Genealogy in Bennington County, Vermont

Town of Pownal


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Information

Pownal lies in the southwestern part of Bennington County and is roughly bounded by Hoosick (in Rensselaer County, New York) on the northwest, Bennington on the north, Woodford on the northeast, Stamford on the east, Clarksburg on the southeast, Williamstown on the south (the preceding two towns in Berkshire County, Massachusetts), and Petersburg (in Rensselaer County, New York) on the west. Pownal was chartered January 8, 1760 and settled in 1762. The town of Pownal includes the locales of North Pownal, Pownal, and Pownal Center.

In 1853, Zadock Thompson described the town of Pownal as follows:
POWNAL, a post town in the southwest corner of Bennington county and southwest corner of the state, is in lat. 42° 47' and long. 3° 54' and is bounded north by Bennington, east by Stamford, south by Williamstown, Mass., and west by Hoosic, N.Y. It lies 56 miles southwesterly from Rutland and 30 west from Brattleboro'. It was chartered Jan. 8, 1760, and contains about 25,000 acres. The settlement of this township, under the New Hampshire charter, was commenced in the spring of 1762, there being at the time 4 or 5 Dutch families within the limits of the township, claiming under the "Hoosic Patent," granted by the government of New York. Among the early settlers of the town were the families of Wright, Gardner, Morgan, Dunham, Noble, Card, Curtis, Watson, and Seelye, but the precise time when they severally came into the town is not ascertained. In 1791 it was the third in Bennington county, and the fifth in the state, in point of population, containing at that time 1,746 inhabitants. The religious denominations are Baptists, Methodists, and Protestant Methodist. The surface of the township is considerably uneven, but the soil is generally good, and produces plentiful crops. It is well adapted to the production of grain and grass, and here are kept some of the finest dairies in the state. The principal stream is Hoosic river, which is formed here and passes off in a northwesterly direction into the township of Hoosic, N.Y. Along this stream are some rich and beautiful tracts of intervale, and on it are several valuable stands for mills. Some of the head branches of Walloomscoik river rise in the northeastern part of this township, and pass off into Bennington. The town is divided into 13 school districts, and contains a meeting house, situated near the centre, 2 stores, 2 taverns, 2 grist and 5 saw mills, mechanics' shops, &c. Statistics of 1840.--Horses, 313; cattle, 1,468; sheep, 9,540; swine, 1,169; wheat, bus. 1,075; barley, 150; oats, 20,891; rye, 4,057; buckwheat, 1,072; Ind. corn, 11,147; potatoes, 28,215; hay, tons, 3,164; sugar, lbs. 6,087; wool, 22,367. Population, 1,613.
(Source: Thompson, Zadock, 1796-1856. History of Vermont : natural, civil, and statistical ... / by Zadock Thompson. -- Burlington : Z. Thompson, 1853. -- pt. 3, p. 144-145)

Genealogical Resources

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

General Information

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

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