Town Charter

Waitsfield Town Charter

The Governor, Council & General Assembly of the State of Vermont
To all People to whom these presents shall come Greeting:

Know Ye, that whereas it has been represented to us by our worthy friends the Honble General Roger Enos, Col. Benjamin Wait & company to the number of seventy, that there is tract of vacant Land, within this State, which has not been heretofore granted, which they pray may be granted to them. We have therefore thought fit for the due encouragement of settling a new plantation, & other valuable considerations us hereunto moving. Do by these presents in the name & by the authority of the freemen of the State of Vermont, give & grant unto the said Roger Enos, Benjamin Wait & the several persons hereafter named their associates Vizt Joel Mathews, Daniel Mathews, James Mathews, Ephraim Edey, Nathan Edey, Barnabas Strong, Aaron Whipple, Ezekiel Rooks, Charles Nelson, Daniel Brown, Amasa Brown, William Lathrop, Luther Richards, Sanford Kinsbury, Charles Kingsbury, Reuben Spencer, Barnabas Spencer, John W. Dana, Ebenezer Brown, Samuel Harriss, Samuel Treat, Edward Whitman, Ezra Jones, Zebulon Lee, Joseph York, Gideon Luis, Moses Levet, Christopher York, Benjan Burk, Enoch Emmerson, John Benjamin, John Strong, Theophilus Clark, Wm Strong, Andrew Spawlding, Ammi Curer, Solomon Burk, Gilbert Hodges, Benajah Strong, Stephen Jacobs, Joseph Farnsworth, Amos Bigelow, Ephraim Smith, Beriah Green, Stephen Tilden John Marsh, Roger Enos Juner, Solomon Strong, Isaac Dana, Charles Killim Jur Isaac Maine, John Hodges, Pascal P. Enos, Noahdiah Bissell, John Barret, Stephen Maine, Daniel King, Stephen Keyes, Gilbert Wait, Joseph Fay, Ezra Wait, George Denison, James Hawley, John Bean, Dearing Spears, Josiah Averil John Fay, & Eli Willard,

Together with five equal shares to be appropriated to public uses as follows Vizt One Share for the use of a Seminary or College within this State. One Share for the use of grammar Schools throughout this State, One Share for the first settled Minister of the Gospel in said Township to be disposed of as the inhabitants within said Town shall direct, One Share for the support of the Ministry to be disposed of in like manner, for that purpose & One Share for the benefit & Support of a school or Schools within said Town to be disposed of for that purpose as aforesaid; he following tract or parcel of Land Viz. Beginning at a stake & Stones in the southwesterly corner of Moretown, thence running south forty six degrees 30 Minutes East in the line of Moretown to the Southeasterly corner thereof, thence south forty four degrees west in the westerly line of Northfield, five Miles & 27 Chains to a Spruce Staddle standing in thenortherly Line of Roxbury or Warren, Thence in the northerly line of Warren North 61? West about six miles to a beach tree Marked June 17th 1787. Thence North 41 Do East six Miles 67 Chains & 40 Links to the first mentioned bounds, Containing 23,040 Acres, And that the same be & is hereby incorporated into a Township by the name of Waitsfield & the inhabitants that do or shall hereafter inhabit said Township are declared to be enfranchised & entitled to all the privileges and immunities that other Towns within this State do by Law exercise & enjoy.

To Have and to Hold the said granted premises as above expressed with all the privileges and appurtenances to them and the irrespective heirs & Assigns forever, Uppon the following Conditions and RESERVATIONS VIZt. That each proprietor of the Township of Waitsfield aforesaid his heirs or assigns shall plant and cultivate five Acres of Land & build a house at least Eighteen feet square on the floor or have one family settled on each respective right or share of Land in said Township agreeable to the time allotted by the Legislature of this State, on penalty of the forfeiture of his right or Share of Land in said Township; And the same to revert to the freemen of this State to be by their representatives regranted to such persons as shall appear to settle & cultivate the same.

In Testimony whereof I have here unto set my hand & caused the Seal of this State to be affixed this 25th day of February 1782 in the Sixth Year of the independence of this State.

Thomas Chittenden
By his Excellencys Command
Joseph Fay Sec.
CHAPTER 3.

AN Act, in amendment to an act, entitled, an act annexing a part of Waitsfield to the Town of Northfield.

Passed Nov. 3, 1823

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, That four tier of lots off of the easterly end of said Waitsfield, including one tier of small lots, and all the small lots on the southerly line of said town, lying east of lot number one hundred and fifty, be and the same are, hereby annexed to the town of Northfield; and the inhabitants, who do, or shall hereafter inhabit said lands, shall have, enjoy and exercise all the rights, privileges, immunities, and be subject to the same disabilities and penalties, which the other inhabitants of the town of Northfield can or ought, by the laws and constitution of this state, to have, exercise, enjoy, or be subject to.

Sec. 2. And it is hereby further enacted, That so Part of formermuch of an act, entitled an act annexing part of the town act repealed. of Waitsfield to the Town of Northfield, passed November 7, A.D. 1822, as comes within the purview of this act be, and the same is, hereby repealed.

No. 13. An Act to annex a part of the Town of Waitsfield to the Town of Northfield.

Approved, October 26, 1846

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, That the eastern and north-eastern part of the Town of Waitsfield, to wit: lots No. twenty-four, twenty-six, twenty-eight, thirty, thirty-two, thirty-four, thirty-six, thirty-eight, forty, fifty-nine, sixty-one, sixty-three, sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven, and sixty-eight as numbered on the original plan of said town, be hereby annexed to the Town of Northfield, and shall hereafter constitute a part of said Town of Northfield, the same as if it had been included in the original charter thereof.