Person:Elisha Burton (1)

Elisha Burton was the first justice of the peace, in 1786, and held the office twenty-eight years.

The first saw-mill was built by Jacob and Elisha Burton, opposite the present site of Messenger & Hazen's tannery, in 1767.

About 1770, Elisha Burton built a grist mill along Blood Brook — a little distance west of Norwich village. The mill is now (1905) standing on its original site, and had been occupied by Joseph Amsden, Levi Richards, and, perhaps, others, previous to its ownership by the late Allen W. Knapp, who used it for the purpose for which it was originally built.

Johnson Safford and Jacob Burton (Elisha's Father) had a fulling and cloth dressing mill along Blood Brook, in the southwestern part of the village, and operated it until 1836, when they sold the property to Sylvester Morris, who converted it into a tannery. In 1853 Morris sold the property to Asa Blanchard, and he to Wardsworth and Felch in 1856. Wards- worth bought out Felch and sold the property to Messenger and Hazen in 1869, from whom it passed to R. E. Cook, the present owner, who changed it into a grist mill

1. ↑ Child, Hamilton. Gazetteer and business directory of Windsor County, Vt., for 1883-84. (Syracuse, New York: H. Child, 1884)
   p. 163.

   Elisha Burton, born November 7, 1743, was one of the first settlers where the village now is, and at an early date built the house now occupied by S. A. Armstrong. He was a prominent man among his townsmen, whom he served for many years as a justice of the peace. He also built the first sawmill in the town, opposite the present site of Messenger & Hazen's tannery. His son Jacob ran the mill until his death, in 1843. The old landmark was carried off by a freshet in 1869. Elisha was thrice married and reared a family of eleven children, four of whom spent their lives here. Of this once numerous family only George, a grandson of Elisha, and Sarah J., daughter of Harvey Burton, now reside in Norwich.

2.   Coolidge, A. J., and J. B. Mansfield. A history and description of New England, general and local. (Boston: Austin J Coolidge, 1859/1860/1864).

   WASHINGTON, in the north westerly part of Orange county, fifteen
   miles from Montpelier, was granted November 6, 1780, and chartered to
   Major Elisha Burton and sixty-four others, August 8, 1781. The territory
   was granted by New York, by the name of Kingland, and it was
   constituted the shire town of Gloucester county. A town plot was
   laid out into village lots near the centre, and a log jail erected, which
   gave the name of Jail branch to two streams rising here. It was first
   settled in 1785, by Daniel Morse, who was soon followed by his brother,
   John Morse. The proprietors voted to give Daniel Morse one hundred
   acres of land, and to the son of John Morse, who was the first native,
   fifty acres. In the spring of 1788, eighteen settlers moved in, among
   whom were Elisha Smith, Jacob Burton, Abel Skinner, Bela Tracy,
   Robert Ingraham, and Thaddeus White, the last of whom was the first
   representative, in 1794. Washington was organized March 1, 1795, and
   contains 23,040 acres. It is watered by branches of the Winooski,
   Wait's, and White rivers, which afford a few mill privileges. The town
   has one village, situated on Jail branch, a tributary of the Winooski
   river; two church edifices — Universalist and a Union house; sixteen
   school districts, and one post-office : also, one grist-mill, one saw-mill,
   with clapboard and shingle machines therein, and four other saw-milk
   Population, 1,348 ; valuation, $328,698.