DUTTON, John 1800 U.S. Readfield Census

Dutton house on Cross Hill Rd. Vassalboro, Maine

The corner of Quaker Lane and Cross Hill Road where
the old Vassalboro Town Office once stood. The birch
trees once surrounded the building. The pile of rocks
were extracted from the old foundation. This land is
now owned by Fieldstone Gardens whose crew have
reclaimed and beautified it from a lot that was
overgrown with alders and sumac to a beautiful spot!

John Dutton was a son of Jesse Dutton, born June 1, 1773. He married to Sarah “Sally” Parrott in New Boston, NH on December 20, 1796. About that same time his father moved to Readfield. They both appear on the 1800 US Census in Readfield. John was a steward of the Readfield Circuit in 1816.[i] That same year – also the year his father died - the Readfield tax list reflects that he owned 100 acres, a two story house, two barns and that his lot adjoined that of widow Lambert [ii].  In April 1815 Eunice Lambert remarried to Capt. Benjamin Davis and seven months later she sold property to John Dutton. About that time he began to sell pieces of his Readfield property and continued to do so until 1828. In 1815 Dutton made his first land acquisition in Vassalboro and in 1820[iii] he sold his farm in Readfield to Solomon Lombard so we  assume he moved to Vassalboro in that time period, where he remained for the rest of his life. 

In 1828 the Vassalboro townspeople voted to move their town hall to Dutton's land. It was built in 1795 in another location and they apparently wanted it closer to the center of town than it was.[iv] Vassalboro Town Hall remained at that location, near Dutton's home, on the corner of Quaker Lane and Cross Hill Road, and in continuous use for various purposes until it burned in the early 1970's. A picture of the old Vassalboro Town Hall appears on the town seal.



The cemetery in Center Vassalboro where
John and Sally Dutton are buried, is located
behind the Center Vassalboro Baptist
Church vestry building.

John Dutton lived in Vassalboro for 25 years until he died there in 1845. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery behind Center Vassalboro Baptist Church on Cross Hill Road about 1 mile south of where they resided.





[i]] Readfield Historical Society collection

[ii]i bid. Widow Lambert was Eunice who first married to neighbor Joseph Lambert and, after his death, to another neighbor, Captain Benjamin Davis.

[iii] Kennebec County Registry of Deeds: Book 38 Page 402 December 20, 1820
[iv] Kingsbury History of Kennebec County; pub. 1892; chapter on Vassalboro page 1097.