Hayward’s New England Gazetteer (1839) page 497
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NEW ENGLAND GAZETTEER.

Temple. It is 9 miles W. by S.
from Amherst and 37' S. by W.
from Concord. Souhegan is the
principal river. Its main branch
enters this town near the S'. W.
corner and proceeds in a-N. E.
course till it forms a junction with
several branches running from
Lyndeborough and Temple. These
flow through the N. part, and are
sufficiently large for mill streams.
On these streams are some valuable
manufactures, and a pleasant village
has sprung, up within a few years.
This town has neither mountains,
ponds or swamps. It is in general
of strong and excellent soil. Good
clay is found in plenty near the
streams. There are several quar-
ries of excellent stone for splitting
and hewing. The first settlement
was made - in 1738, by 3 families
from Danvers, Mass., 2 by the
name of Putnam, and! by the name
of Dale. Hannah, the daughter
of Ephraim Putnam,, was the -first
child born in town. The town
was incorporated June 25, 1762,
and derived its name from Wilton,
an ancient borough in Wiltshire,
England. A distressing accident
occurred-_im raising the second
meeting house, September 7, 1773,
The frame fell, and three meii were
instantly, killed; two died of their
wounds soon afterward, and a num-
ber of others were badly injured.
On July 20, 1804, the same meet-
ing house was struck by lightning
and 'considerably shattered. Pop-
ulation, 1830, 1,039.

- Wilton, Ct.

Fairfield co. Wilton was taken
from the north part of Norwalk, in
1802. The surface of the town is
broken by two ridges of hills, but
the soil is 'a gravelly loam and pro-
ductive of grain and a great variety
of fruit. Agriculture is the prin-
cipal business of the inhabitants.
The town is watered by NorwaTk
river, and has a satinet factory
and other mechanical operations by
water. A classical school, of high
reputation, was established here in
1818, by Hawley Olmstead, Esq.
This school is worth a million of
the silver, mines that were discov-
ered and worked in this town dur-
ing the revolutionary war. Wilton
lies 34 miles W. S. W. from New
Haven, and
6 N. from Norwalk.
Population, 1330, 2,095.

Winchendon, Mass.

Worcester eo. This town was
incorporated in 1764. It is 60 miles
N. W. by W. from Boston, and 34
N. N. W. from Worcester. Pop-
ulation, 1830, 1,463 ; 1837, 1,802.
The surface'of the town is uneven
and rocky, with a strong soil, which,
when subdued, is quite productive
of grain, grass and fruit trees.
There are fine quarries of granite
in the town; and a spring tinctured
with iron and sulphur, but which
is less visited than formerly. Mil-
ler’s river rises in this town and
Ashburriham, and affords conven-
ient mill seats. There are 2 pleas-
ant villages in the town, a cotton
mill, a woolen mill, and manufac-
tures of cotton and wool bobbins,
leather, palm-leaf hats, chairs, cab-
inet and wooden wares: annual
val.ue, exclusive of cotton goods,
about $
100,000.

Under Warner, N.H., we gave
an. account of a frightful tornado in
that and tbe neighboring towns in
1821. It appears that this part of
the country was visited by a simi-
lar desolation,
at the same time,
more than 40 miles distant. A
Worcester paper thus describes it:

“ About 6 o’clock, Sunday even-
ing, September 9tb, a ‘ black and
terrific cl,oud appeared-a little south
of the centre of Northfield, Frank-
lin county, nearly in the form of a
pyramid reversed, moving very rap-
idly and.with a terrible noise. In its
progress it swept away or prostrat-
ed all the trees, fences, stone walls,
and buildings which came with-






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