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Orwell, Addison County, Vermont Cemetery Inscriptions

by Margaret R. Jenks ©2007

xii+63 Pages, 11 Cemeteries, 3600 Names, Maps, Indexed

Now available from Sleeper Books at www.sleeperco.com

SUMMARY:

The town of Orwell was chartered on 18 August 1762 by Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire. The town consisted of an oblong about six miles by seven miles bounded by a line beginning at a point due east from the flag staff of the fort at Ticonderoga, thence passing east seven miles, thence south six miles, thence west to the shore of Wood Creek as this part of Lake Champlain was then called, thence along the shore of the creek to the place of beginning. On 12 November 1847, Orwell was annexed to Addison County, as up to this time it had been part of Rutland County.

The first settler was John Charter, an emigrant from Scotland, who settled on the shore near Mount Independence. None of the original grantees settled in the town. Joshua Tracy, esq., of Pawlett, was employed in 1783 to make a survey and draw up lots. When he arrived he found Ephraim Fisher and Eber Murray already located in the wilderness. They were soon followed by William Fisher, brother of Ephraim, Major Amos Spafford, Shadrach Hathaway, Hon. Pliny Smith, Joshua Tracy, David Leonard, Nathaniel Mallary, and Elisha Clark.

After 1784, settlement advanced rapidly, so that when the town was organized on 12 December 1787, there were between seventy and eighty families in town. They were mostly emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Although not settled until after the Revolutionary War, the town is noted for having within its limits Mount Independence. This place became the headquarters of the Army of the North soon after the capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen on 10 May 1775. This is now a Vermont Historic Site. Today Route 73 connects with Ticonderoga by a toll ferry at Larrabees Point, a little north of Mount Independence.

This book includes two maps, one of Rutland County and one of Orwell, showing the location of each cemetery. The Mountain View Cemetery was recorded in sections to facilitate locating a stone.

Included are all extant stones in the following Danby cemeteries:
NORTH or VILLAGE CEMETERY                        LAKE VIEW CEMETERY
SMITH CEMETERY ON ROYCE HILL ROAD        SMITH CEMETERY ON HORTON ROAD
MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY                            ST. PAUL'S CATHOLIC CEMETERY
HACK CEMETERY                                             COATS CEMETERY
CONKEY HILL or PETER HALL CEMETERY         RICE CEMETERY
STACY CEMETERY                                            MOUNT INDEPENDENCE HISTORIC SITE