Editing Berlin, Vermont (section)

==History==

Berlin was [[charter]]ed June 8, 1763.<ref>''Book of Charters'', P. 473-474: "…is hereby incorporated into a township by the name of Berlin."</ref> The name refers to [[Berlin]], Germany, and was the only German town name in this new English colony.<ref>Close-by Montpelier resembles [[Montpellier]] in south France; the name [[Middlesex]] was copied from a county in England.</ref> The grantees who received the 70 original rights to the township were priests, merchants and judges. The charter was issued by the Royal Governor of New Hampshire, [[Benning Wentworth]], and stated that each "proprietor, settler or inhabitant" should pay one ear of [[Indian corn]] for each acre of land, and after ten years, one shilling for each 100 acres.

It took 22 years until the first settlers arrived in the area: Ebenezer Sanborn coming from nearby [[Corinth, Vermont|Corinth]], founding the "Bradford farm", and Joseph Thurber from New Hampshire, founding the "Shepard farm". Both left a year later for New York state.

In 1788 a legislature of the state of Vermont stated that "the town of Randolph, Braintree, Brookfield, Roxbury, Williamstown, Northfield, Wildersburgh, Berlin and Montpelier [...] hereby are formed into one entire probate district, by the name of the district of [[Randolph, Vermont|Randolph]]."<ref>Legislative Acts, State of Vermont, October 15, 1888.</ref>

Jacob Fowler, a hunter, was the first settler who stayed and left descendants in town. Other early settlers were Moses Smith, Daniel Morse, John Lathrop, and Hezekiah Silloway. In 1789 thirteen families lived in Berlin, and eight more in 1790. The first child born in Berlin was Abigail Black (1789).

The first town meeting was held on March 31, 1791.<ref>First town meeting at the dwelling-house of Aaron Strong; James Sawyer, moderator, David Nye, clerk, Zachariah Perrin, Eleazer Hubbard and James Sawyer, selectmen; Micajah Ingham, constable.</ref> The first sawmill was built in the same year, the first school (on East Street) in 1794. The first Christian institution was founded in 1798, with James Hobart as its minister. A [[Congregational church|Congregational]] meeting house opened at Berlin center in 1803. After it burned down in 1838 the Congregational Church was built at Berlin Corner.

The first store and tavern opened {{circa|1800}} and closed in 1850.<ref>''Vermont Historical Gazetteer'', Volume IV, by Abby Hemenway, 1892. Chapter "Berlin" by Sylvanus F. Nye. [http://berlinvt.org/Berlin%20Historical%20Society-%20Vermont%20Historical%20Gazetteer.pdf Full text as pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516070058/http://www.berlinvt.org/Berlin%20Historical%20Society-%20Vermont%20Historical%20Gazetteer.pdf |date=2012-05-16 }}. ''Early History of Berlin, Vermont, 1763-1820'' by Mary Greene Nye. Capital City Press, Montpelier, Vt. 1951. [http://berlinvt.org/Early%20History%20of%20Berlin,%20Vermont%201763-1820%20by%20Mary%20Nye.doc Full text] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516070120/http://www.berlinvt.org/Early%20History%20of%20Berlin%2C%20Vermont%201763-1820%20by%20Mary%20Nye.doc |date=2012-05-16 }}</ref>