Editing Pawlet, Vermont (section)

==History==
Pawlet was one of the [[New Hampshire Grants]], chartered from [[Benning Wentworth]], Governor of colonial [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]].  The charter was granted on August 26, 1761, to Jonathan Willard and 61 other shareholders.<ref>{{cite book |last=Deming |first=Leonard |date=1851 |title=Catalogue of the Principal Officers of Vermont |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EUJ-VnHTzWAC |quote=pawlet vermont 1761 charter willard. |location=Middlebury, VT |publisher=Leonard Deming |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EUJ-VnHTzWAC/page/n172 169]}}</ref>  The town was named for the [[Mettawee River]], which was called "Paulet" or "Paulette" on the earliest maps of the area that later became Vermont.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hollister |first=Hiel |date=1867 |title=Pawlet for One Hundred Years |url=https://archive.org/stream/pawletforonehun00hollgoog#page/n14/mode/2up |location=Albany, NY |publisher=J. Munsell |page=5}}</ref> Nine families lived there at the time of its organization in 1769.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wickman |first=Don |date=15 September 2006 |title=Pawlet - At home in the Mettawee Valley |url=https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/pawlet---at-home-in-the-mettawee-valley/article_2966bac1-d9ed-59cf-9cc6-b91564790a17.html |access-date=29 June 2024 |work=Rutland Herald Online}}</ref> It was part of [[Bennington County, Vermont|Bennington County]] until Rutland County was created in 1781.<ref>{{cite book |last=Swift |first=Esther M. |date=1977 |title=Vermont Place-names: Footprints of History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7zWAAAAMAAJ&q=%22rutland+county+was+incorporated%22 |location=Brattleboro, VT |publisher=Stephen Greene Press |page=372|isbn=9780828902915 }}</ref>

The first town meeting on record took place on December 22, 1775.  Since this meeting was called by town clerk Simeon Burton, it is apparent that Pawlet was already settled by then.