HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.     445
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                      CHAPTER XIII.
 
VERNON TOWNSHIP - GENERAL FEATURES - FIRST SETTLEMENT - MILLING
  ENTERPRISES - RELIGION - EARLY PREACHERS - NEWRY AND OTHER
  HAMLETS.
 
"Gather we from the shadowy past
The straggling beams that linger yet,
Ere o'er those flickering lights are cast
The shroud that none can penetrate." - Spencer.
 
FORTUNATELY this work was begun before the few
old landmarks, which still remain, had gone on to join
the companions of pioneer days. A few years more and all
would have been lost, and even now many important facts have
passed beyond the weak and uncertain memory. Although a per-
fect history is impossible, and, doubtless, many errors of omis-
sion have been made, yet most of the important events have been
recorded.
 
Vernon Township lies in the richest portion of Jackson
County, and when first seen by white men the surface was clothed
with thick forests of oak, hickory, beech, and other growths
indigenous to this section. Lying as it does between the east and
west branches of the Muscatatauk River, the surface is low and
level, and was originally covered with water from early spring
till midsummer. But, with the modern methods of draining,
these ponds and marshes have been converted into fine farms, and
now produce abundant crops of all the cereals.
 
  
                      FIRST SETTLERS.
 
The first settlement made in Vernon Township was in the
extreme northern part, not far from the site of the little town of
Newry. The first settlers were Luther Beadle, who was said to