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		HISTORY OF OLD CLARY FARM Partially extracted from “The History of Greensboro - The First Two Hundred Years ” Greensboro Historical Society, Greensboro VT, 1990 and The Greensboro Town Records

A messy history over several centuries, during which native peoples were displaced by the European white man, preceded fights over the rights and possession of these lands.

In the 18 th Century, lands in New England were chartered multiple times by various provinces resulting in a land dispute between the New Hampshire and New York provinces. In 1764, the King's Council decided in favor of New York. New York promptly demanded that people who had already settled under the royal governor of New Hampshire would have to take out a second charter under New York and pay an additional fee to New York. The settlers refused and resisted the collection of these fees. As a result, the Green Mountain Boys were formed and Vermont became independent. It was the year of 1777. Eventually, New York and Vermont worked out their dispute and Vermont, after paying a considerable fee, was able to join the United States as the 14 th state in 1791.

Prior to this event, all unchartered lands in Vermont (towns, usually an area of six-by-six miles, whose charters were not on record by 1781) were declared vacant land, and subject to recharter by Vermont's first governor. Greensboro's charter was granted in that same year of 1781. The town of Greensboro was granted to 67 men, most of whom had served in Connecticut regiments during the Revolutionary War, and who held the land in common until town and lot boundaries were properly surveyed. The rights to the land were then distributed by lottery, where each man received 3 lots of 100 acres each. This lottery most likely took place in the year 1788. In 1789 the first settlers braved the winter in Greensboro.

Unfortunately, in 1831 a fire consumed the town records and all knowledge of land records up to that date were lost.

The lands, on which the Old Clary Farm is located, are listed as lot 11 in the 11th range granted to William Williams and lot 11 in the 12th range granted to David Jewett. (See Greensboro proprietors' map c. 1788). It is unknown what happened between 1788 and 1831. We pick up the history again in 1839 (see chronological chart below).

Frist records of a homestead are mentioned in the Warranty Deed from James Gillis to Sabin A. Clary. Gillis had acquired the lands consisting of the parcels 11 in 11th and 11 in 12th on 6-21-1852 and sold both parcels to Clary in 1866 for $1,800 plus a mortgage of $400. In addition, Sabin A. Clary was granted all sugar tools on said premises, three tons of hay, all the straw on the beams over the floor in the barn, all the spruce lumber, as well as two harrows and twenty-five bushels of potatoes. It is safe to assume that the Old Clary Farm homestead was built by James Gillis in the year of 1852.

Over the course of almost two centuries, the Clary's (originally spelled Clarey) owned the property off and on all the way until the 1980's. Hence, the farm was named after them. Today (2023), the last known Clary, (Dorothy Clary Perron) is still alive and resides in Glover. At one point, it is said, that the farm played a significant role in the time of prohibition. This is entirely possible considering its location close to Canada. At another time, there was a cow barn with a drop floor (where the current garden plot is located). The now ‘old barn' was not built until after the 1960's.

Chronological History of Old Clary Farm