Genealogy in Bennington County, Vermont

Town of Manchester


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Manchester lies in the north central part of Bennington County and is roughly bounded by Rupert on the northwest, Dorset on the north, Peru on the northeast, Winhall on the east, Stratton (in Windham County) on the southeast, Sunderland on the south, Arlington on the southwest, and Sandgate on the west. Manchester was chartered August 11, 1761, settled in 1764, and organized in 1766. The town of Manchester includes the locales of Barnumville, Factory Point, Manchester, Manchester Center, and Manchester Depot.

In 1853, Zadock Thompson described the town of Manchester as follows:
MANCHESTER, a post and half shire town in Bennington county, is in lat. 43° 10' and long. 4° 1', and is bounded north by Dorset, east by Winhall, south by Sunderland and west by Sandgate. It is 22 miles north from Bennington, 48 from Troy and 32 south from Rutland. It was chartered Aug. 11, 1761, containing about 40 square miles. The settlement of this township was commenced in 1764 by Samuel Rose and others from Dutchess county, N.Y. The town was organized in 1766, and Stephen Mead was first town clerk. It was first represented in the General Assembly in 1778, by Gideon Ormsby and Stephen Washburn. The religious societies are Congregationalists, Baptists and Epi[s]copalians. The two former have been under the care of successive pastors from an early period, but we have not been able to obtain particulars. The present minister of the Congregational church is the Rev. James Anderson. The Episcopal church, called Zion's Church, is one of the oldest in the state. In Oct. 1782, 24 persons here united in inviting the Rev. Gideon Bostwick to the care of the parish. The Rev. James Nichols and the Rev. Daniel Barber were also early ministers. From 1802 to 1825 the Rev. Abraham Bronson officiated half the time, and from 1825 to '33, the whole time, when he resigned and left the diocese. The Episcopal church was built in 1821, at the village called Factory Point. The ministers since 1833, have been the Rev. Freeman Lane, Rev. A.H. Cull, and Rev. John T. Sabine, who is the present rector.--Communicants, 35. There are here four practising physicians and four attorneys. The principal stream is the Battenkill, which rises in Dorset and runs through the township in a southwesterly direction. It receives here as tributaries, Lye brook, Bourne brook, Glebe brook, and Mill brook. These streams afford a great number of excellent mill privileges. The habitable parts of this township lie between the Green Mountains on the east and the Equinox mountain on the west. The latter is the highest summit in this section of the state, and is, according to the admeasurement of Capt. A. Partridge, 2915 feet above the site of the courthouse in Manchester south village, and 3706 feet above tide water. Through the east part of the township runs a range of granular quartz from north to south. Contiguous and parallel to this on the west is a range of transition granular lime rock, and here are inexhaustible quantities of beautiful white marble, $50,000 worth of which, is an[n]ually exported. The most interesting minerals are calcarious spar, stalactites, mica, feldspar, and specular oxyde of iron. On the farm of J.S. Petibone, is an extensive bed of agaric mineral and calcarious tufa. The soil is various, being primitive, diluvial and alluvial. The diluvial beds of sand are of great value in the sawing and manufacture of marble. On the east side of the Equinox mountain, upon a farm formerly belonging to the late Hon. Richard Skinner, is a cavern, which has been explored several rods in different directions, but its extent has never yet been ascertained. There are two pleasant villages called the north or Factory Point, and south village. The south village is pleasantly situated on elevated ground, It contains a bank, a jail erected in 1787 in connexion with a court house, an academy, built in 1818, an elegant brick court-house built in 1822, a meeting house, the Burr seminary, several stores, taverns, mechanics' shops, &c. The town is divided into ten school districts, with school houses. There are 4 stores, 1 grist and 12 saw mills, 1 woollen factory, and 1 tannery. Statistics of 1840.--Horses, 320; cattle, 1,351; sheep, 7,989; swine, 691; wheat, bush. 1,481; oats, 9,145; rye, 1,083; buck-wheat, 2,073; Indiancorn, 5,764; potatoes, 30,567; hay, tons. 3,553; sugar, lbs. 34,950; wool, 23,010. Population, 1,590.
(Source: Thompson, Zadock, 1796-1856. History of Vermont : natural, civil, and statistical ... / by Zadock Thompson. -- Burlington : Z. Thompson, 1853. -- pt. 3, p. 109)

Genealogical Resources

The following resources may provide information useful in researching Manchester families.

General Information

The following resources may provide useful information on the Manchester town area.

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