The following information has been adapted primarily from the 1867 source:  
The Vermont Historical Gazetteer:  A Magazine, Embracing a History of Each Town, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Biographical and Military,  Vol. 1.  Edited by Abby Maria Hemenway,  "Groton,"  By Rev. O. G. Clarke, Burlington, Vt :  Miss A. M. Hemenway, 1867,  (pp. 321-322).

     GROTON, situated in the south part of Caledonia County, is bounded N. by Peacham, E. by Ryegate, S. by Topsham, and W. by Goshen Gore (Goshen Gore the Lessor was located in what is now the western corner of Groton. The area included Signal Mountain and part of Plainfield).  Its area is 38 square miles, and it contained in 1830, 836 inhabitants; in 1840, 928; in 1850, 895; and in 1860, a slight increase on the preceding decade.

     Groton was chartered Oct. 20, 1789.  It was settled in 1797.  March the 28th, 1797, it was organized by a town-meeting, held at the dwelling-house of John DARLING, pursuant to a notice issued by William CHAMBERLIN, Justice of the Peace of the town of Peacham.  At this meeting were elected the following town officers, viz.: --Samuel BACON, Moderator; Nathaniel KNIGHT, Town Clerk; Samuel BACON, Nathaniel KNIGHT, and James ABBOTT, Selectmen; Jonathan JAMES, Town Treasurer; Wm. FROST, Constable and Collector; Dominicus GRAY, Town Grand Juror; Israel BAILEY and Edmund MORSE, Tithingmen; Aaron HOSMER, Jr., and Silas LUND, Highway Surveyors; Robbards DARLING, Surveyor of Lumber; Wm. FROST, Sealer of Weights and Measures; Jeremiah BACHELDER and Samuel DARLING, Hogreeves; James HOOPER, Fenceviewer.

     The first freemen's meeting was held Sept. 3, 1799; but the town records do not show whether there was an election or not.  There is, however, a tradition that at this meeting there were two parties, viz.: the Kennebunkers, who were settlers from Sanford, Wells and Kennebunk, Maine; and the Gaghegans, from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut; and that the former, being more numerous, elected Jonathan MACOMBER, Representative.  The truth of this tradition can be ascertained only by reference to the State records.

     The surface of the town is agreeably diversified by hill and valley, presenting to the eye a landscape pleasing and beautiful, rather than grand and sublime.  The soil, though hard, is well adapted to grass and grain, and, when well cultivated, richly remunerates the husbandman for his labor.

     Whitcher's Mountain, situated in the southeastern part, is the highest elevation of the land in town, being 1,100 feet above the level of the ocean, and capable of cultivation to its summit, where there is guite a pond of water; not of sufficient dimensions and depth, to be sure, for steamboats and men-of-war, but ample enough for ducks and geese.

     The soil, except in the eastern part, is hard and stony, and consequently difficult of cultivation.  The rock is granite, and there is an abundance of it for all fencing purposes, and some to spare.  In general, the rock of Caledonia County is primitive, and of the calcareo-mica-slate formation; but in Groton, Peacham, Danville, and the eastern part of Cabot, it is almost exclusively granite.

     Wells River, which rises in Groton Pond, flows through the town from N. W. to S. E., and by its falls affords many excellent water privileges for mills and machinery, of which the inhabitants have availed themselves by erecting mills and locating machinery at various points along its banks.

     In 1867, Rev. CLARKE described the north-western portion of the town thus:  "In the north-western part of the town are two beautiful ponds of water, called Long Pond and Little Pond; the former 4 miles long by 1 broad, and the latter 1 mile in length by 1/2 mile in width.  At the foot of the latter is the "Lake House," recently erected by McLane MARSHALL, the proprietor and occupant.  On the latter pond, also, is a pleasure-boat 30 feet long by 10 wide, called the "Lady of the Lake," and capable of carrying 60 persons at a time.  Both these ponds contain an abundance of fish, and afford the inhabitants of this and adjoining towns no little sport in catching them." 

     The first settlers of the town were as follows: --Aaron HOSMER, the great-grandfather of Josiah D. HOSMER, deceased in the 1860s, is said to have been the first individual who made even a temporary residence in town.  He, being a hunter, pitched his tent on the meadow later known as the Orson Ricker meadow, and from thence went north to the ponds, one of which is in Peacham, and is called Hosmer Pond.  But he never made a permanent residence within the limits of the town.  Edmund MORSE was the first settler in the north part of the town, and James ABBOTT occupied the farm later known as the Jacob ABBOTT place, and owned and occupied by Percival BAILEY in 1867.  A Mr. JAMES settled on the next farm south of James ABBOTT, known afterward as the Henry LOW place, and owned, in 1867, by Peter WHITCHILL.  Edmund MORSE, who was the first military captain in town, and whose sword was an old rusty scythe, settled in the north part of the town, on the next farm south of Mr. JAMES, where he continued to live until his death at a good, old age.  Mr. MORSE built the first saw and grist-mill in town, at the foot of the Little Pond.  Before this, the early settlers went to Newbury to mill, some 15 miles distant, and not infrequently carried and brought their grist on their backs.  Mr. MORSE's daughter, Sally, who later married Mr. HILL, was the first female born in town. 

     John DARLING, the father of Robert, Samuel and Moses DARLING, was one of the first, and some say the first settler in Groton.  He occupied the farm near the old burying-ground, later known as the Joseph MORRISON place.  He lived to a good old age, retaining his faculties to the last.  At fourscore years, he sttod erect as a young man of twenty.

     Edmund WELCH was the first who settled on the William FROST farm, to whom he afterward sold it, and here Mr. FROST lived till his death, at about 65 years of age.

     Jonathan WELCH, brother to Edmund, first settled on the farm later owned and occupied by his son Jonathan.  John EMERY settled on the Timothy MORRISON farm, and Charles EMERY, his father, on the Medad WELCH farm.

     The first settler in what came to be called Groton Village was one Daniel MUNROE.  His house was located at the east end of the village, near the 1867 site of William F. CLARK's tannery. 

     A. M. HENDERSON, of Ryegate, built the first saw-mill on Wells River, near the ca. 1867 site of GATE's carriage shop, and soon after he also built a grist-mill where the one owned by A. L. CLARK stood.

     John HOGINS, a tailor, was also one of the first settlers in the village.  His house stood where Almun L. CLARK's tavern stood in 1867.

     Jerry BACHELDER first settled in the Moses PLUMMER neighborhood, on the farm owned and occupied by Joseph RICKER in 1867.

     John HEATH first settled in West Groton, on the place later occupied by Otis RHODES.  Mr. HEATH lived here quite a number of years, was a justice of peace, and quite a prominent religious man of the Baptist order.  Afterward, Mr. HEATH moved to the West.

     David JENKINS was the first who began on the farm owned and occupied by Charles MORRISON in 1867.  The next occupant of the place after JENKINs was Moses DARLING, with his father John DARLING; and after them, Jonathan DARLING, son of Samuel DARLING, occupied it quite a number of years, until he sold it to Charles MORRISON, and moved to the "Far West," where he was reportedly still living in 1867.

     The next settlers in West Groton were Jonathan and James RENFREW, of Scotch descent, one of whom made the quaint remark in reference to the soil of West Groton, viz.:  "If a man should strike an ace into the ground, and it did not his stone, it would be sure to his a guinea."  Their farms were the two places later occupied by Nathan DARLING and Moses ADAMS, in 1867.

     David VANCE was also one of the first settlers of this part of the town, where he lived a good many years, and became wealthy.  He was elected representative of the town a number of years, and after raising up a family of 7 sons and 4 daughters, he moved to the east part of the town where he was still in residence in 1867.

      Edmund and Stephen WELCH, and Nathaniel CUNNINGHAM, were the first settlers in the extreme west of the town.

BAPTIST CHURCH.

     Elder James BAILEY, of Peacham, formed the first church in town, of the Calvinist Baptist order, about 1795.  The first members were as follows: --Phebe DARLING, wife of John DARLING; Anna WELCH, wife of Jonathan WELCH; Edmund WELCH and wife; Sarah, wife of Stephen WELCH; Betsey MORRISON, wife of Bradbury MORRISON; John EMERY and wife Sarah; Mary, wife of James HOOPER; Edmund MORSE; Josiah PAUL and wife Sarah.

     In 1824, Rev. Otis ROBINSON, from the State of Maine, was installed pastor over the church, and for a number of years it continued in a flourishing condition.  But at length troubles arose, Mr. ROBINSON became deranged and moved away, and the church received a shock from which it had not yet recovered by the late 1860s.  From that time, they had no settled ministers, but had been supported from adjoining towns, till within a few years they had no preaching at all.  By the early-1860s, their number was 35.  In the late mid-1860s, they had taken a vote not to continue their church organization any longer, but to let each member have the privilege of joining any other church he pleased.  The first deacon was Wm. HODSDON; the second, Enoch PAGE; the last, Hosea WELCH.  The latter two were reportedly still living in 1867.

FREEWILL BAPTIST CHURCH in WEST GROTON.

     The Freewill Baptist Church in Groton was first formed in the west part of the town by Elder LATHROP.  Though the records did not say, Rev. Francis MORRISON, the pastor of this church in 1867, believed it began before about 1827.  Elder LATHROP presided over the church for a number of years with great acceptability as a preacher and a Christian, and under his labors there was a great revival of religion, by which the church was quickened, her numbers increased, and much good done.  They had no meeting-house, and therefore were under the necessity of holding their meetings in private houses in the winter, and in barns in the summer.  But notwithstanding the humble place of worship, the people at times came from all parts of the town to hear the Word, and found it indeed a Bethel.