, and the purchase was confirmed under the great seal of New York; but in 1699, the grant was repealed by the legislature, "as an extravagant favor to one subject."

The Mohawks also, on the first day of February 1722, sold to Col. JOHN HENRY LYDIUS, a large tract of land embracing moat of the Counties of Addison and Rutland. There is a map of this tract in the possession of HENRY STEVENS, Esq., President of the State Historical Society, of which we have a copy, laid out into thirty-five townships, with the name of each. The southeast corner is at the sources of Otter Creek, and the northwest at its mouth, and the territory embraces the whole length of that stream, running diagonally through it. The west line--and the east is parallel with it--is marked as running from the north, south 16 degrees west 58 miles 20 chains. On the back of the map is the following certificate. "Feb. 2. 1763. A plan of a large tract of land, situated on Otter Creek, which empties itself into Lake Champlain, in North America, easterly from and near Crown Point, purchased by Col. JOHN HENRY LYDIUS, of the Mohawk Indians, by deed dated Feb. 1732, and patented and confirmed by his Excellency WILLIAM SHIRLEY, Esq., Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, August 31, 1744, divided into townships, and sold by the said LYDIUS, to upwards of two thousand British subjects, chiefly belonging to the Colony of Connecticut."

The New York town of Durham, and probably other towns in Rutland County, were originally settled under this grant. Two of the citizens, JEREMIAH SPENCER and OLIVER COLVIN, belonging to that town, in their petition to the General Assembly of New York, dated October 17, 1778, say, "That the township of Durham was originally settled by the late inhabitants, under Col. JOHN LYDIUS:

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That discovering the imperfection of their title, they applied to and obtained letters patent under New York. That many of the inhabitants (of which your petitioners are) have since been compelled to purchase the New Hampshire title to their lands, under a penalty of being turned out of their possessions by a mob."