{"id":750,"date":"2011-06-19T17:31:10","date_gmt":"2011-06-19T17:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/?page_id=750"},"modified":"2022-11-30T16:05:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T16:05:18","slug":"250-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/250-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"250 years Ago – First Settlers"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happened in 1761  –  250 years ago?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In November of 1761 Moses Smith & William Thomas paddled up river with their families to build homes in West Chesterfield. Settlement was finally able to flourish in this area starting after decades of French and Indian hostilities. The large letters  indicate sites of nearby Indian raids which limited settlement. The “Events” list gives details. This  map was printed in 1761 – the same year that peace finally came to this area.
\n================================================================================================================<\/p>\n

\"chesterfield250_poster_web\"<\/a>Events – 1740-1761<\/h2>\n

1740\u2019s – Numerous Indian attacks
\n1750-1752 – Peace in the Connecticut  River Valley
\n1752, February 11   Town of  Chesterfield  chartered along with 3 other towns.
\n1754 –  More hostilities between the French and English.<\/p>\n

======== Nearby Indian Incidents before Settlement =========<\/strong>
\nA – 1757, April    Charlestown, NH    Indian raid – many captives taken.
\n1758, August    Asahel Stebbins killed, his wife captured.
\nB – 1758, March   Brattleboro, VT     Capt. Fairbanks Moor killed.
\nC – 1755, June    Keene, NH     Benjamin Twitchell captured.
\nD – 1756, June   Winchester, NH      Josiah Foster and family captured.
\nE – 1755, June    Vernon, VT     Bridgemans Fort attacked and Caleb How killed, his two sons captured.
\nHinsdale NH   Fort Hinsdale attacked, 14 prisoners taken.<\/p>\n

F – 1755, July    Walpole, NH    Daniel Twitchell and John Flint killed.
\nAugust    Indians besieged the house  of John Kilburn.<\/p>\n

=======  Major Regional Events================<\/strong>
\n1757, August Fort William Henry surrendered to French (Lake George)
\n1759, Oct  Rogers Rangers attack St. Francis Indian Village in Canada.
\n1760, September  Montreal surrenders to the British.<\/p>\n

===========================================================================================================
\nThe Blanchard & Langdon map of New Hampshire was based on surveying done during the French & Indian war.  Indian raiding parties frequently came to this area from Canada. Note \u201cthis way captives have been carried by the Indians\u201d  along the Black River (now Springfield, Vermont).                                                                                                                                                                       www.old-maps.com<\/p>\n

========================================================================================================
\nThe oldest narrative of the first settlement are these words from Larkin Mead<\/p>\n

“On the 25th<\/sup> of November, 1761, Moses Smith and William Thomas, with their families, came to Chesterfield and began a settlement on the bank of the Connecticut river.  Their descendants now occupy the land they first began upon.  At that day the river afforded them an abundance of shad and salmon, and the surrounding woods were well stocked with deer, bears, and wild turkeys; so that they soon made out to live comfortably, experiencing no particular hardships,”<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"1761_mosessmith_plaque\"This is the plaque which marks the site where Moses Smith built his first house in West Chesterfield.<\/p>\n

It is attached to a large stone at the edge of a field about a mile north of West Chesterfield Village.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"chf1948_sentinel_1761_web\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happened in 1761  –  250 years ago? In November of 1761 Moses Smith & William Thomas paddled up river with their families to build homes in West Chesterfield. Settlement was finally able to flourish in this area starting after … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-750","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/750\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vhist.com\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}