January 9

1666  M. de Courcelles started from Quebec with 300 men from the regiment of Carignan-Salieres and 200 volunteers, habitants, using sledges drawn by mastiff dogs, for Fort St. Theresa, nine miles about the present village of Chambly. The weather was severe that the soldiers nearly perished from cold.   

1768    Samuel Deall, a wealthy merchant of New York City wrote to  Mrs. Ruth Stoughton, the widow of his partner in trade, Lt. John Stoughton, who had been drowned in Lake George, " at the Carrying Place, at Ticonderoga Landing."-

" I hope you do not think of leaving the Landing or Neglect your improvements as I intend if please God to be up next Spring to begin building a Saw Mill and other improvements which will be to the advantage of both yours and my Lands. I have the Land from the Fort to the mountain."

1807  Samuel Flint Vilas, the future millionaire of Plattsburgh, born in Sterling, Vt.

1817  Was dedicated the Church built in 1816 at the cost of $23,000 for the " First Congregational Society " ( Unitarian ) of Burlington. It was furnished with a bell, clock and organ. The dedicatory hymn was offered by Deacon Jacob Williams; the prayer was offered by John Foster, D. D.; while the sermon from the text " Holiness becometh thy house O Lord forever, " was preached by the Rev. John Pierce, afterwards of Brookline, Mass.

1908  At his home in Melrose, Mass., died James Buckham, one of the sweetest poets of the Champlain Valley. Of  " The Meaning of Death " he said, " Blessed is the soul that interprets the death of loved ones, not as a taking away, but as a taking up, a setting forward, a transfiguration, an exaltation! They have simply gone to be with God and Christ our Redeemer in the beautiful city whither we are all bound, and whither the longest life will bring us sooner than we realize."

 Today In the Champlain Valley History