Poultney, Vermont

Poultney is a town in Rutland County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. New York state is on its western border. Castleton, Vermont, is on its northern border. Poultney is home to Green Mountain College, a private liberal arts college with about 600 students. The Village of Poultney is entirely within the town. The town population was 3,432 at the 2010 census.

One of the New Hampshire Grants, Poultney was charted on September 21, 1761, by Benning Wentworth, Royal Governor of New Hampshire, and named for William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, a British politician and orator.

Poultney was first settled by Thomas Ashley and Ebenezer Allen. Ashley married Zeruiah Richards, and Allen married Lydia Richards, both daughters of Zebulon Richards of Windham County, Connecticut. Ashley and Allen established themselves in a cabin near the Poultney River on February 15, 1771. Allen brought his family with him, and a son born to his wife Lydia in 1772 was the first white child born in Poultney. Ashley built a shanty and planted corn before bringing his family to Poultney—he returned with his family in the fall of 1771. Six of Ashley’s brothers followed him to Poultney during the next two years, and several members of the Richards family were also early settlers.

The town grew slowly at first because of the unresolved conflict between New York and New Hampshire over land ownership in Vermont. The Great List of Freemen in Poultney in 1781 contains the names of only 88 men. Most of the early settlers of the town came from Connecticut and Massachusetts.

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