Irasburg Vermont, History

Click here for Some intresting "Township Information"

Slide show of Irasburgh in the Early days.
Information you are about to read was written by Marjorie A. Orcutt and Edward S. Alexander in a book published in 1989. This wonderful book is for sale at the Leach Public Library.
Ira Allen was a towering figure in the development of Irasburgh, Ira and Jerusha's only surviving child. His boyhood was full of uncertainties as his father's foutunes waned, but he pursued a quiet, steady course all his life and became an admirable family man, citizen, and public figure, both in the town of his inheritance and in Orleans County generally.
He was born in Colchester in 1790, attended Middlebury College and the University of Vermont but was unable to continue, partly because of weak eyesight; for a while he clerked in a store in Swanton and then worked for Herman in Highgate. He was influential in persuading the legislature to make Irasburgh the shire town in 1812. Irasburgh's representative at that session was his uncle, Roger Enos, Jr., while his cousin (and adopted brother) Heman was there representing Colchester. Soon after his father's death Ira H. Allen came to Irasburgh and took up the management of his mother's affairs in exhange for part of her land holdings.
"He was... about twenty-four years of age when he became an inhabitant of irasburgh... his entire property or capital consisted of a horse and single sleigh, a respectable wardrobe, his library, a silver watch, $40 in money, and ... was best of all his education and his principles."
One of his finest acts here was to claim for his mother lumber at the sawmill from logs cut by squatters on Allen lands, but in doing so he was careful to allow those men, who had no legal claim on the lumber, a portion of its value to pay them for their labor in cutting and hauling the logs. This instance has been cited as typical of Allen's scrupulousness and fairness in all business dealings.
The next fifty years of the town records are full of references to Ira H. Allen as the holder of nearly every office at one time or other: representative to the legislature 1818-20, 1822-3, 1826-7, 1835, 1837-8 and 1840; member of the Council (forerunner of the State Senate) 1828-31; town clerk 1816-18; and others. He held various school district offices. In Orleans County he was Clerk of the County Court 1816-35 and Judge of Probate1821-22. At one time he was aide-de-camp to the governor, with the title of colonel, by which he was known throughout the state. His refusal to accept nomination for Representative to Congress might be said to mark the limits of his political ambition and to demonstrate his devotion to family and community duties.
He was a founder and the first president of the Bank of Orleans and a director of its successor institutions until his death.
His first wife was Sarah Parsons of Highgate; they were married in 1842 and had two sons, Ira H., called Hayden and Charles Parsons. After Sarah's untimely death Ira H. Allen married her sister Frances in 1848 and they had three daughters, the eldest of whom died in early childhood. Young Hayden Allen also died young, not yet twenty-one. So there were three surviving children; but Ira H. Allen had his shre of sorrow in later life as in the early years.
His own death in 1866 certainly marked the end of an era in Irasburgh; he had received a goodly inheritance and made it still a better one for the benefit of his family and the people of the town.
For more Irasburg information go to the Leach Public Library and read the wonderful book on Irasburgh.
Click here for Some intresting "Township Information"

Slide show of Irasburgh in the Early days.