Mansfield, Vermont | |
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former Town | |
 Mansfield, depicted on an 1814 map |
Mansfield is a former town in Vermont, U.S.A. Formed in the early days of English-speaking settlement in Vermont, the town was only marginally settled and was later disincorporated and its land divided between adjoining towns. Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont, was named for the town.
The source of the town's name is the subject of some dispute. Several of the original grantees of the land in Mansfield were from Mansfield, Connecticut, which in turn is known to have been named for Moses Mansfield, one of the chief landowners there. [1] However, Benning Wentworth, the governor of the British colony of New Hampshire, issued a charter to a group of grantees in what he dubbed the town of Mansfield, possibly for a chief justice of England, Lord Mansfield. Wentworth had good reason to honor Lord Mansfield in this way: Mansfield and another British official had jointly ruled in 1752 that the land between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain should be considered part of the royal province of New Hampshire (of which Wentworth was governor), and not of New York, which also claimed that territory. [2]
As in many Vermont towns, the largest mountain within its borders was given the town's name (cf. Elmore Mountain, Mt. Worcester, and Jay Peak). The name remained after the town was disincorporated, and the highest mountain in Vermont is still named Mount Mansfield. [3]
The Town of Mansfield was chartered June 8, 1783, [4] before anyone involved had visited the site; when the townsite was surveyed, it was discovered to be mostly mountainside. [1] Although a few hardy pioneers settled in the town's few lowlands, the town was dissolved by degrees, with the portion generally west of the mountain being annexed to Underhill in 1839, the eastern portion to Stowe in 1848 after a vote of the citizenry. The dividing line does not run exactly along the ridge of the mountain. [5] [4] [6]