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In October of 1784, Buel and his associates once again went
to the Vermont general assembly and petitioned for a grant of "unlocated lands" anywhere in the state to make
up for the deficiency in the original Coventry grant. This new flying grant was approved by the
Assembly on October 26th, and the Governor and Council approved the charter on the same day,
stipulating that on receiveing the charter Buel would pay "120 pounds in hard money and 390 pounds
in this States Security" (1) But by late 1784 finding a single, contiguous parcel of good land in Vermont had become a problem. Taking advantage of Vermont's unique status as an independent state, with no war debt, no taxes, and land for sale, there had been a massive influx of settlers to Vermont in the years between the original Coventry grant and the second flying grant. Buel discovered that he was unable to find a single 23,000 acre parcel to be granted in the entire state. Probably realizing that he had a long wait ahead of him, Buel went back to the legislature in October 1785 and got a break on his granting fees, The Governor and Council agreeing to allow Buel a one years grace period after the new Coventry lands had been ascertained to pay off the remainder of his owed fees. In October 1787 the General Assembly appointed a Land Commission to work out the details of ungranted lands in the state. They made their report in March of 1788 and the final boundaries of Coventry and 16 other townships were decided. From September 23 through the 30th of that year, surveyors Aaron Shepard of Greensborough and James Savage of Plattsburgh, New York were in the woods laying out the boundaries of Coventry, Irasburgh, Lutterloh (Albany) and Salem (Newport City). A month later Elias Buel finally got his land. |
 The flying grant of Coventry - Sotzman 1796 (2) |
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On October 28, 1788 The Governor and Council approved Buel's application for
"a Charter of Incorporation for the Township of Coventry" (1) and backdated it to 1780 to coincide with
the original Coventry land grant application. Ira Allen went on bond for 326 pounds 18 shillings
and 6 pence, the remaining amount of granting fees due, and payable one year from the date.
Buel settled for three separate tracts of land spread out across the northern half of the state.
The largest of the three tracts is present day Coventry including "Coventry Leg" (annexed to Salem
in 1816) which comprised 16,767 acres. A second smaller 2,000 acre parcel just to the southwest of Coventry
proper was known as Coventry Gore (later annexed to Newport town). To fill out the remaining land
for the grant, a 4,273 acre parcel was granted in Chittenden county which to this day bears the name
of Buel's Gore. With the township now a legal entity, Buel began to consolidate his hold on Coventry as he made preparations to move his family from Connecticut to Vermont. He purchased the rights of his associates one by one for between 5 and 30 pounds apiece and came to be owner of 54 of the 60 rights. At some point in 1789 he discharged Ira Allen of the bond which he had endorsed for the remaining Coventry granting fees. In July of 1789 Buel moved to Rutland and subsequently spent much of his time trying to increase his land holdings around the Buel's Gore area in an attempt to create a new township called Montzoar. But Montzoar was never to be. Buel ran up against the new taxes being levied by the state of Vermont which wound up costing him most of his Coventry land holdings. He was able to survive the February 1790 tax for paying the costs of surveying the townships.* And in February of 1791 Buel was still hanging on when James Whitelaw, the new Vermont Surveyor-General, put down 300 pounds on bond, to Ira Allen intending to complete the surveys for Irasburgh and Coventry . But later that year Buel lost his titles for Coventry to the first Vermont Land Tax of 1/2 penny per acre. At a tax vendue in Chittenden County the majority of those titles were purchased by Ira Allen. |
| * A 20 pound 6 shilling tax was levied for each town, and the state made payment of 81 pounds 5 shillings for the commissions due for surveying the four townships in 1788, to Ira Allen. |
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References: 1. Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, Oct 26, 1784, p59,60, published by authority of the State by E. P. Walton. Montpelier, J. & J. M. Poland, 1873-80 2. Vermont entworfen von D.F. Sotzmann. No. XVI. Hamburg bey Carl Ernst Bohn 1796, David Rumsey Map Collection, Cartography Associates http://www.davidrumsey.com/ |